In the mid-1970s, anything was possible in music. Progressive rock was at its peak, pop music was flourishing thanks to ABBA and similar artists, the disco wave was slowly gaining momentum and Bob Marley's reggae was becoming increasingly popular. In the UK, punk emerged as a distinct counter-movement to the established music scene. AOR was flourishing. The debut albums by Boston, Toto and Foreigner were released within a very short space of time, while bands formerly associated with prog, such as Styx and Kansas, jumped on the AOR bandwagon and saw their record sales multiply. Boston's eponymous debut album, released in 1976, effectively sparked the AOR craze. I well remember how often the single 'More Than a Feeling' was played on the radio, and how captivating I found the album's sound. However, time has somewhat diminished the album's appeal: on the one hand, it embodies virtually every AOR cliché that has been heard ad nauseam; on the other hand, it is important not to listen too closely to the cheesy lyrics. While poor lyrics were the norm back then, to me, Boston’s debut feels like a hackneyed cliché from a bygone era, both lyrically and musically. Nevertheless, it’s hard to resist the powerful compositions and Tom Scholz’s guitar work. While it is certainly the epitome of AOR, setting aside fan bias, one must admit that Scholz simply fused elements of hard rock and blues rock. That’s good, but it’s no world-changing revolution.