1001 Albums Summary

Classics like Levon, Tiny Dancer, deeper cuts like Indian Sunset and Madman Across The Water also help, but weaker songs like Razor Face, Rotten Peaches and All The Nasties all struggle to have unique identities or stand out from each other. The lyrics sometimes feel too vague or obscure to fully get into on some songs. I still want to revisit this album, open to reassessing and giving it a higher score, the lyrics and hooks may just need more attention to stick.

Great album, took a few listens to stick since it’s largely covers and I first listened to the mono version. Hearing the stereo mix on headphones made me appreciate the band and the performances. Highlights are Ole Man Trouble, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long, You Don’t Miss Your Water and the great covers of A Change Is Gonna Come and My Girl. The only letdown is that they chose not to use the far better uptempo version of Respect that appears on the deluxe edition.

In the past I’ve never been a fan of arena rock or this style of “rock n roll”, so I’ve always counted Boston and their debut out. Listening through it’s hard to deny the expertly meticulous layering of guitars and vocal harmonies throughout. Brad Delps vocals cut through the walls of guitar, parallel thirds dance out between lead guitars, every song seems to contain at least 5 diving pick scrapes and each acoustic guitar is recorded warmly and intimately. Listening to this record in 2026 it’s overshadowed by the endless mimicry that spun out obnoxiously corny hair metal and hard rock anthems that serve to populate beer commercials, frat parties and Marvel movie fight scenes. The style spun out of this era is my least favorite innovations in music; ignorant, misogynistic, testosterone fueled rock that was used to prop up the homophobia and racism of the “disco sucks” movement. This album existed before all that and it’s hard not to feel the heart behind it shine through. Every obnoxiously xeroxed style in music that gets more ridiculous with each imitation always started with someone chasing something no one had done before just for the love of music, I can hear now how this record is one of them.

Overall enjoyable listen, super unique sonically, reminds me a lot of The Avalanches on some songs. Definitely want to revisit and dive deeper into this album.