Boston

Boston is the debut album on which Brad Delp's high, clear voice runs through Tom Scholz's layered guitars and meticulous studio work. It is packed with sound that Scholz — an MIT mechanical-engineering graduate and Polaroid engineer — polished over a long time in his home basement studio. The lineup adds Barry Goudreau (guitar), Fran Sheehan (bass) and Sib Hashian (drums) to Scholz (guitar/keyboards) and Delp (vocals). The songs have the thickness of hard rock, yet the melodies and choruses are designed so clearly that they stick after a single listen. The openness of "More Than a Feeling," the power of "Peace of Mind" and the development of "Foreplay/Long Time" show the band's technique and approachability at once. "More Than a Feeling" became a US number 5 hit, and the album reached 17x Platinum, becoming the best-selling debut in US history at the time. An origin point of arena rock, where finely crafted sound arrives as natural exhilaration.