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Boston - Greatest Hits Audio CD

A fair review of the Boston "Greatest Hits" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Boston reviews here, or go back to the Boston tabs.

Boston Band: Boston
Title: Greatest Hits
Rating:
Release Date: 2009-01-27
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: I Had A Good Time 2: Higher Power 3: More Than A Feeling 4: Peace Of Mind 5: Don't Look Back 6: I Need Your Love 7: Cool The Engines 8: Party 9: Feelin' Satisfied 10: Foreplay/Long 11: Amanda 12: Rock & Roll Band 13: Smokin' 14: A Man I'll Never Be 15: The Star Spangled Banner/4th of July Reprise

Real Good Remaster!
I'll just concentrate on the sound quality of this 2007 remaster. I'm not going to write about the songs, because I'm sure that there is nothing I can write that Boston fans haven't read. Well all the songs sound real good. The vocals on "I Had A Good Time" in my opinion sound more clear than the original. The opening guitar riff of "Feeling Satisfied" sound better than any previous versions. On "Higher Power" there is actually a different guitar lick than the original after Brad Delp sings 'The world is spinning, and I'm not afraid'. There is also a variation of the drums after Fran sings 'Let me love you. . . ' Anyways, the tracks do sound exceptional. What bothers me is that there was around 8 minutes left on the cd; enough room for at least another song. I think "We're Ready" was a top 10 hit back in 1986. They could have added that one.


LESS OF A FEELING
Aside from the near perfect pop power of MORE THAN A FEELING, LONG TIME, and the autobiographical ROCK & ROLL BAND, this career review rounds up limp retreads from second album DON'T LOOK BACK (advice Boston svengali Tom Scholz apparently did not heed), and semi-elevator rock from THIRD STAGE. BOSTON-GREATEST HITS: You can wade through this 16 track testimony to 70's high tech and soaring harmonies for the decent tunes, or you can simply slap on their debut album BOSTON, because that's where all of the good stuff still is, even three decades after the fact. Even worse, the "band" attempts abominable new stuff without key vocal slayer Brad Delp, and there's a version of THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER that's about as necessary as a greatest hits collection after the first Boston album. Spare me. RATING: TWO SLICK
.


Can a greatest hits album be too long??
I bought this CD because I wanted to have the seminal Boston pieces in my collection. Boston always was ahead of their time in terms of sound and composition, and Tom Scholz's combination of chops and electrical engineering geekiness provided guitar tones and ensembles that shaped the future of rock guitar recording. This CD certainly provides these in excellent remastered sound quality. So far so good. However I wish that the four or five "filler" songs from their less popular work were omitted (or placed at the end of the disc instead of at the very beginning!!). The disc would have been better without these songs. .


Good, but could be better
But as a major fan, it would have been nice to fill the extra 10+ minutes of the CD with another song or two. A good compilation, with all the Boston songs that most people would know. I'm still not sure why the #9 hit "We're Ready" from the Third Stage album was left off, unless Sony didn't want to pay MCA the rights to use it. It would have been nice to include "Hitch A Ride" from the debut, too, but I guess they couldn't have TOO many songs from the debut, else there'd be no reason for people to buy it! I also would have hoped that the re-release would have had a new cover, as I don't care much for it.


Is this that much better than the 1997 version?
You get all of their hits from the first album and some additonal songs that I wasn't real familiar with but since I didn't own all of their albums on vinyl to begin with, and I can't afford to go out and buy each individual CD now, this seemed like the most economical way to get the most bang for my buck without breaking the bank. I purchased this 1997 version back in November of 2008 and found it to be well worth the $8 I spent in terms of the audio quality and song selection.

It's now my understanding that this release is a remastered version of their 1997 Greatest Hits album. My question is - should I now go back out and pick up this new and improved version as well? Is it really that much better than the 1997 version? How much better does it/could it sound anyway?

Seems to me that Tom Scholz and Boston really ought to consider replacing the old 1997 version with their new 2009 remastered version for those of us that purchased the old version within the last 6 months and weren't smart enough to know they were in the process of coming out with a new and improved remastered version of essentially the same album and bought the old 1997 version instead.

Whaddaya think Tom? Are you out there?

Oh well - you live and learn, I guess.


You can see a complete list of all Boston discography, or go back to the Boston tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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