Tom Scholz - guitars, keyboards; Brad Delp - lead vocals; Barry Goudreau - guitar, vocals; Fran Sheehan - bass, vocals; John Hashian - drums
This late show from Boston's 1977 appearance in Long Beach was recorded while the band was making Don't Look Back, their second multi-platinum release, which was released that year. The band was still promoting the first album, and most of this show consists of songs from that classic Boston record. One that yielded such hits as "More Than A Feeling," "Rock and Roll Band," "Something About You," "Smokin'," and "Long Time." They do, however, offer up "A Man I'll Never Be," which, at the time, had yet to be recorded.
This recording proves that while the band may have been the ultimate example of corporate rock on vinyl, they certainly were a great live band. Recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, this concert is proof that Boston had strong musical chops. The band remained viable and active through 1986, when their third album, Third Stage, was released. Then Scholz, an obsessive perfectionist, began a nearly ten year hiatus where he took time to start his own successful audio processing equipment company that features a number of inventions he had developed to assist him in making Boston albums. By the time he returned with 1994's Walk On, he had been sued by Goudreau (for hurting his solo career) and by Epic for taking too long to deliver the band's third and fourth albums. By then, he was the lone original member left in the band. Hence, Walk On was a failure both critically and commercially.
In 1975, guitarist/songwriter/inventor/electrical engineer Tom Scholz, with a master's degree from MIT, was working by day at Polaroid. By night, he was recording feverishly with his own rock band, Boston, that also consisted of fellow Bostonians Brad Delp on vocals, Barry Goudreau on guitar, Fran Sheehan on bass, and John "Sib" Hashian on drums. Spearheaded by Scholz, they spent most of 1975 writing an album's worth of songs that would eventually transform itself into one of the most successful debut albums by a rock band in history. Those demos, with virtually little overdubs or changes, became the first Boston album, released on Epic Records the following year.
Scholz reunited with Delp for 2003's Corporate America, which seemed very dated compared to what was being played on rock radio at that time. In 2006, it was announced that the original lineup was getting back together for a new album and tour, but that project dissipated when Delp tragically and unexpectedly committed suicide in March of 2007.