Customer Ratings & Reviews

I bought this the first day of its release, in store, when the store opened. I was surprised to hear so many acoustic instruments on the record, mostly piano. Not much if any Hammond organ which Tom Scholz is known for. Also surprised how much singing Scholz does on the record. His work on "Love Got Away", especially the harmony parts, was well done. I thought I was listening to a Byrds record ! The obvious choice for best song on the record has to be "Sail Away", if not for the late Brad Delp's vocals, for the way the song was crafted. The abrupt ending added to the seriousness of the song. The title cut was unique in the way the title was presented in the song, in three separate parts. I don't think I ever saw that before. Tommy Decarlo does a fine job here.

Boston's first two LPs are still staples of classic rock radio, and Tom Scholz has an unmistakably unique guitar tone. "More Than a Feeling" in particular demonstrates their strengths - soaring vocals and guitars that rocked out. Their third album, cleverly named "Third Stage," arrived almost a decade after their second, and though it was a relative disappointment, it did include a memorable lead single ("Amanda" went to #1 in the US) and a couple of smaller hits and was overall fairly enjoyable. In the interim, Scholz engineered and marketed effects boxes to reproduce his sound - The Rockman - that were fun to play with. I've only picked up one of the two albums that followed "Third Stage" and can't recall a thing about it other than that I didn't particularly like it. This sixth album finds Boston in better form than that one, with some solid hooks and that recognizable Scholz guitar sound, but nothing that sticks with you the way their earlier albums did. Brad Delp, the voice of Boston's earlier hits, has passed away, and the solution of using multiple lead vocalists takes away from the overall consistency of the album, leaving Scholz's guitar as the only unifying thread. If you're a Boston completist, you'll probably enjoy this CD, and I'm not sorry to have added it to my collection, but I wouldn't expect it to win the band new fans or add songs to their rotation on classic rock stations.

I have had this CD for a month. I liked the CD alright at first. It is a true Boston sound. I gave it a month to make sure. It is a disc I am happy to have. If you do not have it, I would suggest getting it.

For any fan of Boston who owns all their CDs, this is a must buy. The classic Boston sound and you will not be disappointed.