No, I’m not naming Boston’s entire debut album. The point of Five Songs is being forced to look across an artist’s career and make some tough choices. There might be five “favorite” songs on one album, but what does that say about the artist’s career? Anyway, I try not to mine just one album, even if that album has sold a gazillion copies. Rest assure, any artist that I feature will have a body of work worthy of consideration.
Boston has only a handful of studio albums in fifty years, and their self-titled debut has more than five worthy songs for my list. I’m not a huge Boston fan, but I enjoy some of their songs and respect the popularity of their early sound.
“More Than a Feeling” – The lead single from Boston’s 1976 debut album that sold more than 17M copies. Written by Tom Scholz, he worked on demos for five years in his basement before Epic offered a recording contract. The song reached number five on the singles chart.
“A Man I’ll Never Be” (1978) The second single from Don’t Look Back, it reached number 27 on the singles chart. Written and produced by Scholz, it was a reflective power ballad. Scholz played the guitar parts, bass, organ and piano. The lyrics to this song are a little deeper than the usual Boston lyrics. Scholz wrote and produced the songs, and played most of the instruments.
“Foreplay” is an outstanding instrumental piece, more progressive rock than rock, then it segues into “Long Time”, which was released as a single from the debut album. In an interview, Scholz said that “Foreplay” was the first piece of music he ever wrote and recorded it on a two-track recorder in his basement. Scholz plays lead guitar and all the keyboard parts on “Foreplay”, and the acoustic guitar, bass, organ and clavinet on “Long Time.” Barry Goudreau plays the lead guitar on “Long Time.”
“Don’t Look Back” The title track from their 1978 album, it peaked at number four. This might be my favorite Boston song. The album followed their debut by two years, but Scholz felt rushed by Epic to deliver another enormous seller. Don’t Look Back was a decent seller but nowhere near their one.
“Amanda” – The song took six years to go from demo to release. A romantic ballad, the band’s first number one song. From Stage Three (1986), Boston’s third album.
Final thoughts…
In 50 years, Boston has released only six studio albums, and none for the last 12 years. In reality, Boston is Tom Scholz, and whoever he hires to work with him. Until his death, Brad Delp was the voice of Boston. Band members have come and gone through the years, but Boston has always been Scholz writing and playing in his basement studio. Have we heard the last of Boston? I think not, it’s more than a feeling.
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