Frogtoon Music

Third Stage (Album) by Boston

Artist Biography For Boston

Boston Is A Rock Band That Formed In 1974 In Boston Massachusetts United States. Centered On Guitarist Songwriter And Producer Tom Scholz A Former Product Designer At Polaroid Corporation And An MIT Engineering Student The Band's Best Known Works Include The Popular Singles "More Than A Feeling" "Peace Of Mind" "Foreplay/Long Time" "Don't Look Back" And "Amanda" Among Others. Their 1976 Self-Titled Debut Is The Second Biggest-Selling Debut Album Of All-Time In The U.S. With More Than 17 Million Copies Sold. 'Third Stage' Was Only The Second Album To Ever Be Certified Triple-Platinum In Its First Month Of Release In November Of 1986. The First Was Lionel Richie's 'Dancing On The Ceiling' Which Did It One Month Earlier. The Group First Formed In The Mind Of Tom Scholz Who Had Long Expressed Interest In Melodic Rock And The Fine Particulars Of Recording Technology. Even As A Child He Tinkered With Just About Anything Mechanical Or Electronic That He Could Get His Hands On. Prior To His Musical Career Scholz Received Both A Bachelor's Degree In 1969 And A Master's Degree In 1970 In Mechanical Engineering From The Massachusetts Institute Of Technology. He Then Began Working For The Polaroid Corporation As A Senior Product Design Engineer. Scholz Would Then Reside In Boston. Creating Demos In His Own Home Inspired By Contemporary 70s Progressive Rock And What Came To Be Known As "album Oriented Rock" "aor" Scholz Attracted The Interest Of Epic Records Who Signed Scholz To A Recording Contract. Vocalist Brad Delp Who Was Born In Peabody Massachusetts In 1951 Scholz Is About Four Years Older To French-Canadian Immigrants And Was Inspired To Sing After Seeing The Beatles Perform On The Ed Sullivan Show In 1964 Served As A Sort Of Not-So Secret Weapon For Scholz's Project. Delp's "golden Voice" Has Inspired Numerous Later Rock Artists To Take Up The Microphone. Scholz Believed That His Demos Were Good Enough To Be The Released Album But Epic Told Him To Rerecord Them. Most Of The Guitar Bass And Keyboards Were Performed By Scholz Although Other Players Were Involved Sporadically Throughout The Recording Of The Album. Epic Did Not Want The Album Recorded Entirely In Scholz's Home As Scholz Intended They Suggested Using A Recording Studio But Most Of What Ended Up On The Album Was Ultimately Recorded By Scholz In His Basement. 'Boston' Was First Released By Epic Records On August 25 1976. Few Industry Insiders Thought A Guitar-Heavy Rock Record Could Make Much Of A Dent In The Charts As Disco Ruled The Airwaves At The Time. The Album Broke Out Of Cleveland First And The Following Week It Had Been Added At 392 Stations. Scholz Then 29 Still Worked At Polaroid During The First Few Weeks Of The Record's Success And Felt Wary Changing His Mind When The Album Quickly Sold 200 000 Copies. Critical Praise Also Came To The Band For Example Rolling Stone Wrote That Boston's "affinity For Heavy Rock & Roll Provides A Sense Of Dynamics That Coheres Magnetically With Sophisticated Progressive Structures." The Album Was Certified Gold Just Two Months After Its Release And It Sold Another 500 000 Copies Within 30 Days Going Platinum For The First Time In November 1976. With Songs That Became Rock Anthems Such As The Evergreen "More Than A Feeling" 'Boston' Is The Second Best-Selling Debut Album Of All Time In The United States Falling Just Short Of Guns N' Roses' 'Appetite For Destruction'. Many Critics Have Named It As One Of The Best American Albums Of All Time. Its Popularity Was Not Only Huge But Also Durable Into The 2000s It Was Believed To Be The Only 1970s Album That Still Had Every Single Track In Regular Rotation On Classic Rock Radio. With A Touring Unit Coming Together Around The Line-Up Of Barry Goudreau Tom Scholz Sib Hashian Brad Delp And Fran Sheehan The Band Played To A Wide Variety Of Crowds Big And Small Receiving Strong Fan Support. Feeling An Essentially Unbearable Amount Of Pressure To Come Up With Another Commercial Mega-Hit Scholz Still Desired To Experiment With His Sound And Had A Growing Sense Of Perfectionism. 'Don't Look Back' Came Out On August 2 1978 Viewed By Scholz As A Hurried Effort But Picking Up Widespread Success. It's Been Certified As Multi-Platinum And Its Title Track Has Become A Classic Rock Staple. Acrimonious Fighting With Label Epic Records Which Soon Became A Long Drawn-Out Legal Fight Left The Future Of The Band Stalled. Their Next Work 'Third Stage' Came Out In September 23 1986 Quite A While After Their Sophomore Work. Bad Luck And Ill-Will Seemed To Trail The Group With Floods And Power Failures Halting Many Studio Sessions. Still The Album Went To #1 On The Billboard 200 Where It Stayed For Four Weeks. In Addition 'Third Stage' Was Only The Second Album To Ever Be Certified Triple-Platinum In Its First Month Of Release In November Of 1986. As Stated Before The First Was Lionel Richie's 'Dancing On The Ceiling' Which Did It One Month Earlier. Nonetheless Boston Seemed To Have Gotten Stuck. On March 9th 2007 Brad Delp Vocals Committed Suicide At His Home In Atkinson New Hampshire. He Was 55. Delp Sang All The Lead And Harmony Vocals On Boston's First Three Albums. Though Well Known For His "golden" Voice With Soaring Vocals And Range Delp Was Also A Multi-Instrumentalist Playing Guitar Harmonica And Keyboards. Additionally He Wrote Or Co-Wrote Several Songs For Boston And Many Other Artists. More Than 10 Years In The Making Boston Came Out With A New Studio Album "Life Love & Hope" In 2013. Founding Member Tom Scholz Stated "These Are Songs From The Heart Each Of Them Taking Many Months Of Effort To Write Arrange Perform And Record Always Up To The Demands Of Boston's Harshest Critic Me. They Have All Been Meticulously Recorded To Analog Tape On The Same Machines And Equipment Used For Boston's Hits For The Past 35 Years." The Band With Scholz And A New Lineup Toured Extensively In 2016-2017. Boston's Web Site Is At Www.Bandboston.Com

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Frogtoon Music Album Info: Third Stage

Third Stage Is The Third Studio Album By The Rock Band Boston Released On September 26 1986 On MCA Records. It Was Recorded At Boston Co-Founder Tom Scholz's Hideaway Studio Over A Long Strained Six-Year Period "between Floods And Power Failures". Scholz And Vocalist Brad Delp Were The Only Original Members. The Lyrics Invoke Themes Of Aging And Working Through Stages In Life. The First Track And Lead Single "Amanda" Became A #1 Hit And One Of The Group's Best Known Songs. The Album Itself Was Eventually Certified 4× Platinum By The RIAA. After Winning A Legal Battle With Epic Records Scholz Switched Boston To The MCA Record Label. The Album's First Track "Amanda" Had Been Written In 1980 When Boston Began Work On The Album And Became The Band's Only #1 Single. It Reached #1 For Two Weeks In November 1986. The Second Top 10 Single "We're Ready" Reached #9. The Singles "Cool The Engines" And "Can'tcha Say You Believe In Me /Still In Love" Also Got Substantial Airplay With The Former Reaching #4 On The Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart And The Latter Peaking At #20 On The Billboard Hot 100 In 1987. "Can'tcha Say" Remains Boston's Last Top 40 Hit. After Only Three Weeks On The Chart Third Stage Reached #1 On The Billboard 200 For Four Weeks. It Is The First CD-Formatted Album To Have Been Certified Gold 500 000 Copies By The RIAA. It Was Also Certified Gold In The LP Format Believed To Be The First Album Certified In Both Of These Formats. In All The Album Was Certified 4× Platinum. It Is The First Boston LP With Electronic Drum Samples The First To Include Songs Not Written By Either Scholz Or Brad Delp The First Boston LP Without Original Members Barry Goudreau Sib Hashian And Fran Sheehan Though Hashian Played Drums On Four Tracks And Sheehan Was Included In The Early Recording Session And Received A Writing Credit . Jim Masdea Plays Drums On Most Of The Album. It Is The First Boston Recording To Use The Rockman Guitar Processor Invented By Scholz. No Orchestral Sounds Or Synthesizers Are On The Album. Critics Have Noted That The Album Has A Darker More Somber Tone Than Boston's Previous Work.