There are records that from the moment you first hear them you immediately KNOW that this is it, this is the one, this is an album that will define an era and so it was. Today we may take this record for granted but imagine a world of Disco, the death of Rock, and Tom Scholz in his basement inventing his own 12-track recording device and coming up with THE SOUND which defined arena rock well before the term or the concept existed. Layer upon layer of harmonics and melodies tied together by Brad Delp’s absurd octaves and of course the soaring guitar of Tom Scholz.
This was pure FM radio, it jumped out at you, grabbed you by the balls and did not let go, and by the time it was done with you and everyone else you looked up and realized that with 17 Million copies sold in the U.S. alone Boston became one of the top selling debut albums of all time and an eternal presence in Classic Rock Radios across the globe.
I choose Boston over “Don’t Look Back” or even “Third Stage” for something Boston is NOT famous for, namely lyrics. The “Boston” sound was so overwhelming that most did not pay too much attention to their lyrics and while most of us can sing them with relative ease few paused over their meaning, yet inside we have gems like this:
Now you’re climbin’ to the top of the company ladder
Hope it doesn’t take too long
Can’t cha see there’ll come a day when it won’t matter
Come a day when you’ll be gone
We are all going to be gone someday, but the Boston’s debut album will be eternal.