If you look at the time between each album; their debut album
came out in ’76, then their follow-up Don’t
Look Back came in ’78, Third Stage
in ’86, Walk On in ’94, Corporate America in ’02 and their most
recent album Life, Love & Hope
released last December. With the exception of their first two albums, there
were some pretty significant gaps between albums, and some major line-up
changes that came with it. The bands first two albums are the only ones to
feature the same musicians. After that, band leader and guitarist Tom Scholz decided no musician, other
than lead vocalist Brad Delp, was
good enough to be in the band and not only started changing the line-up over
and over again, but he also started playing most instruments on every album
starting with Third Stage.
At first, this Tom
Scholz fuelled Boston seemed
pretty well. Third Stage is a
terrific album, and Walk On, at least
I think, is a tremendous guitarist’s album, despite not featuring Brad Delp on vocals due to his
temporary commitments elsewhere (Fran Cosmo did a hell of a job filling in though). It was the album Corporate America that I just felt something wasn’t right. Perhaps
it’s because it’s the only album that features a healthy amount of songs, four
to be exact, that weren’t written or co-written by Tom. I don’t want to go long
into it, so I will end my discussion of Corporate America by saying with the
exception of a few songs; there was a lack of magic and a bit too much
production put in to it.
After the tragic death of Brad Delp, many fans, especially myself, pretty much wrote off Boston from ever doing anything again.
We should have known better because eventually, Tom Scholz put together a new
line-up featuring some familiar people, such as keeping guitarist Gary Pihl who now remains the second
longest serving member of the band. As well, Tom added a few vocalists, one of
which being Tommy DeCarlo, who was
lucky enough to have been discovered on YouTube and was suggested to Tom that
he join the band. I’ve seen this line-up perform. Believe me, it is pretty
good, and I’m not just saying that because it’s the best you’re probably going
to get.
So that brings us to this past December, when Tom Scholz did
the unthinkable and released their sixth album, Life, Love & Hope. I just had to get this album to see if it
was worth the wait, and frankly it was what I expected. (My expectations weren’t
too high, but they weren’t low either). The album opens with a pretty good
track, Heaven on Earth, sung by
guitarist David Victor who embodies
an exceptional Brad Delp element to his voice. The song has great melodies, and
the guitars sound as full as ever with that patented Boston tone. The problem
is the drums, just like on Corporate America, they are played by Tom Scholz and
sound VERY electronic. At this point though, the drums aren’t a problem.
The album has a few songs re-mastered from the Corporate
America album. Really this was just an excuse to get Brad Delp’s voice on the album, so I won’t complain with the decision.
Especially because Tom chose some of the few songs from Corporate America that
I truly like such as I Didn’t Mean To
Fall In Love and Someone (re-titled
“Someone [2.0]). There are some differences in the mastering of the songs, but
frankly if you have the Corporate America album, you don’t need these songs.
The same goes for You Gave Up On Love
(2.0), which was slightly re-recorded to feature some of Tommy DeCarlo’s
voice.
Brad Delp’s voice is
luckily featured on one previously unheard song on the album, Sail Away. This song, which follows the
two-minute instrumental Last Day of
School, is probably the best moment on the album. Yes that reason is mostly
because we get to hear Brad’s voice, but at the same time, the song is pretty
great musically. It has a build up at the beginning that reminds me of
something that you’d have heard on Third Stage and features both the power and
beauty in Brad’s voice. The song isn’t a ballad, and it’s not a hard rocker. It’s
just a powerful song.
Tommy
DeCarlo’s vocals don’t sound out of place on the album at all. The
title track, Life Love and Hope is a
good performance on all accounts except for the drums. The drums just really
ruin the song’s potential, but luckily Tommy’s well put effort doesn’t go
unnoticed. Someday is a good upbeat
song, this time around the drums don’t ruin the track, but the sound still somewhat
annoys. However, as an all around song, instruments, vocals and all, I feel the
song is one of the most standout songs on the album.
Former bassist/vocalist Kimberly
Dahme has a lead vocal spotlight on the album as well (not including other
moments on the album when she provides back-up vocals). The song If You Were In Love could only have
been better if Brad sang it. Kimberly’s voice fits the song very well on this
track regardless. Another unique lead vocal appearance on the album is by Tom
Scholz. Tom has never had a lead vocal on a song before. He’s had moments where
his voice is heard on the previous two albums, but Love Got Away is when we finally hear what his singing voice can
do. The song has a similar structure as many songs to this point; it starts off
slow and sweet, almost like a ballad, but then it picks up a bit (with that
same drum beat). This song does have some good acoustic parts, and I love the
sound of the organ, which I feel isn’t heard nearly enough on the album
compared to past Boston albums, and the best guitar solo was saved for this
song. Tom’s voice isn’t the best, but he can sing. I’m thankful this is the
only song he sings.
The album ends with the only true ballad, The Way You Look Tonight, sung by
Tommy. The song is probably the nicest sounding song on the album, but is yet
again sort of ruined by the drums, so much so that the song kind of sounds the
same as many other songs on the album, but if it weren’t for the drums, this
would be a very special song and a good closer for the album.
I want to say Life,
Love & Hope is good. I really do, but I can’t. The truth is, the songs
are all really good and they do sound different enough from each other, but as
I mentioned time and time and time again, that electric drum sound playing
practically the same beat in well over half of the songs is just so
unfortunate. The heavy fluctuation of singers on the album gets confusing, just
like it did on Corporate America. It
is likely that this is the last album we’ll ever see by Boston, and I find it to be a rather anti-climactic ending to one of
my favourite bands and one of the most underrated successful rock bands in
history.
ALBUM HIGHLIGHT
“Heaven on Earth” – The opening track
to the album has a good way to reminding listeners how good Boston can be at
making beautiful and powerful sounding songs. Most aspects that make Boston
such a special band are present here, from the tone of the many heard guitars,
to the melodic vocals.
FINAL RATING
7.5 (Out of 10)
Track List:
1.
|
"Heaven on Earth"
|
3:37
|
2.
|
"Didn't Mean to Fall in Love"
|
5:13
|
3.
|
"Last Day of School"
|
2:02
|
4.
|
"Sail Away"
|
3:42
|
5.
|
"Life Love and Hope"
|
3:57
|
6.
|
"If You Were in Love"
|
4:10
|
7.
|
"Someday"
|
3:44
|
8.
|
"Love Got Away"
|
4:28
|
9.
|
"Someone (2.0)"
|
4:00
|
10.
|
"You Gave Up on Love (2.0)"
|
4:05
|
11.
|
"The Way You Look Tonight"
|
3:52
|
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