Boston by Boston, 1976
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
This past week, the album I chose was Boston's eponymous debut album from 1976. This best-selling album is touted as pivotal in rock history, so I thought it'd be good to take a listen!
Unfortunately, I wasn't as blown away as I expected I'd be.
I will, however, commend them on the overall complexity of the album; the layering of tracks and instruments in every song is simply perfect. Each song is SO musically complex, and it's truly a joy to try to dissect and parse each instrument's individual riffs. On the flip side, I also understand if some feel the album is too complicated.
My top three favorite songs (excluding More Than a Feeling, which I already knew):
1. Peace of Mind
Peace of Mind is a driving track with a truly great chorus; the vocals in the chorus are fantastic, especially the background "oohs." It's such a simple addition that makes this song leagues better than many other generic rock songs.
The bassline is another part of "Peace of Mind" that takes this song from "normal" to "WOW"—it may only cleanly come to the forefront a few times, but if you listen for it throughout, it lays this amazing musical framework that the other instruments play into beautifully. While the drums push the song forward, the bass pulls it along with just as much intensity and fervor.
2. Foreplay / Long Time
Though Foreplay / Long Time is my number two, I really only enjoyed Long Time. Foreplay, while epic, feels a bit overused and tacky to me.
That being said, Long Time is a terrific tune. It settles into a solid groove, and the strummed guitar interludes are of particular note, I think. They correctly divide a song that could easily have been a monotonous, 5-minute cookiecutter rock track into discrete sections—without feeling choppy.
The guitar solos are also terrific, and very smartly done, I'd say. It's easy for a rock guitarist to get carried away and shred a loud and technically-difficult solo, and while that's great, there's a time and a place. And in a tune like Long Time, I'm glad Goudreau chose to take a more middle-of-the-road approach to his solos and not drown the listener in endless tapping and distorted bends.
3. Rock & Roll Band
The drums are definitely my favorite part in Rock & Roll Band. I especially love the incredible diversity of cymbals—I can hear multiple rides and crashes being used, and while every drummer uses multiple cymbals, I think Jim Masdea (who apparently drummed only on this one song) really utilized all the equipment and sounds available to him in very creative ways.
The vocal harmonies/overlays are also top-notch, and fold into the song seamlessly.
In the end...
While it may have been significant in 1976, many of the eight songs on Boston fall flat for me. I understand what they were doing, and I get it, but some of the songs just aren't all that great and sound too similar to each other. But the record still gets a 3 out of 5 stars from me, buoyed by the few strong songs here that don't get too dragged down by the other B-sides.
