The Vinyl of the Day is ‘Boston’, by Boston, 1976. This album is a historic album of monster rock for many reasons; when released, it became an immediate and almost unprecedented hit, taking the record for best-selling debut album of all time and eventually reaching 17 million copies sold. It also is one of the pillars of 1970s Album Oriented Rock (AOR), and helped to energize the popularity of FM Radio - where stations and DJs would play either deep cuts from albums (as opposed to just ‘the hits’), or even the entire album at a stretch. ‘Boston’ was perfectly laid out for such a format, as there were no real ‘filler’ cuts, and almost every song on the album was as strong and flowed together in a similar style as every other song. This was due to the genius and famously meticulous crafting of the mastermind of the band, Tom Scholz, who created the band’s sound, played many of the instruments, wrote the songs, and spent countless hours editing and mixing the music in his basement studio, with the specialized equipment he built himself! In some ways, he was TOO much a perfectionist, as Boston became famous for their long delay between albums - actually when Epic signed them, their contract called for them to produce 10 albums in 6 years! Needless to say, they never even came close to that.
This was another of those game-changing albums for me — no one who wasn't living through the mid 70's pop music scene can really understand just how important the first Boston album was back then. Metal wasn’t my scene, punk was still to come, disco was a blight upon the land — pretty much all I had was prog rock, but prog didn't have the energy or tempo for young, wild teens. 'Boston’ broke upon the music scene of 1976 like a tidal wave, and EVERYONE went wild for it — and the band became the inspiration for the invention of the Air Guitar.
Nothing else sounded anything like Boston, and none of the imitators that followed ever really managed to clone them. 'More Than A Feeling' remains a staple classic rock anthem of radio, TV, film and various rock artist compilations; 'Foreplay' is a brief but fine workout of the group's progressive rock influences; 'Peace of Mind', ‘Hitch A Ride’ and ‘Smokin’ are a trio of vocal masterclasses from the unmistakable voice of Brad Delp. Boston managed to master the art of openly courting both the album AND hit radio markets; this record flew off the shelves and until Guns N' Roses ‘Appetite for Destruction’ emerged over a decade later, it was the highest selling debut of all time in America.
Scholz’s meticulous effort was clearly worth it, as the band’s sound became classic and part of music history, and embedded into pop-culture to this day. This is one of the most exciting and influential albums released in the 70's, and one you should always play at ‘11’. And rip the volume knob off.
Sadly, singer Brad Delp took his own life in 2007.
From Wikipedia;
During the late summer and early fall of 1976, Boston attracted much publicity due to the unprecedented record sales by an unknown act, its unique sound, and singer Brad Delp’s vocal abilities. However, there was “a conscious effort to de-emphasize Scholz as the total mastermind behind Boston”. After opening for Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Foghat and others in the autumn, the band embarked on a headlining tour in the winter and spring of 1976-1977 to support the album. This helped establish Boston as one of rock’s top acts within a short time, being nominated for a Grammy award as a “Best New Artist”. Boston was the first band in history to make their New York City debut at Madison Square Garden.
Boston’s genre is considered by most to be hard rock, while combining elements of progressive rock into their music. Former singer Brad Delp was well known for his extended vocal ranges, shown on hits such as “More Than a Feeling”.
Guitarist and primary song writer Tom Scholz’ blend of musical styles, ranging from classical to 1960s English pop, has resulted in a unique sound, most consistently realized on the first two albums (Boston and Don’t Look Back). This sound is characterized by multiple lead and blended harmonies guitar work (usually harmonized in thirds), often alternating between and then mixing electricand acoustic guitars. The band’s harmonic style has been characterized as being “violin-like” without using synthesizers. Scholz is well-regarded for the development of complex, multi-tracked guitar harmonies. Another contributing factor is the use of handmade, high tech equipment, such as the Rockman, used by artists such as Journey guitarist Neal Schon, the band ZZ Top, and Ted Nugent. Def Leppard’s album Hysteria was created using only Rockman technology. Scholz’ production style combines deep, aggressive, comparatively short guitar riffing and nearly ethereal, generally longer note vocal harmonies.
AllMusic Review by Vik Iyengar
Boston is one of the best-selling albums of all time, and deservedly so. Because of the rise of disco and punk, FM rock radio seemed all but dead until the rise of acts like Boston, Tom Petty, and Bruce Springsteen. Nearly every song on Boston's debut album could still be heard on classic rock radio decades later due to the strong vocals of Brad Delp and unique guitar sound of Tom Scholz. Tom Scholz, who wrote most of the songs, was a studio wizard and used self-designed equipment such as 12-track recording devices to come up with an anthemic "arena rock" sound before the term was even coined. The sound was hard rock, but the layered melodies and harmonics reveal the work of a master craftsman. While much has been written about the sound of the album, the lyrics are often overlooked. There are songs about their rise from a bar band ("Rock and Roll Band") as well as fond remembrances of summers gone by ("More Than a Feeling"). Boston is essential for any fan of classic rock, and the album marks the re-emergence of the genre in the 1970s.