BOSTON SPECIAL
~TEST.FIL~  
                      'By nature all people are the same; 
                       but it are their words who make them 
                       different' 
                        
                       Confucius 
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-BOSTON IS BACK- 
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  by Slimer..... 

This article is totally dedicated to the American Heavy Rock & Roll 
'Boston' from the city with the same name. In this article I'm going to 
tell you a bit about the bands history and their musical achievements. 


Why an articles about this particular band you might wonder ... Well, 
that's quite simple to explain, I admire the band for their music. It's 
also worth a try to make you aware of this band which might in turn make 
you a bit curious to their music.


All of their EPs/CDs are in my possession as you might expect from a fan. 
They maintain a low profile and interviews are seldom found in the 
music-magazines. Strange however is the fact that their EPs/CDs are 
million sellers all over the world. Another curious thing is that they 
take years to finish an album. 7 years or more are no exception which is 
quite unusual for such a successful band.


After the last album 'Third Stage' nothing was heard anymore from the 
band, so I assumed they broke up or something. You could imagine my 
surprise when I found their album in the 'Top 50 Album charts' some time 
ago. After almost 10 years of silence they pop up out of the blue with a 
new record(CD). So I left the save surroundings of my computer-room to 
purchase this CD as soon as I could. A review of it can be found at the 
end of the history part...


Time to start off with a brief history which could be describe as rather 
weird for a successful Rock & Roll band.

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BRIEF HISTORY  


Back in 1974/75 a new band saw the light in the U.S.A. in the town BOSTON. 
This band played heavy rock & roll (as they describe it) with a great 
concern for melodic and harmonics. The brain behind BOSTON was and still 
is Tom Scholz an M.I.T. graduate with a master's degree in Mechanical 
Engineering. He designed a device that combined several guitars into a 
harmonic unity. The band doesn't use any computers or synthesizers but 
they actually fake synthesizers with special guitars.  


Their first album was released in 1976 and was simply called 'BOSTON'. It 
contains the huge hit single 'More Than A Feeling' that launched the band 
into fame. The song is considered to be a classic and can be found on 
several compilation CDs on the market. A good example of good vocals by 
leadsinger Brad Delp with aid of the great guitar sound the band is famous 
for!    


In 1977/78 the second album called 'Don't Look Back' came around sailing 
the same seas as its predecessor. The title song became another hit 
although the quality of the album as a whole was a bit less than the first 
one. Tom Scholz seems to be a bit of a Science Fiction fan as the idea of 
the covers(flying guitars) sprouted from his mind. Every BOSTON album/CD 
has an instrumental section on it and they seem to see their progress in 
sound as some sort of space-journey. Because on the second album they 
recorded a piece called  'The Journey' which seems to be the start of 
their musical/life spaceflight.    


Than after almost 10(!) years of no new releases, they decided to bring 
out their third album in 1987. Many thought after all those years that 
BOSTON had quit......They just popped up and released 'The Third Stage' 
with the single 'Amanda' which instantly became another megahit. Most 
BOSTON fans must have been pleasantly surprised by this release ! The CD 
contains good songs and sounds a lot like the previous albums. You also 
can find an instrumental part called 'The Launch' on it, this seems to be 
the next step in their music journey. 


BOSTON managed to survive over all these years without changing their 
music concept one bit. Most of the old artists/groups had to adapt to new 
music forms to survive. It doesn't seem to have any influence on this band 
or their music till now. 


After "Third Stage", 7 years of total silence followed. Suddenly they are 
back again with another release called 'Walk On' ! Like I said at the 
start of the article, I was reading the 'Top 50 Album Charts' and I saw 
their name on the list. So I raced to the music-store and bought the CD 
without listening and hurried home to my fateful CD-Player. The music- 
concept is still pretty much the same (thank god)and they had improved 
their music considerable. In my eyes this is the best CD they have ever 
released as all the songs are from excellent quality. However when I 
looked in the small booklet at the names of the band members, I noticed
that almost all members of the original setup are gone. Still the music
sounds like the original BOSTON, because the 'brain' behind the band 
(Tom Scholz) is still pulling the strings(of his guitar). Only Brad 
Delph (the former leadsinger)has helped with some of the song writing.   


The delay of this latter album is described in the booklet and has to do 
with some legal actions in court. Their previous record compagny had sued 
the band because they didn't produce enough albums. Boston didn't want to 
become one of these bands that has to produce lots of albums to make the 
record compagny rich and leave the fans with dubious quality albums. Lucky 
for the fans the judge agreed !

END OF BRIEF HISTORY  I think that you have got (hopefully) a much better 
picture of the band after this trip through time. Now we go on with the 
review of their latest CD with the intention to get you all running to the 
store to check it out !

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DA' CD REVIEW

TITLE              : Walk On 
ARTIST/BAND        : Boston 
TRACKS             : 10  

TOTAL PLAYING TIME : 44:24 MINUTES


The music of BOSTON can be described as harmonic Heavy rock & Roll 
combined with good songs. You get to hear what sounds like a fill-harmonic 
orchestra with electric guitars. Most band these days have leadsinger(s) 
that seem to scream a lot instead of trying to sing properly. The lyrics 
are often bad and contain hardly any message or barley seem to 'stick' 
together. Lucky for a lot of us there are still bands who at least try to 
make something out of it. Boston is such a band that has singers gifted 
with excellent vocals.      


Anyway I don't know how they perform live on stage but it sounds quite 
solid on the CD.....   

On with a list of the tracks that can be found on this CD,  

1.  I Need You Love 
2.  Surrender To Me 
3.  Livin' For You  

Walk On Medley:  

4.  Walkin' At Night 
5.  Walk On 
6.  Get Organ-ized 
7.  Walk On (some more)   
8.  What's Your Name 
9.  Magdalene 
10. We Can Make It    


Most of the songs are aimed at so-called older youth( not 16 year old 
ecstasy trippin' house freaks ). Although it would be a good thing if 
these neurotic people would also dig this kind of music. Well, it seems 
that half of our readers are searching for an exit out of this article 
now.    

Great, on with a short description of the tracks...... 


'I Need Your Love' is a very nice song with some VERY good vocals and a 
nice melody. 'Surrender To Me' has some more 'punch' in it, while 'Livin' 
For You' is a more like a ballad both with again good vocals. 

The 'Walk On Medley' contains several instrumental parts:
'Walkin' At Night' is an instrumental part where they show of their 
playing skills (contains also guitar faked synthesizers). 'Walk On' is the 
next in this catchy rock piece followed by another instrumental part 
called 'Get Organ-ized'. The medley is closed by the second part of 'Walk 
On'.  


They continue their way in the traditional BOSTON style with the last
three tracks... 'What's Your Name' has a high hit-potency as well as 
'Magdalene'(which seems bit like 'Amanda' of the previous album). The last 
song is called 'We Can Make It' and is a more softer track. 

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CONCLUSION  

If you like guitars then you simply must check out this CD and be amazed 
how nice guitars can sound. Also if you already have some of the BOSTON 
albums(and you like them)you simply have to get this master piece also. To 
those who haven't had any experience with this band, I would say to go to 
the store and listen......  


MUSICAL QUALITY   : 8 1/2 

RECORDING QUALITY : 8 1/2    

OVERALL VALUE     : 9

 
