Although over 30 years old now and played to death over the airwaves even today, Boston still sounds fresh and suspended in time. It's due to a number of things: heavy metal that is married more to Beatle-esque melodic hooks than the blues; that huge arena rock sound; and Brad Delp's vocals.
His sweetly soaring tenor was a perfect match for band leader Tom Scholz's grand sound; it was high pitched enough to get heard over all the cascading electric guitars, but much more agreeable to the ear than, say, Geddy Lee. And while he can rock hard like the best of them, he's perhaps more at home on the soulful numbers, such as "Long Time."
Boston's lyrics weren't ever particularly deep, but when Delp sings "Well I'm takin' my time, I'm just movin' on/You'll forget about me after I've been gone", I can't help but think that he was singing about himself, decades later. But he's wrong: no one will soon forget about him. Rest in peace, Mr. Delp.
Glen Boyd: "My Love Is Too Much" from Zipless by Vanessa Daou
Vanessa Daou is this completely unknown singer who also happens to hold the distinction of recording the single most erotic sounding album I have ever heard. Think of the smoky torchiness of someone like Sade, and then apply it to what it might sound like recording your girlfriend as she achieves multiple orgasms and you begin to get the idea here.
Simply put, since I first heard this album in the late nineties, I have never heard anything quite like it since. The playing here, which falls squarely into the late night chill feel is simply exquisite, while Daou's heavily breathed vocals invoke something else entirely that I can't quite put into words, but most red-blooded guys (and more than a few gals) would get instantly. Based loosely around the literary writings of feminist author Erica Jong, tracks like this one as well as "Becoming a Nun," and "The Long Tunnel Of Wanting You" leave little to the imagination in terms of "setting a mood."
Gentlemen, forget those Luther Vandross and Marvin Gaye records. This is an eargasm to truly be appreciated.
Article comments
1 - Pico
Hey Mat: guilty pleasure confessions go on the Culture page. So sez Skeeter ;&)
2 - Mat Brewster
What can I say? Blame my parents. Blame my Oklahoma upbringing. Does it help if I say that alongside Garth in those days was Fugazi, Dinosaur Jr and the Replacements?
3 - Josh
Not really. Let me check again. No.
We've all got those guilty pleasures, and Brewster will always have me to mock him when he cops to one.
4 - Mark Saleski
Garth Brooks a guilty pleasure? bah! i can do better than that.
besides, real men wear their guilty pleasures with pride (plus some disdain for music snobs). hardy-frickin'har!
5 - Mat Brewster
Notice I'm not the one calling Garth a guilty pleasure. In fact I don't feel guilty about it at all. I won't be wearing a cowboy hat anytime soon (or one of those bright, obnoxious shirts for that matter) but I can still stand up and proclaim I dig his swagger and intensity without an ounce of guilt.
And no worries Sir Hathaway, I've got plenty to make fun of you over.
6 - Josh
You may not use the words "guilty pleasure," but you sure don't waste any time putting a disclaimer in there. Instead of a guilty pleasure, we'll call it a remorsefully joyous.
And... if you don't have anything you'll just make something up, so no worries here, Sir Brewster.
7 - Mat Brewster
Yeah, like I could mention the summer you constantly wore that Mariah Carey t-shirt that read "I'll be your dream lover." Pathetic that was.
But I'll be the better man and not mention it at all.