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Hobby Forum Index » Music - Beatles » OT: Boston...
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| Bernie Woodham... |
 Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:50 am |
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For some reason the other night I got really curious about the band Boston.
I never really knew much about the backstory, I'd heard it was mainly the
inspiration of an engineer and I assumed it was a studio engineer, like a
producer.
So, I headed over to Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_(band)
(I think you'll have to add the closing parenthesis to that url).
What I heard wasn't far from the truth. Interesting that Tom Scholz took a
few years to create the first lp and resented the studio rushing him for the
second.
It's quite a story, this guy overcoming all the adversity thrown at him to
keep the rights to the band name and his fight against CBS. CBS withheld
royalty payments so he wouldn't have the money to hire a lawyer to defend
himself. So, he starts a company producing guitar equipment. Incredible.
Also sad to hear that the singer Brad Delp committed suicide just last year:
"On March 9, 2007, Delp was found dead in his home in Atkinson, New
Hampshire. Delp, who was only 55, died from the smoke of two charcoal grills
he lit inside his sealed bathroom. He was found by his girlfriend Pamela
Sullivan lying on a pillow on his bathroom floor with a suicide note pinned
to his shirt stating that he was a "lonely soul".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Delp
In between performing for Boston and another band he played in a Beatle
tribute band called Beatlejuice. (So there, the post is on topic afterall!).
Here is a great youtube clip of them performing "More Than A Feeling" way
back in 1979:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AlzsP4jN1E&feature=related |
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| tom at (no spam) aerovons.com... |
| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:21 pm |
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Apologize if there is a double post here, nothing showed up when I
first attempted to reply.
Quote:
Too many acts get this sort of detached approval, based on pure
technical-polish criteria.
There was nothing detached about my praise for the group, nor did I
detect some weird out-of-body approval of them by other posters;)
Quote: This mindset always makes me deeply grimace.
I understand, as there are artists who have that kind of rep who move
me not.
Quote: It's like when I see drummers get patted on the head for playing "in the
pocket."
Playing "in the pocket" is usually only dissed by musicians who
can't;)
Quote: It's why we have Toto.
We should all be so fortunate as to play as well as the Pocaros, and
Lukather, and do it on great records like "Rosanna" and "Africa," but
I realize your personal tastes seem to lean toward more earthy
adventures in sound and performance. I like both.
Quote:
Their lack of angst is a breath of fresh air, heard today.
This cliched, common-to-Usenet "angst" complaint is about 15 years out
of date, at this point.
The truth is never out of date, but often out of fashion.
TH |
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| poisoned rose... |
| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:23 am |
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<tom at (no spam) aerovons.com> wrote:
Quote: Too many acts get this sort of detached approval, based on pure
technical-polish criteria.
There was nothing detached about my praise for the group, nor did I
detect some weird out-of-body approval of them by other posters;)
To me, it's like 45-year-olds with mullets comparing the horsepower of
their luxury cars. It's like seeing a gorgeous, sexy blonde and
commenting that "She carries herself well." It just seems like such an
incredibly soulless, juiceless way to view music.
Quote: It's like when I see drummers get patted on the head for playing "in the
pocket."
Playing "in the pocket" is usually only dissed by musicians who
can't 
It's not a question of being able to play "in the pocket" or not, but
the idea that this is the ultimate compliment. That any sort of
"stretching" which might add a raw moment of spontaneity is frowned upon
as a gaffe in decorum, and it's all about sustaining sort of a
sweatless, restrained tastefulness. Immaculately crafted competence. The
perfect grilled-cheese sandwich.
It's yacht rock.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Lnt0h7P-Uk
Quote: It's why we have Toto.
We should all be so fortunate as to play as well as the Pocaros, and
Lukather, and do it on great records like "Rosanna" and "Africa"
What does it matter how nicely they "play," if their songwriting is
totally generic? If they have nothing to say as artists beyond simply
demonstrating that they're "tight players, man"? It's like judging the
entirety of music by the same standards by which you'd judge the utility
of a career session player.
Boy, you're hitting all my syntactical pet peeves tonight. Talking about
"great records" is another tip-off for me. To me, it signals more of
that "songs as streamlined, mechanical product" mindset.
Quote: Their lack of angst is a breath of fresh air, heard today.
This cliched, common-to-Usenet "angst" complaint is about 15 years out
of date, at this point.
The truth is never out of date, but often out of fashion.
If you look at what's popular today, the "it's all about angst" label
simply doesn't wash. It's a grunge-era clich. It's an old standby which
curmudgeons who don't stay current lazily rest upon.
Look at the top 100 albums or singles, and ask yourself how many of them
can be easily pigeonholed as "angst"-based music. Even the emo stuff is
more "whiny" than angsty -- it's much lighter in tone than the
Nirvana/Nine Inch Nails-era stuff which birthed this complaint. |
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| poisoned rose... |
| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:36 am |
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poisoned rose wrote:
Quote: If you look at what's popular today, the "it's all about angst" label
simply doesn't wash. It's a grunge-era clich.
I meant to type option-e to type an accented "e," but instead I hit
command-e -- which sends the post (prematurely, in this case). I guess
the post was pretty much done anyway, but I might have added a little
more. |
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| blackburst at (no spam) aol.com... |
| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 4:18 pm |
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I worked at a TV station in the 80s-90s, and I was lucky enough to
hear versions of the story from two sources:
The first was Jim Masdea (pronounced maz-dee-uh). When Scholz did his
first demo tape, Jim was the drummer. By the time Scholz got the
record deal, he and Masdea had parted company, and Sib Hashian (now
the drummer for Ernie and the Automatics) took over the drum stool.
But one or two of the demo tapes with Jim made it onto the first
album! Jim came to our studio with his then-band, and we chatted about
the breakup for some time.
A few years later, we had Beatlejuice on a show, and I had a chance to
chat with Brad Delp about Boston.
The stories they told were very much in line with a big article on
Boston in Musician magazine. Egos, control, musical issues, etc. Both
thought Scholz was an immensely talented guy, but he could be
difficult to work with. But so could other members of the band. Delp
always tried to be a peacemaker, but he kept on being drawn into
controversy.
Yes, the music had a sterile feel, and it was derivative. But it was a
landmark piece of work for the time. I was marketing myself as a
musical artist in LA not long after it came out, and when the people I
was trying to impress heard where I came from, all they wanted to talk
about was the Bston phenomenon. |
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