Boston-Boston (1976)


 

Artist:  Boston

Title: Boston

Label: Epic

Format: LP

Catalog Number: PE 34188

Year of Release: 1976

Country and Year of Edition: US 1976

Sell Price: $9.20

Sell Date: 12/29/24

Condition: G+/VG

Discogs Last Sold: 12/25/24 VG/VG $8.00

Low: $2.00 F/F

Median: $13.22

Average: $34.57

High: $275.00 M/M still sealed

Current low price: $3.99

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 60

Have/Want: 18791/1424

Where Sold: Molalla, OR

Time It Took To Sell:  1 and 1/2 years

Where and When Bought: Facebook $4 lot

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade:  A

Sad To See It Go: No

"Dancin' in the streets of Hyannis/we were gettin' pretty good at the game..."-Rock 'n Roll Band

The last time I sold a copy of the first Boston album it was 2019 and I got $3.99 for it.  This one went for $9.20.  I've got a couple 8-tracks of this sitting around but my vinyl is currently sold out.  For now.

It always blows my mind how an album like this that was ultra-common in used bins would sell online for close to $10, but even more shocking is someone getting $275 for a sealed copy.  Growing up in 70's Massachusetts, every track on this was inescapable.  Considering the 9 million sold in the records first decade had another 8 million US sales certified by 2003, this dominated everywhere.

I've heard people rail angrily about the canned sound Tom Scholtz concocted after his MIT lab development hours.  Layer after layer overdubbed and overdubbed creating a wall that defined corporate rock.  This was music hated by punk rockers and hard rockers alike.    

Boston was no longer simply a city, it was a corporate rock institution. Perhaps too much of one since the band was forced to churn out Don't Look Back in 1978, which really only had one song at the level of anything on this album.  During their big third album comeback they sold out 10 arena nights in a row in Worcester.  I skipped them all.  Brad Delp was driven to a dark place many years after this.  I got to witness him on the first Ringo All-Starr tour in Mansfield, MA 1989 as a special guest before he did a Beatles tribute band called Beatlejuice.

With any of these tracks on the Boston debut, you can imagine a resonant AOR voice of the 70's or 80's advancing or backtracking. More Than A Feeling.  Long Time. Hitch A Ride.  Rock n Roll Band. Piece of Mind. Smokin'. Let Me Take You Home Tonight.  Did I forget any?  Something About You?  As the 80's wore on I found this all to be insufferable, but as with many AOR records I got burnt on hearing, a few decades or more of escape help me hear the music in a new light.  

I can still play the whole thing in my head.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bob Dylan-Blood On The Tracks (1975)

Image
  Artist:  Bob Dylan Title: Blood On The Tracks Label: Columbia Format: SACD Cat: CH 90323 Year of Release: 1975 Country and Year of Edition: US 2003 SACD Promo sticker over barcode Sell Price: $12.20 VG+/VG+ 7/15/24 Discogs Last Sold: 7/7/24 NM/VG+ $8.99 Low: $3.00 Median: $11.63 Average: $12.38 High: $27.00 Current low price: $1.99 F/G+, $9.98 VG/VG+ Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 27 Have/Want: 334/242 Where Sold: Ypsilanti, MI Time it took to sell: 11 years Where and When Purchased: promo Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A+ Sad To See It Go: No "I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form..." "And when finally the bottom fell out I became withdrawn..." Bob's public precursor to his own divorce has taken a strange turn in the public narrative over the years, whether reflecting domestic tranquility or turbulence.   Beyonc é  might tell you she flips pancakes or boils an egg to Blood On The Tracks on a Sunday morning.  Jakob Dylan might rail that ...
Read more

The Byrds-Live At The Fillmore-February 1969 (2000)

Image
  Artist: The Byrds Title: Live At The Fillmore February 1969 Label: Columbia/Legacy Format: CD Cat #: CK 65910 Year of Release: 2000 Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 2000 Listed Condition VG+/VG+: hole punch in UPC Sell Date: 5/6/24 Sell Price:$3.75 Discogs Last Sold: 4/25/24 $7.87 VG/VG Low: $1.75 Median: $4.24 Average: $4.28 High: $7.87 Current low price: $2.50 Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 30 Have/Want: 524/45 Where Sold:Charlotte, NC Time it took to sell: 12 years Where and When Bought: early aughts not sure where in NYC Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A- Sad To See It Go: No One of those releases that looks great on a shelf, but it took me 24 years after buying it to get around to paying any attention to this excellent live recording.  I guess that means I should force myself to read David Fricke's liner notes as well.  Sweetheart Of The Rodeo came out August 30, 1968 only 8 months after The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde came out a week before ...
Read more

Bob Dylan-Bob Dylan (1962)

Image
  Artist: Bob Dylan Title: Bob Dylan Label: Columbia Format: LP Cat #: PC 8579 Year of Release: 1962 Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1970's reissue Listed Condition VG/VG+ Sell Date: 5/2/24 Sell Price:$8.93 Discogs Last Sold: 3/5/24 NM/VG+ $9.00 Low: $3.98 M/VG+ Median: $12.49 Average: $12.81 High: $24.99 M/NM Current low price: $12.00 Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 16 Have/Want: 285/176 Where Sold: Minneapolis, MN Time it took to sell: 9 years Where and When Bought: Worcester used That's Entertainment mid 80's Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A Sad To See It Go: No "You're No Good!" the 3 year old Reverse Collector proclaimed to his mother.  "David! That's an awful thing to say!  Go to your room!"  I was just saying what was on the cover of the Bob Dylan song list on the album I had.  I was a fluent reader by age 3, as opposed to simply memorizing text my parents read to me when I was 2.  I understood the concept of "Good" and "Ba...
Read more