Ten Albums "Everybody" Owned -- Including Me: Boston (#6)

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Hi and bye! This is getting posted before I take off for the lush fake green carpet so often associated with miniature golf. It's time to be with my brothers for the Legends. But first I'll give you, my web friends, another album that sold many millions, and I participated in its success (in contrast to my last countdown, where I listed big-selling albums that I never bought). Here's today's album. #6: Boston - Boston We were just another band out of Boston ("Rock and Roll Band") Yeah, where are you guys from again? Heavily hyped when it was released, it was -- at that time -- different sounding, thanks to the innovative sounds that guitarist and MIT grad Tom Scholz came up with while tinkering with amps and sounds in his basement. But truthfully, I got tired of this album by the end of side one. What good is a guitar amplifier effects machine if you're playing the same dang riff through it all the time (see: guitar in "Long Time" and guitar in "Peace of Mind")? Plus, I'm just not a fan of the late Brad Delp's vocals. That's not the way I'm wired. Compare Toto, for instance: I love it when Dave Paich ("Africa") or Steve Lukather ("Rosanna") sing lead, but Bobby Kimball ("Hold the Line") on lead vocals is where I "hold the line" (pardon the pun) on Toto songs. Same thing with Delp: although certainly not his fault, he sounded like what FM rock became in the late 70s. And "More Than a Feeling"? Man, what was it with the precursor of the "power ballad" back in the 70s, with all these things? I guess you could call "More Than a Feeling" a "power ballad" (even though the term hadn't been coined yet). I don't know, I just found it hokey. But I was one of the 30 million who bought it when it came out. (At the time, Boston was the biggest-selling debut album in rock history.) I guess you can tell I don't have it anymore. Boston Recorded by Boston Produced by Tom Scholz and John Boylan Released in 1976 I'm such a harsh music critic, aren't I. Here's one song on the album that sounded "different" to me: