Turn on some music to start your day and lose yourself in some familiar Boston songs, which were released 50 years ago today!
More Than A Feeling
The power of music is such that – even when you’re at a low ebb – it can remind you of happier times and places.
I guess that’s why Boston’s More Than A Feeling continues to strike a chord with so many. We never quite find out who Marianne is (although Boston founder Tom Scholz once hinted that she was based on a long-gone school love affair squeeze), only that she’s mentally brought back when the song’s protagonist closes his eyes, listens to the music and reminds himself of that girl.
With that kind of relatability, it was pretty much guaranteed that this would be Boston’s breakthrough hit. As well as the lyrics, it contains all the ingredients required for a great hit single. It’s catchy. It’s hummable. It’s sung with empathy and clarity by Brad Delp, one minute a thoughtful whisper, the next a falsetto howl (which never sounds silly). It’s a perfectly judged mix of heavy rock, acoustic ballad and ’60s style pop. All of those elements combined, it’s a great headliner not just for the album, but the band, who set out their stall in four minutes and forty five seconds of perfection.
More Than A Feeling hit Number Five on the Billboard charts and in Canada, as well as breaching the Top 10 in Switzerland. Respectable Top 20 placings abounded in places such as New Zealand, Australia and West Germany – although in the UK, it could only attain a so-so highpoint of Number 22.
Peace Of Mind
Being an old hippy, I relate to Peace Of Mind a fair bit. We all have to pay our dues, but is there any way of due paying quite as dreary as climbing the corporate ladder? That whole Apprentice-style power suit lifestyle of corporate jargon, couldn’t-give-a-toss backstabbing and glazed-eyed, monotonous big boss boot licking… I can’t think of any worse way to spend your day.
I think that whole carefree attitude – not just in Peace Of Mind – but in the whole album, is why it’s stuck with me for so long. The funny thing was I bought Don’t Look Back first on CD in about 1994, and Boston’s oeuvre didn’t instantly click – but then after picking up their debut a couple of years later on vinyl, it fell into place (and I like Don’t Look Back a lot more these days). As with More Than A Feeling, Tom Scholz’s grasp of rock and pop earworms is impeccable. You could play Peace Of Mind a couple of times, and it would quickly stay with you. It’s a bit more peppy than the album opener, but has that equally laidback, easy-going feel to it.
The third single to be released from the album, it didn’t do quite as well – only just sneaking in at Number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100. But for the ultimate two fingers up at the establishment suits, Peace Of Mind is a perfect riposte.
Foreplay/Long Time
An interesting choice for the album’s second single which was somewhat botched by only releasing the Long Time bit in some countries, and then bunging Foreplay on the B-side to Peace Of Mind! Why not release it with Foreplay on one side and then Long Time on the flip?
Being a snotty pedant, I can only listen to this in its entirety – which might explain why I never really bought singles so much when I was growing up, more albums. Both parts dovetail perfectly into this epic-sounding whole. I love the mad rush of the instrumental – the way in which that lone quickfire Hammond organ playing explodes into this wild burst of rock madness. I especially love Fran Sheehan’s bass work, which kind of sounds like one of those old-fashioned upright double basses. Curiously, he’s missing on the Long Time bit, since Tom Scholz handled the bass work instead. In fact, Sheehan’s only other contribution on the album is for Let Me Take You Home Tonight – despite being in the group photo on the back of the album cover.
Apparently, this was one of Scholz’s earliest compositions, dating all the way back to 1969. And while the length of Foreplay/Long Time may suggest a proggy approach as this kind of music was starting to prove popular, Long Time especially has that sunny kind of ’60s Beach Boys vibe to it. It’s that combination of Summery retro and sci-fi style heavy rock that appeals. And it did appeal to Canadian record buyers, who gave Boston their second Top 10 hit in 1977.
Rock & Roll Band
That hoary old cliché of how a band started is common album fodder, but Boston subvert this by laughing at those same old rock chestnuts and exaggerating them to the point of parody. Playing all the bars. Having to sleep in cars. Cigar-chewing, Cadillac-owning managers, who suddenly change the band’s fortunes at the drop of a contract. It’s all here in larger-than-life fashion.
In fact, Boston’s rise to fame was a different kettle of fish, as they got their first record contract before they played on stage. Scholz later explained that he wrote it as a kind of dream rags to riches story that most bands aspire to.
A curious personnel list for Rock & Roll Band in that most of the instrumentation is provided by Tom Scholz, with Brad Delp only contributing vocals. The main talking point is the drumming credit, which isn’t Sib Hashian, but Jim Masdea. What had happened was that Masdea arranged and played drums on Scholz’s original demo. Masdea was replaced by Hashian on the album, who then played the original arrangements to the letter – although he’d then return on a more full-time basis in the 1980s, playing on the Third Stage album in 1986.
Smokin’
No one mention The Mask.
While the majority of the tracks on Boston are solely composed by Tom Scholz, this is a collaboration with Brad Delp. Smokin’ is a good-time, fast-paced boogie that extols the virtues of partying, rock and roll and waccy baccy. In no particular order.
More often than not, your average Boston track will include a memorable Hammond organ solo. This is one of the most energetic solos of the lot, as Scholz hammers those keys with such force that they’re at risk of springing into the air. Loads of unpretentious fun. Tokes optional.
Hitch A Ride
Naysayers of Boston may suggest that they rely on well-worn clichés. It’s a fair point, but then a counter-argument – two counter-arguments, actually – is that in some cases, they poke fun at those clichés (Rock & Roll Band) and in others, they come up with new spins on well-worn material.
Hitch A Ride is evidence for the second case. Superficially, it’s a typical leave-the-modern-world-behind-by-jumping-in-the-car deal, but Scholz’s lyrics are so well considered that the track becomes something fresh and interesting. Comparing life to “the coldest Winter”, Delp points out that other people freeze the tears that he cries. The only way he can “crack the ice” is by flying away.
The musicianship is also first class. Delp’s 12-string acoustic guitar adds that free-falling flavour, while Scholz doubles his money with both a lovely end lead guitar solo and another manic Hammond organ interlude which is completely at odds with this breezy bit of easy-going rock. A favourite.
Something About You
Probably the most overlooked track on Boston’s premiere LP, but dig deeper and it’s one of the most interesting in their back catalogue. Boston offer much, including a rare vulnerability in some of their lyrics. A Man I’ll Never Be from Don’t Look Back is one example, and then there’s this one, which I didn’t quite twig until a couple of spins later. It’s about a guy who has fallen head over heels for this amazing woman, but doesn’t find it easy to express how he feels. Usually, a good chunk of ’70s rock oozes confidence and swagger, but Boston could turn that on its head, approaching a lyric from a place of self-doubt and a lack of self-confidence.
Brad Delp sings this one really well, ramping up the power in his vocal performance. He’s an incredibly adaptable singer, having just arrived from the softer style on Hitch A Ride, which in turn got there from the good-time conviviality of Smokin’. The multi-tracked vocals also demonstrate a clear and wide range, and if he were still around today, he’d no doubt be continuing to impress. Sadly, he took his own life at only 55 years of age.
Let Me Take You Home Tonight
Not only was Delp an incredible vocalist, his songwriting wasn’t too shabby either. Scholz handled the bulk of the writing, but Delp’s contributions are still very good – the pattern would be repeated on Don’t Look Back, on which Delp co-wrote Party and entirely wrote Used To Bad News.
What I like about Let Me Take You Home Tonight is that it starts out in one direction and then heads off in the other. A nicely lilting love song (and I love the killer riff in the introduction), by the end, it turns into this bizarre freak-out of manic instrumentation and a gazillion Delp vocal overdubs screaming “Let me take you home toniiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhht”!!!!!” over and over. It sounds like the end of a Muppet Show final sketch, but it’s an original and memorable exit to a classic album.
Boston’s debut did its stuff in America, staying on the charts for around a couple of years and going Top Three. It also gained a strong Top 10 foothold in Canada, Germany and Switzerland, and just missed out on the 10 in the UK. If you’re after a bit of classic ’70s rock with a twist of retro vocal harmony style, Boston’s wonderful debut may be the album for you.
(Cover design credited to Paul Ahern, Charles McKenzie, Paula Scher, Roger Huyssen)
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