In subjective terms, Disaster Amnesiac does not recall too much about the United States bicentennial year of 1976. Blurred and fragmentary memories of riding in the back of Dad's Chevy, walking through the aisle of some grocery store, a heat wave at Christmas time and perhaps a bit more. Recall a photo of my family at the National Mall in D.C. for the big Independence Day festivities of that year too. On to the more objective side of things, I do recall that year being a bonanza of great music having been released: Songs In the Key of Life, Jailbreak, Presence, Blondie, Year of the Cat, the incredibly important Ramones debut to name a few (and let's not forget the myriad and largely unacknowledged releases within the always churning DIY underground). From this list it was Boston's debut album that had the most immediate effect on this listener, albeit a few years later, and that's the one which I've turned to the most in the intervening fifty years. That probably outs Disaster Amnesiac as a major nerd at best, and probably aesthetically questionable to some but that being said I keep coming back to the idea of spilling a bit of digital ink about Boston. Right off the listener is treated to the acoustic guitar arpeggio of Tom Scholz and high alto vocal of Brad Delp on More Than a Feeling. Obviously it's been an FM radio staple for decades now and even this fan of Boston must admit to being kind of over it, that is at least until the chorus with its hand claps, driven by the great Seb Hashian on drums takes over and suddenly it ain't so bad. Scholz slides up the neck of his guitar and into that Pop sweet spot, one that Nirvana utilized in an amended fashion a decade and a half hence. Tons of other bands aspired to the power of that wizardly catchy riff. I recall watching the Lunachicks kind of jokingly play the song during a set at Berkeley Square in 1993 or so, but the joke was on them because it was hands down the best tune that they played, in spite of all of their brazen charisma as performers. What happened to Marie Ann one wonders. Not as though I knew it at the time, but when Disaster Amnesiac was repeatedly spinning Peace Of Mind I was really the beneficiary of some pretty sublime Buddhist advice on detachment within the material world. It certainly is easier to listen to its vocal delivery, at least for suburban honkies, than, say a choir of Tibetan monks. I guess that one could accuse it of pedaling base stoner "wisdom" and probably not be too far off of the mark. Still those twinned guitar leads hold up pretty nicely, regardless of whether or not you takes its advice to just go with that 1970s flow and big wind up and fade ending. For many years now Foreplay has often elicited a faux bong rip sound from me. It has that at the time de rigueur Prog jam out thing happening before morphing into Long Time which features more of that easy going "I gotta be me" sentiment so prevalent in the Me Decade. Hopefully the lyricist's paramour didn't get an STD before he walked on outta the door. It strikes Disaster Amnesiac that songs such as this are the type that elicit so much vitriol from the Punk Rock people, but, hey they should be reminded that Scholz was an ardent and vocal explorer of veganism, kind of like the dudes in Concrete Sox or some shit. Say "punk, innit'?" with a Bean Town accent and chill bro. Oh and just like the Hardcore, Boston keeps recycling the same riff over and over, but it's a good one so yeah no worries. Real rockin' vim and vigor is thrown down on Rock & Roll Band as the boys in said band recount their trail of glory. Cigar chomping big wigs wanna party with 'em in Rhode Island and doesn't that sound like a grand time? At least it opened up major label distribution and tour support for Tom, Brad, Barry, Fran, and Seb and they took that shit and rolled with it so good on them. What's so wrong with a good old American success story anyway, right? It's recalled by this reporter that Smokin' was included in a documentary that my worried parents viewed, its subject being the demonic influences that emanated from Rock music. This presumable paean to the Devil's Lettuce was presented as proof of groups such as Boston's Satanic designs on the brains of America's youth. At this point it seems as though everyone is high as fuck on pretty much legal grass and good luck to those States that are now trying to put that genie back into its bottle. The song itself has tight syncopation and Delp delivers a high time partying vocal performance while Scholz gets all organ trio over the joint before some astute tension and release rhythm section jamming and late Psych raving. Fire it on up but remember that Jesus saves. Are the lyrics to Hitch A Ride, presuming that they were penned by him, suicidal ideation from Brad Delp? The question has just arisen in this ancient noggin, just now but it's likely one that will persist. Is the ride being hitched one which crosses that black muddy river? The tune also has a really colorful and well executed organ solo and those hand claps yet again. It's really at this point on Boston that the template has been determined. Those on board with it will stick around for the most part, even though Disaster Amnesiac postulates that the band's cultural relevance will be greatly diminished if noted at all by the end of this century. The society that existed in 1976 is long long gone. Penultimate tune Something About You has morphed into this fan's favorite cut on the album. Something about the florid lyrics is always exciting. They're very romantic, almost saccharine to the point of being wedding band cheez, but could a wedding band ever really pull off the cracking histrionics of Tom Scholz and Brad Delp at their most manic? I think not. Additionally the chord sequence that kicks off the lyric portion is just Pop Rock ear candy, done in, as mentioned, a style that's extinct. Tom's engineering wizardry is in full effect here and it's just dandy for what it is and that's fuckin' alright dude. Let Me Take You Home Tonight strikes Disaster Amnesiac as having been a great tune to blast at suburban house parties as the proceedings died down. Have imagined inebriated teens' awkward approaches towards each other, drunk and high an whatever they could get their hands on. This one could have enhanced the necessary courage for really breaking on through to other side of whatever emotional walls there were. It's also a fine example of Page-ian guitar craft executed by a non-Page human with six strings and a decent plectrum. Its mood sets a perfect tone as an ending statement of the group's debut with that ravin' conclusion.
As Disaster Amnesiac has worked on this post, the writings of Chuck Eddy and Joe Carducci have been at the fore as regards their thoughts on Pop and Rock in general, and of Boston explicitly, at least in the case of the former. Eddy pegged Boston as something like a 1970's Pet Sounds update, and that makes a lot of sense over here in Amnesiac World. Tons of Pop sweetness delivered within a Rock shell; when that shell breaks the gooey nature of the songs comes exploding out and slathers the ears in easily heard audio syrup, something that I just can't deny sometimes. As to the latter writer it's just that his works dealing with musical aesthetics are just so clear and as such deeply imprinted by now. I've read his books extensively and if you desire clear eyed opinions about the how and the what and the why 20th Century music worked you need to read them too.
Boston turns fifty years old this year. It's by no means the most influential release from a year that was an embarrassment of musical riches within an even richer culture. For the most part that's all vanished now, destroyed by forces hostile and ignorant and clueless and greedy. Still it's there like a comfortable old quilt to be wrapped around shoulders fatigued by whatever life has thrown at it, at least that's the case for me. Surely there are others who'd concur.
This post is dedicated to Moon Face and Butterscoth and a guy named Paul.
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