How Boston's debut album was one of rock's greatest capers!
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- In 1976, Tom Scholz engineered one of the greatest capers in music history when he devised a plan to record Boston’s debut album his own way, contrary to how the record label executives thought it should be done. The result was one of the best-selling albums in rock and roll history, and it all started with an instrumental track that Scholz wrote while studying at MIT years before. That track grew into “Foreplay/Longtime,” one of many hits on Boston’s triumphant first album. Host Janda Lane digs into the incredible story of Boston in this episode of the Behind The Song podcast.
Music Producer: Christian Lane
Video Director: Michael Collier
Video Editor: Julian Romano
Listen on:
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About Janda: Behind The Song podcast host and creator Janda Lane is a radio DJ at WDRV-FM in Chicago, the city she calls home with her husband and podcast partner, Christian Lane, and their two cats, Ollie and Liam. She is a transplant from Los Angeles, where she was a video director at Fender, Executive Producer at Yahoo Music, playlist curator for ITunes, worked in rock management with artists like the Foo Fighters and Beck, was on the radio at KCRW, and she was a DJ at online radio pioneer site Soundbreak. She has not worked a day in her life.
Follow Behind The Song on TikTok @behindthesongpodcast. 
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Always had Boston’s debut album in my top 5. All hits. Unbelievable.
I played Boston at my dad’s funeral. People loved it!
Hitching a Ride
That is amazing. May he RIP. I have loved this group for 40 years, so I can relate 100%
i have a couple of boston tracks already picked out for my funeral
i was 18 when i discovered Boston from hearing "More Than A Feeling" on the radio. I am 49 now and STILL jamming to this album! #BostonRocks
I bought this album when it came out and it is as near perfect as an album can be. I still listen to it on CD in my car.
Mines on MP3
First Record album I bought.
I bought it as an 8-track, then as an album.
This is, by far, the most comprehensive and succinct piece of Boston background info I've ever heard. And, considering I've listened to Boston since they first debuted in '75 when I was just 14 years young, now 61, say a lot. I'm fortunate to have seen Boston live in concert 3 times; the first time in '95 in Charlotte, then again in '97 in Holmdel, NJ and a final time back in Charlotte in June '03.
Thank you so much!
Boston was my first concert ever (March 1st, 197). Sammy Hagar was the opening at. I still listen to the first album and Don't look Back.....the new albums are ok....but those first 2......still sound like they were recorded a few years ago.
I 0000000000000000000000000😮😮
@@schlotdoglaser same !
@frederickchase5941 The Boston debut record was released on Aug 25 1976, so there is no way you listened to this record before that date
ALL TIME FAVORITE BAND! They will always grab my attention and put me in a great mood.
Tom Scholz and ELO's Jeff Lynne, two musical genius's.
I was given this amazing album on Valentine's Day 1977..
Still have it
Loved it since Day 1
Phenomenal!❤
A GREAT BAND! I remember when I was young and finding this band. More than a feeling was my bf and I’s song. He passed away and that song will remain in my heart forever 🌹
A most impressive account that featured details I was not aware of which speaks to the quality of the research done for this piece. Well done and THANK YOU.
Thank you!
Pretty darn awesome Janda Lane! Adds to the history and perfection that is Boston.
Thanks so much!
@@behindthesongpodcast There are several inaccuracies and falsehoods in your narrative and report. First off, Barry introduced Tom to Brad not Jim Masdea. Barry, Tom and Brad played in bands together long before this record was recorded. In addition, the ruse that was put in place to occupy Epic execs to buy time for Tom to completely re-record all of the instrumental tracks that were on the demo was Boylans idea. BTW not one track from the demo that was given to Boylan and Epic was used on the record. Boylan is the one who paid out of his own pocket for the mobile recording truck to come to Toms home studio, run a snake through his basement window and then transfer Toms tracks from Toms Sculley 12 track one inch tape machine to 2 inch 24 track tape so that Brad vocals could be recorded and so that the record could be mixed.
This is beautiful! The whole album has been tattooed on my brain since it first came out.
It always makes me smile to hear the Steppenwolf influence in this masterpiece.
Brad Delp deserved better. So sad what happened. Boston should have been more popular. Not having an album from 78-86 hurt big time. The firing of Goudreau hurt. Never the same after Third Stage. Did see them in 95 and 96 and was grateful Delp was there. Shulz was a genius, but I believe his ego got the best of him and Boston never reached its full potential. My fave band still but could have been even better. Lastly I saw them with Tommy DeCarlo (I think). He was good, but no one was Brad Delp. RIP Brad, you are missed to this day.
Wowwww...just...WOOOWWWWWWW !!!!!! This, "BEHIND THE SONG"....was one...VERY INFORMATIVE...ENLIGHTENING...AND MONUMENTAL piece of work ya'll have created and put together. BOSTON was ALWAYS one SIMPLY AMAZING GROUP to me growing up....and Mr. TOM SCHOLTZ was a MASTERMIND...INNOVATOR...and Musical GURU in my book.....Their 1st 2 albums were PHENOMINAL...SOUND WISE,,,COMPOSITION WISE..ARRANGEMENT WISE...AND HARMONIZING WISE....and now, I know EXACTLY WHY they were HISTORY MAKERS....The info provided about Scholtz was ...AWESOME !!!! I knew he was smart....but damnnnn...a MASTERS..AND A BACHELORS DEGREE...IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING ??? ummmm....Then , i knew he built pedals,amps,gear,etc.....but NEVER KNEW he built his very own damned 4-AND-12 TRACK RECORDING MACHINES to use....Gotta hand it to the man.....GENIUS....ALSO NEVER EVER KNEW---or even woulda ever guessed--that their demos-songs-etc....GOT TURNED DOWN !!!! Bet somewhere there's an EXECUTIVE STILL shakin his head in disbelief !! LMAO.....ANYWAYS , TAHNKS SO SO MUCH FOR THE AMAZINGLY INFORMATIVE VIDEO....THE BAND CHOICE....and-also--NEW SUB HERE....and damn sure gonna be digging this...sharing it...and letting it be known about !!! KEEP UP THE KICK ASS WORK...AND VIDEO PRODUCTIONS OK....PEACE...GOD BLESS !!! #Musicmaker69....aka...JOHN RILEY
I was born in 1969. That made me 7 when this came out. The first time I heard More Than A Feeling on the radio way back in 1976, I was a fan of rock n roll ever since. This was the first album I ever purchased. It is still my favorite album to this day. I doubt anything will ever top it. I still have the original vinyl copy, 2 CDs and an SACD of this album. To me this is the greatest album ever recorded. Even though it’s only my opinion, what other album can anyone name that has been played in its entirety on radio over the course of a day, every day for over 40 years? I’ll be waiting for a response but doubt I’ll ever get a legitimate one😎
I didn't know that story. About how they fooled the record label executives. I appreciate all you do.
An amazing tale! Thanks for watching.
How has this story not been made into a movie?
This album rocks! I have drug resistant non convulsive epilepsy & the entire Boston debut album is like an anti-anxiety medicine in musical form that helps lift me up, forget my worries, & look forward to the day ahead. It also takes me back to the days of cruising the roads before epilepsy cost me the ability to drive
Nice History of the band and their beginnings. Thanks. Their music is timeless. Saw them live in Toronto, at the Maple Leaf Gardens 1978. Don't look back was just released. Amazing sound. Still loved by many people today. I play their music often, still.
Thanks for listening!
I saw them on the same tour in Pontiac Michigan at the new Silverdome. Had to Jump the border from Canada to do it. It was my first big rock concert and still to this day one of the best I ever saw.
Saw them in Albuquerque, New Mexico years ago. WOW! I was Blown away with their talent. Thanks for the music history.
Did they do that funny Skit, where it looked like the Sound Man was playing the guitar too much? But it was Tom in Disguise.
@@rodneyguyette1129 They played for at least 2 hours. I knew they were good. They exceeded my expectations!
They had Melodie’s. The melodies appealed to the girls mostly and the hard rock appealed to the guys. A perfect blend that appealed to everyone. Then he was incredibly lucky to find Brad Delp with his amazing vocal range and original voice.
Don’t care if Guns N’ Roses surpassed their record. Boston’s first album is far better, and overall they were a better band. No cliche Hollywood rock star “bad boy” bullshit, just pure talent. One of the great American bands. There’ll never be another like Boston.
GnR shouldn't be in the same conversation as Bostons
@@grantbaechler3529 They are overrated by today’s standards.
A MASTER INDEED! A TREMENDOUSLY HUGE GROUP: BOSTON ❤️❤️❤️❤️👍👍👍👍😱
I remember hearing Boston for the first time off of WMET in Chicago. Such an incredible band. Nice choice, Janda!
These songs are time capsules! I’m glad you enjoyed this one, Sean.
Totally love what you’re doing. Adding new layers of understanding and depth to the songs of a lifetime! Thank you!
Thanks so much!
Boston wz simply jus Great 👍 I really fascinated with all of the aspects of their music...however extremely impressed with Delps vocals..jus unbelievable!!
This was the first time I heard of Tom’s interest in Todd Rundgren. It makes perfect sense. Their approach to creating music and even engineering an entire album, are so similar. Huge respect for them both ♠️♠️
I've owned every version of this album from vinyl to cd. I've even transferred it to a thumb drive and was actually listening to it today while driving with the top down and wind in my hair................
1976...... Little League baseball practice had just ended. Our coach would load us all in his car and drive us home one by one. When we were all in there he put this 8 track tape into the player and my life changed at that moment.
It was Barry Goudreau's band called Mother's Milk that Tom Scholz joined as a keyboard player, it was Barry Goudreau who introduced Brad Delp to Tom Scholz ... Barry Goudreau was always part of the band, Sib Hashian auditioned for the Band after Dave Currier quit after the showcase for epic, Fran Sheehan brought in Currier after Jim Mesdea was let go by epic ... The rest is history 17 Million debut albums sold ... Barry Goudreau crushes his performance on "Longtime"
@richardacevedo2710 thanks for giving Barry the credit he deserves. Barry's lead and rhythm tone ie the tone that comes from the hands and the guitar itself is different than Tom's and I am continually amazed how many people can not hear the difference.
Boston's Debut Album. Wore my brother's 8-Track Tape out. I was lucky seeing Boston for the first time in concert at Anaheim Stadium Sept 1978. 107 degrees, I even remember the weather that day. Thank you - Janda
Thank you for this!!!! I've been obsessed with Boston for years. Also your video was extremely well done!!
Tom Scholz was the mastermind behind the band, but Brad was the heart and soul (the feeling) of the band. He made you visualize all the scenes he sang about.
And yes I know Tom wrote lyrics also, but Brad gave the life.
I worked in and around the music business in the mid 70’s to the early 80’s, with a few exceptions, what a music executive knows about good music can fit onto the head of a needle
Best ever freshman LP...
I was in high-school when it was released. It was very big❤
Thanx you're the BEST. Great history lesson.
So glad you enjoyed listening! Thank you!
Go Tom!!!!!
Wow !!!! I could not stop listening!!!! I found the story so captivating and intriguing!!!! I found myself totally fascinated with Tom Sholtz and him chasing his dream!!!!! So incredible!!!! 😄🙂😃😇😊🥰🤩😍😃😄🙂🤗😂
Behind the Song. Great job! Thoroughly enjoyed your story of Boston. Very good research.
Wow, so I saw Boston when Tom Scholz was still working at Polaroid…they were a last minute opening act for local band Duke and the Drivers on August 29, 1976 in a small field in Waltham…I have the ticker with Boston written on it and do believe it was all the original members tho after listening this podcast do wonder. They acknowledge playing that concert when they did their 40th anniversary tour back in Boston when I commented on a post, think they did a few other local appearances that summer.
Saw them when they came to Pittsburgh
That's an awesome story. Ellen! The first tour, to me, is always the one to see. 1976 gave us a few more greats including Rumours, Hotel California and 2112 by RUSH. I just started high school that year and my best friend who was a senior, turne
@@jasonlacroix6083 my first concert was that July 1976 (Boston my second) with Fleetwood Mac and Jefferson Starship tho it was pre Rumors...
Thanks for the video Boston's masterpiece rdebut. Is the greatest 1st album in rock n roll history. Listened to it on my -8 track in my car and in 2024 on my high end stereo. IT is fucking timeless. d
I saw Boston in 1977 in St. Paul, MN. They were great! Their debut album was the top album played at parties in 1976, when I was graduating from High School.
What an excellent overview of the debut Boston album and Tom Scholz. Bravo!!
I have just discovered you, and all I can say is... THANK YOU! BOSTON is one of the top albums I must have in a deserted island. A sonic masterpiece!!! Now, the Rock n Roll HOF should seriously see your video! The sin keeps getting bigger and bigger every year that passes. Boston as a band or even Tom Schols as a genius creator, along with Brad Delp as a vocalist, should and truly deserve to be included there. What a shame that is!
OMG, thank you sooooo much for this video!!!! It is sooo great!!!!!
I'm glad you like it
What an excellent piece of rock journalism. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the creation of this epic album which I purchased when it first came out and still own. Thank you, Janda!
Wow, thank you!
"More Then A Feeling" Every guy has that Maryann, I know I do.
You did a great job telling the story of BOSTON ❤
Boston album was the perfect album. I'm happy that I heard this album when it first came out. It was a ridiculously amazing time in rock music. Too bad I would see Sid Vicious walking through Union Square in Manhattan and I was a Punk and forgot about classic rock for 35 years. Subscribed
I knew by just listening to you while i work you HAD to be a DJ and bam i was correct!!!!! I love your voice!!
Boston was the first & favorite 8-track i owned
Janda, you're terrific
Thank you!
Mesmerizing presentation of an unbelievable story behind one of the greatest albums and songs collections of all time! Going to check out your other episodes. Kudos to your creative and production team awesome work.
We really appreciate that! Thank you!
Let me make it clear that Barry Goudreau was the one who played the lead guitar on "Longtime", and the guys played on "Let Me Take You Home Tonight"
In the post litigation liner notes found in the Scholz remaster (not Sony) of the debut Boston record, Tom had to come clean. Barry plays electric rhythm guitar on Foreplay, Long Time and Let Me Take You Home . Barry plays all of the lead guitar solos on Long Time along with the huge power chords in Long Time. Barry also plays lead and slide guitar on Let Me Take You Home.
At last I get the whole story of Boston. Really liked them when they first came out and just awesome the lead voice Bradley Delp. Takes me back to younger years for sure.
The first Boston album was one of the first albums I bought as a kid, changed my life. I am an Uber driver and one of my playlists feature Boston and some of the young kids that get in (when they don't already have their headphones on) hear it and like who is this? Strange they never heard of this band..
Thank you for a brilliant presentation.
Glad you liked it!
Boston was a favorite of mine for years after they first came out 😊😅😂❤😊
Awesome synopsis on this great song, my favorite rock song.
Highly enjoyable and educational!!!!!
He's a composer - like Jeff Lynne; they have symphonies in their heads, the instrument is just the available vehicles to get frequencies to get the musical story realized.
Tom Scholz presented the record label a completed symphony all divided up into numbered hits for them - and they couldn't see how they could make money off it.
Bizzaro world this is.
Tom does not really tell the truth of why his demos never went anywhere until he hired a promoter with inside connections. According to producer John Boylan, Tom was sending in his demos cold. The standard procedure to getting signed at the time this record was made was for the band to record their demo, get their songs on local radio and hire an promoter with inside connections with the big record labels. Tom did NONE OF THIS. He just sent the labels cassette demo tapes. As soon as Tom got connected with and used a promoter with inside connections, he got plenty of attention from the big record labels because he followed the established path to get signed
I put this album on repeat and go to sleep.
It was the Summer between 8th grade and high school for me when it came out. I went to my first high school party (Oooooo!!....lol) just a month or two after it's release. For the 4-5 hours I was there, the only music played was this album. Side 1, Side 2, Side 1, Side 2.....ALL evening.....and not one single party-goer complained. Try that with ANY other album, before or since, and see how long the party lasts. It's impossible to convey to those that didn't experience it just how groundbreaking this album was; Just impossible.....
Great vid; Thanks for posting!! Sparks in Daytona
Thanks for watching!
well done
Don't forget about Dexter Holland from the Offspring... attended the University of Southern California, where he earned a B.S. degree in biology, a M.S. degree in molecular biology, and eventually a Ph.D. in molecular biology in 2017
Mad Genius indeed! 👍🏆
Fantastic! Nice work Janda, Christian, Michael and Julian.
Thanks Matt!
Fantastic!!
As the story goes the only song that came from the LA sessions that made it onto the album was Let Me Take You Home Tonight. If you compare it to the other songs on the album it does have a slightly different feel to it. Brad Delp has solo writing credit on the song as well.
Love you Janda
My first job out of High School was at Scholz Homes in Perrysburg, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo, Ohio.
I would love to hear that original tracks of the music he produced at the beginning of this long road of musical history!
Music. The best rock an roll debut album of all time.
One of my favorite albums of all time! I tried to learn "Foreplay"on the piano. Not nearly as fast though, and my right hand gets sore by the end.
great job love your work
Thank you!
I don’t know if it’s true, but the story I read once was, while Tom was at Polaroid, his task was to come up with a self-developing movie film product, similar to what Polaroid had already accomplished for still photos. Of course, this would’ve eventually been rendered obsolete with the advent of affordable videotape equipment.
Barry Goudreau composed and performed the lead work for Foreplay/Long Time, Don't Look Back, not Tom Scholz!
Correct!
When I went to Tom's home/studio in 1980 in Wayland, MA to bring him some amps to test his new creation "The Power Soak", an amp attenuator, all we talked about was his remote control airplane that had no landing gear and a launching ramp he made. While I had him, I had forgot to mention to him that I should be in his band b/c I know every friggen note on that 1st album on guitar (a poor career move on my part). Tom partly based his modified C3 organ sound on Thijs Van Leer's Hammond B3 organ from the tune Hocus Pocus by the band Focus.
Tom has gone on the record stating that he used an Hammond M3 for both the first and second records. Did Tom "upgrade" to the larger and more complex C3 by then?
What kind/brand of amps did you deliver to Toms home studio?
@@neechee5150 Now that I think about it, you may be right. I was talking to Gary Pihl years later who told me Tom was then using a C3 with his voltage attenuator mod. The amps I brought him were Solid State amps like a GK250, a Yamaha G50 or 100 and a Music Man (ss front end). He wanted to see if the Power Soak would blow them up.
@@guitartec interesting, I never thought that anyone would try to put a power soak on a solid state amp. The Music Man with the solid state front end would be interesting as well. I just don't have much back ground with SS guitar amps other than the Roland JC 120.
Great job and content!
Thank you!
The only problem with Scholz was he was able to come up with about 20 songs. Now, they were fantastic- but that’s not exactly the desired model for pop musicians.
The first album, and most of the second, were written at a certain creative peak in his life. Subsequent Boston albums sound like pieced together hodgepodge-s of some amalgamation to create a record. Tours featured mostly hits from the first two albums, the same songs written during that brief creative peak.
Far better works than most of us could ever produce, but limited in number.
Love to hear [true] stories like this! Very well told also! Just one thing tho,lol! On my album I purchased in '75, Foreplay/Longtime was track 3 on side one, not track 2 on side one.🤷🏽♂️
The Boston debut record was released on Aug 25 1976, so there is no way you purchased the record in1975
Yeah, Tom is definitely great, no doubt about it. A musical genius, a visionary. However, keep in mind it was Barry Goudreau that did a lot of the great guitar work on that debut album, too. Not just Tom. Most notably, all the guitar solos in Long Time are Barry's wonderful creation.
I have heard over time that Barry did the lead on Long Time. Does he play on any of the other songs? I believe he did the intro to Don't Look Back.
@RMLH109 Yes, on Don't Look Back, he did the slide guitar work. Here's the thing, Tom had so much recorded material to choose from. I don't think anyone really knows who did what guitar work on which song. I think Hitch a Ride was all Tom. But it doesn't really matter. Tom's great, and so is Barry. He just doesn't get enough credit in my humble opinion. Then came all the lawsuits, and the outcome of those dictated what Barry could do and couldn't do, and the same with Tom, the same with Brad. It was really hard for all involved. Whenever you get the attorneys involved, it's just not fun. The bottom line is that Tom did a great thing when they remastered and released the 1st album. He gave credit to the guitar work in Foreplay/Longtime to Barry in the liner notes.
Barry contributions to the first two Boston records are substantial enough that Tom could not legally deprive Barry of his original perecentage of the royalties from the first two records.
Barry also played lead guitar 🎸 on Brad Delps"LET ME TAKE YOU HOME TONIGHT". The only song on the 1st album that all 5 original members actually played together on (the recording) and the song 🎵 was recorded in a California studio, not Tom Scholz' basement .😮
Good behind the song. Janda.
What I have never gotten an answer to is why the record label wanted Jim masdea fired for, I'm glad they did cause Sib Hashian was a better drummer in my eyes anyway I was very lucky to have gotten to meet Sib he was like Brad Delp a very nice guy
Wasn't Todd Lundgren the engineer who 'tinkered around' and gave us the Paint program? (I love those programs.)😊
Reminds me of Mark Knopfler's "Money for Nothing." Gottoa go ... this is wonderful. Thanks Ms. Janda Lane! (Subbed, of course.)
Thanks so much!
It is the best album of all times!
I believe the organ was an M-3, not a B-3
Yes, correct.
Some of these facts are wrong. They did have a band name when the were signed on with Epic. The band was called "Mothers Milk" (1973-74), which included Delp and Goudreau. After producing a demo, Epic Records eventually signed the act. Mother's Milk which then was renamed Boston,
Phenomenal. Who is this lady? Why isn't she on TV? Or the radio?
She's on every weekday from 9am-2pm on WDRV in Chicago!
She wouldn't need tv or radio in any case. She already has social media tools to get her places. It all makes tv and radio really seem yesteryear and unnecessary when it comes to self promotion in an age where the internet can do it all.
Why hasn't hollywood grabbed this and made film. It would be epic.
Good question!
Hollywood would screw with it to add drama. Sholz would probably be cast as a black woman. 😂
I saw Boston in concert in 1977. A disappointing show however, the technology did not exist to replicate the fantastic over dubs on the album. I did not at the time how the album was made. It of course a work of genius.
Interesting hearing this you can just imagine how narrow minded some producers were, brilliant band. Along with deep purple live in japan..
Whatever Scholz is putting out there as “Boston” these days might as well be called a Boston tribute band.
Apple released top 100 albums. Boston’s 1st album was on list. What a joke. This is one of the best rock bands of all time period!
Great show!
I wish that I had been an enigmatic front-man. 😅
Do you reply to comments, yes or no? Because you didn't reply to mine, yet you did reply to others that posted within the same time frame.
What is the instrumental track in the background please.
‘Foreplay’ by Boston
The Rockman is not an amplifier, it's an effect. Brad Delp died from carbon monoxide poisoning not carbon dioxide. DG
@deegee8032 the Rockman is a guitar pre-amp with effects onboard that allowed the musician to either record direct from the Rockman pre amp to the console or to plug the Rockman into an amp to play live or in the studio. One of the main functions of the Rockman was to emulate the overdrive and compression that occurs in the power tube section of a Marshall amp driven hard as well as some speaker simulation. The Rockman most certainy is not 'an effect"
So it's 47 years later and they still owe four albums on the contract?
I take my time. Move along.