ABQCOWBOY
Regular Joe....
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So it's interesting, the other day, my youngest Son's really good friend and a kid I've known since he was like 12, was talking about music with my Son's and he said he really liked this band called Boston. I was really surprised. I mean, both my Boys know Boston but I was really surprised that this kid (24 now) would say Boston. More surprised because he's African American and he kinda listens to a lot of Hip Hop and R&B. I talked with him for a little bit and kinda asked him why or how? He said he was watching this video and heard Boston and thought they were really good. He said that they kinda had a lot of Jazz/R&B sounds to them, which I never really got with Boston, so I kinda threw in Boston's debut album and listened to them again and he's right, they do.
I know, I know, only one good album, studio band, terrible live, I've heard all of it. But honestly, I don't really think any of that is deserved or true. Boston's debut album Boston was so good, that it kinda made the rest of their albums seem lessor. This is not to say that all of them sucked, it's just that the debut, every track on that album was a hit. All of them got significant radio play, some say that that debut album is the best debut album of all time. I understand that because I understand the way the music was made. Boston was not a "Studio" band. On the contrary, if you want to say a garage band or basement band, that would actually be more accurate but not really a "studio" band. In fact, just the opposite. If you know the story of Boston, Boston was really a guy named Tom Scholz. Scholz was a mechanical engineer, who also happened to be a Genius from MIT. Scholz was so talented, was so visionary that he wrote, produced and performed all of the music himself, with the exception of the Drums, which were Sib Hashian and the Vocals, which were of course Brad Delp. But not only did Scholz do all of that, he also used methods in his recording that were truly revolutionary. Things that at the time, had never been done before. His usage of Double Tracking, Matching, the way he used accoustics and harmoneys, together with cutting edge baselines and backgrounds, his ability as an actual musician and strength of composition were unique but marrying this up with his engineering genuis and you created something that had never ever been seen, before or since IMO. Scholz, because he was an engineer, was a perfectionist so everything he did, everything he wrote and produced, he did to perfection in every detail. That is why that debut album was so good and it's also why the followons were not as good. See, scholz did all of that producion in his basement, using his own home made equipment. The ability to reproduce the quality or the sound of the music, simply didn't exist, anywhere in the world, besides his own basement. That's why they were never ever as good on stage and that's also why none of their follow on albums were as good. The lable made them record in Studio and brought in industry producers to put the albums together and simply put, none of them were as good as Scholz, none of the facilities were as sophisticated as what was in Scholz basement so the sound could not be reproduced in the same way. They basically took a one of a kind, revolutionary thing and ruined it by trying to turn it into another of the 100 bands already out there. Stupid, stupid, stupid but hey, we've all seen this happen before right?
Brad Delp, he was the missing link in all of it. That one ingredent that creates the world class dish, rather then the plate of ravioli you can get at Maccaroni Grill. While Scholz was a genius in terms of all that I've just laid out, and more, Delp was a Savant in terms of his vocal genius and his understanding of how vocals work with compasition. His voice was unique. He had as good a range as any vocalist I've ever heard but he had this ability to bring it and he was unique because he could hit notes that very few could. Unlike other vocalist, who could also hit those high notes, he could sustain it with power. So he could sing at any range and just be strong and that's not common at all. Now you might think that this is what set him apart and made him great, and it would be if that were all but it wasn't. See, Delp understood the same thing that Scholz understood but with vocals. All the things that I said about Scholz earlier, was also true of Delp, but with vocal accompaniments. Scholz showed Delp what he wanted to do with the music and Delp did it with Vocals. Another words, when you listen to Boston's early work, you are listening to not only instrument accompaniments, Double Tracking and Matching with the instruments, you are listening to it with those same techniques in the vocals and in a instrumentals but also with a vocal/instrumental Double Track and Matching technique, which was unheard of at the time. You can do that now because the technology is there to do it but then, that technology was not available, which meant that Delp had to do every track, uniquely and make it work with not only the natural god given singing ability but his understanding of harmonies and acoustics. I mean, I can't even begin to explain how talented, how hard that would be. Nobody else could do that. That's what made him a Savant and the marriage of those two, that's why Boston's early work is transcending, musically IMO.
I know, I know, only one good album, studio band, terrible live, I've heard all of it. But honestly, I don't really think any of that is deserved or true. Boston's debut album Boston was so good, that it kinda made the rest of their albums seem lessor. This is not to say that all of them sucked, it's just that the debut, every track on that album was a hit. All of them got significant radio play, some say that that debut album is the best debut album of all time. I understand that because I understand the way the music was made. Boston was not a "Studio" band. On the contrary, if you want to say a garage band or basement band, that would actually be more accurate but not really a "studio" band. In fact, just the opposite. If you know the story of Boston, Boston was really a guy named Tom Scholz. Scholz was a mechanical engineer, who also happened to be a Genius from MIT. Scholz was so talented, was so visionary that he wrote, produced and performed all of the music himself, with the exception of the Drums, which were Sib Hashian and the Vocals, which were of course Brad Delp. But not only did Scholz do all of that, he also used methods in his recording that were truly revolutionary. Things that at the time, had never been done before. His usage of Double Tracking, Matching, the way he used accoustics and harmoneys, together with cutting edge baselines and backgrounds, his ability as an actual musician and strength of composition were unique but marrying this up with his engineering genuis and you created something that had never ever been seen, before or since IMO. Scholz, because he was an engineer, was a perfectionist so everything he did, everything he wrote and produced, he did to perfection in every detail. That is why that debut album was so good and it's also why the followons were not as good. See, scholz did all of that producion in his basement, using his own home made equipment. The ability to reproduce the quality or the sound of the music, simply didn't exist, anywhere in the world, besides his own basement. That's why they were never ever as good on stage and that's also why none of their follow on albums were as good. The lable made them record in Studio and brought in industry producers to put the albums together and simply put, none of them were as good as Scholz, none of the facilities were as sophisticated as what was in Scholz basement so the sound could not be reproduced in the same way. They basically took a one of a kind, revolutionary thing and ruined it by trying to turn it into another of the 100 bands already out there. Stupid, stupid, stupid but hey, we've all seen this happen before right?
Brad Delp, he was the missing link in all of it. That one ingredent that creates the world class dish, rather then the plate of ravioli you can get at Maccaroni Grill. While Scholz was a genius in terms of all that I've just laid out, and more, Delp was a Savant in terms of his vocal genius and his understanding of how vocals work with compasition. His voice was unique. He had as good a range as any vocalist I've ever heard but he had this ability to bring it and he was unique because he could hit notes that very few could. Unlike other vocalist, who could also hit those high notes, he could sustain it with power. So he could sing at any range and just be strong and that's not common at all. Now you might think that this is what set him apart and made him great, and it would be if that were all but it wasn't. See, Delp understood the same thing that Scholz understood but with vocals. All the things that I said about Scholz earlier, was also true of Delp, but with vocal accompaniments. Scholz showed Delp what he wanted to do with the music and Delp did it with Vocals. Another words, when you listen to Boston's early work, you are listening to not only instrument accompaniments, Double Tracking and Matching with the instruments, you are listening to it with those same techniques in the vocals and in a instrumentals but also with a vocal/instrumental Double Track and Matching technique, which was unheard of at the time. You can do that now because the technology is there to do it but then, that technology was not available, which meant that Delp had to do every track, uniquely and make it work with not only the natural god given singing ability but his understanding of harmonies and acoustics. I mean, I can't even begin to explain how talented, how hard that would be. Nobody else could do that. That's what made him a Savant and the marriage of those two, that's why Boston's early work is transcending, musically IMO.
