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For those of you who've seen the Boston remasters in Canada or have heard about the remasters already being available in Canada and are wondering why they're in Canada before the US, here's what seems to be the case, based on what I've heard from a couple people.
It looks like these are the original Digipak remasters -- in other words, the ones that were remastered by Sony before Tom Scholz found out about them. I've been told that these don't have the liner notes/pics by Tom or any indication that Tom did any remastering. Apparently, the live tracks credit Nicko Bolas as the person who mixed them. The remasters that Tom worked on are expected to be due out in May. The proper remasters will probably get released in Canada at the same time as the US.
If anybody has more info on the Canadian release of the remasters, please let me know.
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If you've seen the letter from Tom yet (if not, look at the post below) and wondered whether or not it's legitimate, Troy from boston.org has posted on the .org list and confirmed that it is indeed from Tom.
Source: boston.org
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George from the Boston_rocks group has posted a letter from Tom Scholz regarding the Sony remasters.
What the Deuce IS UP With Boston?
My apologies to you all for the unintentional silence about Boston activities and plans, especially concerning a reissue of the first two Boston albums.. Oddly enough I was just beginning a letter like this, when that topic jumped onto my computer, forcing me to drop everything, including communicating with all of you.
So now you know I do see postings on these sites! Not all of them, but enough to know your collective feelings about Boston, and btw, thank you.
Even though half of what I read is dead wrong and the other half I disagree with (you knew I was hard to please...), it's really gratifying to know that so many people appreciate this music and the message behind it. Those of you who just write to say encouraging things, please believe that you have saved me from giving up many times!
So, after the 2004 Boston tour ended, I set about recording some new material. Some of it sounds more like old Boston, some sounds more like later albums, all of it has me excited. Unfortunately I was hampered from working effectively in the studio by complications from a back injury in 2003.
It seems I may have been the victim of something my doctor referred to as acetaminophen poisoning. I used Tylenol regularly on and off the tours for some time, and as I have since read about, this apparently may have wreaked havoc with the health of some important organs. No, I don't mean the Hammond or the pipe organ, I mean mine.
Fortunately I'm now doing much better and back to full strength, and full speed in the studio...OK, I know what you're thinking, just keep it to yourself!
I had to hold up recording for a couple of weeks last year for some overdue studio repairs; three months later I was nearly finished soldering, drilling, and banging when I discovered the announced Sony Legacy Boston reissue on line. (Funny how ex-band members who haven't played in Boston for 25 years knew about these plans ahead of time...) I was mildly surprised to find out that two albums embodying all of my writing, performing, producing and engineering work from the 70's had been "remastered" by someone I didn't know, with added live recordings mixed by someone else I didn't know, and I hadn't even heard it! When I finally did hear it, I wished I hadn't.
Although I got used to getting screwed royally by business types in the music world, the audacity of this particularly inconsiderate liberty with my art got my attention very quickly.
Although I was pretty sure there had been a violation of my rights using the name Boston for this abomination, I decided to try the diplomatic, peaceful approach, averting another war and creating something really valuable in the process: A comprehensive remastering of the two oldest albums to bring the old mixes up to the standards of 21st century recordings.
Fortunately my real manager did a great job of quickly getting Legacy to see my point of view, and change their plans.
Now I know there are those of you who would go out and spend good money (oxymoron) for anything that says "new unreleased Boston," but before you go off on me for committing new releasus interuptus, I want you to know you owe me BIG TIME! The so called new material consisted of two Philly KBFH (despite what you may have read elsewhere) not-our-best-night renditions of Smokin' and FPLY/LT, plus a trashy discard I used to toss in on the first tour 'cause we didn't have enough music for a full set! They didn't even have the name right!
These "bonus" track mixes were obviously not made by Boston. Hearing the huge stereo Boston mix style suddenly disappear when the live cuts started was a little scary (even our live sound is carefully mixed in wide stereo, as most of you know first hand). But the real kicker was a technical problem with Brad's vocal track that showed up as a very distracting constant, weird, phasing.
And that wasn't the worst part, the studio recordings were just transfers to digital using the same EQ moves I prescribed for mastering them 30 years ago when everything had to be done manually, and not very precisely by modern standards. Not only could I hear no improvement, the overly hot sibilant portions that were listenable on vinyl and tape were now nails-on-blackboard piercing. Anyway, if you haven't figured it out yet, I didn't like it.
One good thing though, thinking about live Boston made me realize I have to dig out some tapes and put together some high quality mixes of our tour arrangements; some of them were totally cool. Dude.
So, we got Sony to retransfer from the original stereo analogue mix tapes (not the EQ'd 2nd gen copy companies tend to use) to 24 bit digital, and went to work in Protools going over every second of those mixes until we were nearly batty. It took Bill Ryan and I eight straight LONG days of work, which btw was precisely when I was supposed to be in the FL Keys celebrating my birthday. Finally we made the final adjustments with Toby Mountain at Northeastern Digital, then I joined Kim Hart and Gary Pihl working on the photos and booklet layout revisions. I think you'll like the new pics.
Somewhere in between I wrote a little bit about the famous demo and the making of the first album I call "Make Extra Money Working at Home in Your Own Basement," and also clarified and expanded the credits sections. David Wild of Rolling Stone fame also wrote an excellent piece from a fan's perspective for each album.
But the exciting story is what you're going to hear when you put this CD in your player. The difference is amazing to me. The guitars jump out of the speakers on those power chords, Brad's voice is full and warm in the mix like it should have been, the bass is tight and now you not only hear it, you feel it! I never liked these old mixes on 16 bit CD; now they sound great.
Hopefully most of you will listen to this directly from the CD, not an MP3! Don't get me started....Now exactly when that will be possible via actual release Sony is not saying, but they were in enough of a hurry to ruin my b-day vacation, so presumably it will be very soon. Most recent rumor: mid May.
Btw, lest you think I'm trumpeting here to get sales up, be assured Brad and I don't get treated any better financially from this than we did form the original release. You don't think that just because we wrote it, performed most of the tracks, and produced it we get most of the money do you?
But it was worth taking the time for this. I've always wanted to make those albums sound good on CD, and the chance arrived. It's good to work on your birthday.
Tom Scholz
Source: Boston_rocks Group
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You can catch Tom Scholz and Brad Delp on Off the Record with Joe Benson on Sunday, May 14. Check the Off the Record site for more info and a listing of stations that carry this show.
Source: unclejoe.com
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A member over at gonnahitcharide.com recently contacted Barry Goudreau in regards to the remasters; he got a response.
Last that Barry heard, the remasters were slated for April (which may or may not happen, as the news previously reported). He also said that the live stuff is with the original lineup and is not the live material from the King Biscuit Flower Hour (which used the show from Long Beach '77 - available in the audio section). He also indicated that there's been serious talk of a full live album (which was also previously reported here Feb. 28/06).
Source: gonnahitcharide.com
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This isn't official as of yet, but according to a source close to Jon from gonnahitcharide.com, it seems that the re-releases of Boston and Don't Look Back are now on hold.
No reason has been cited, but it might have to do with the live tracks that will be included with these releases as previously reported. It's not known what source the live material is to come from, or if that has been determined. More info will be posted as it becomes available.
Source: gonnahitcharide.com
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If you're looking to preorder the upcoming reissues of Boston and Don't Look Back (available April 04, 2006), you can order it online at one of these sites:
Boston at Amazon.com
Don't Look Back at Amazon.com
Boston at Amazon.ca
Don't Look Back at Amazon.ca
Boston at SonyMusicStore
Don't Look Back at SonyMusicStore
Track Listing:
Boston
01. More Than a Feeling
02. Peace of Mind
03. Foreplay/Long Time
04. Rock and Roll Band
05. Smokin'
06. Hitch a Ride
07. Something About You
08. Let Me Take You Home Tonight
09. Smokin' (Live)
10. Foreplay/Long Time (Live)
Don't Look Back
01. Don't Look Back
02. The Journey
03. It's Easy
04. A Man I'll Never Be
05. Feelin' Satisfied
06. Party
07. Used to Bad News
08. Don't Be Afraid
09. Help Me (Live)
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COSMO has released another song on their MySpace site, and this time, it's full length! The song is called Gravity. To listen to it, go to their site at http://www.myspace.com/cosmotheband
Source: COSMO MySpace Site
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Well the new Boston album seems to be still a ways off from being released, there will be an album release soon.
Legacy will be releasing remasters for Boston and Don't Look Back. Now I'm sure many fans are wondering why they should bother with getting new copies of albums they already have, well on both albums, there will be additional tracks!
Boston will feature a live version of Smokin' and Foreplay/Long Time and Don't Look Back will feature the previously unreleased song Help Me (aka Shattered Images). In addition, they will be coming out with 12 page bookets that contain photos, new liner notes and some other goodies. In addition, it's being reported that in the near future that we'll see a previously unreleased Live album!
The remasters are set to be released on April 04, 2006.
Source: MusicTAP
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Not only does Kimberley have a newly designed site, but she's also got a page on Myspace. On there, you can read a bio on Kimberley, as well as a blog and hear song samples.
Kimberley's Myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/kimberleydahme