Album Reviews: Boston - Boston

Can I level with you guys? I am not the biggest fan of arena rock. It is a fine genre on its own, and I do know that a lot of it sounds better live, but that isn't why I am not the biggest fan of it. It's almost like Pop Rock with how simple it can be. A good example is Journey, a band I can't really bring myself to listen to more than one or two songs from them. Journey was the group that popularized the four-chord pop song, one of the most annoying and simplest song writing clichés ever. I do like some arena rock, but if you really want to grab my attention you do what Boston does here.

Okay so, starting with something that isn't even a proper part of the album, I love that cover. It isn't in my top ten album covers, but it is still incredible. Like, holy crap, is that an image or is it not? Anyway, this was Boston's debut album and was released in 1976. It peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200, Number 4 in Germany, number 7 on the Canadian RPM 100 Albums Chart and reached it's lowest at number 26 on the Sweden Top 60 Albums. It has since been certified Diamond in Canada, 17x Platinum in the US and Gold in the UK.

The album kicks off with a good mesh of acoustic guitar and drums in the opening track "More Than a Feeling" which starts off pretty soft, but builds at the chorus and features some awesome guitar work by Tom Scholz. The song itself peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the following track also mixes acoustic guitar with electric guitar and it peaked at number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100.

However, the album really picks up with the third and, in my opinion, best song on the album, "Foreplay/Long Time". It starts with a really nice Keyboard and follows with a sharp electric guitar. The first few minutes are just instrumental and it sounds incredible. Even if the second part of the song wasn't there, it would still be my favourite song on the album. The second part is traditional 70s rock, but the song itself is pretty catchy, but isn't an earworm, which is really good because earworms can be super obnoxious.

"Smokin'" is a song that has a good riff and rhythm, although I do feel like I've heard it before in a different song. it was pretty much this point on the album that I realized that nothing really sounds mismatched or out of place, the album molds with itself perfectly. Also, because I know many of you are going to want me to say it: Here you go. After this song, the album gives us "Hitch a Ride" which has a pretty good opening being very slow, and I also really noticed Sib Hashian's drum work on this track. Aside from that there isn't much to say, it isn't a memorable song, but it isn't terrible.

Brad Delp's vocals did however bring up the seventh track a bit. The instrumentals in "Something About You" are also really good and definitely kick up the album a bit. Although the eighth and final track "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" is pretty, meh. It wasn't a terrible way to end the album, but I feel as though they played their trump card a bit to early. "Foreplay/Long Time" either should've been the last track, or the first. Then again, maybe things would sound out of place, I'm not sure if there is a proper way to solve the issue here, or if it bothers anyone other than myself. Oh and the lyrics also sound very stalker-ish, so there is that.

Overall, I think Boston has earned there place in Rock and Roll history. Sure not every song is perfect, but when there is a high powered song, it really shines. There also aren't very many bad songs, if any at all. So, for this album, I really think that it has earned a full 8/10.