Recorded 1976-1997
Length 76:14
Label Epic/MCA
Catalog 67622

RIAA Certified 2 Million Copies

BORN IN A BASEMENT...

After years of banging my head playing in unsuccesful bands around Boston, and attempting to record demos in local studios with other musicians, I finally realized this was a dead end. So in 1971 I gave up the glamerous life of U-Haul trucks, schlepping equipment and playing music that no one listened to, and went to work writing and recording alone in my basement. I had never quite gotten what I was looking for by showing bands how to play my songs in "real" studios anyway, and the clock annoyingly kept ticking off how many hundreds of dollars I would owe each time I tried.

My new plan was radical: use all my savings to build a basement studio instead of buying a house, and play all the instruments myself to get exactly the sound I was seeking. Well, almost... my drumming was terrible to nonexistent back then, so my friend Jim Masdea, helped out with drum arrangements. Then using the same overdubbing technique, Brad would sing not just the lead vocal, but all the harmonies and backing vocals as well.

In total we completed six demo songs this way. After years of being utterly ignored I suddenly began receiving inquiries about this unique "band'" including a phone call from a VP at Columbia Records to my cubicle at Poloroid, followed immediately by my jumping up and down on my desk, attracting significant attention from the department manager.

Eventually in 1976, Brad and I were signed to Epic Records and with help from many people of first album was released under the name BOSTON, featuring five of those songs from the demos, including of course, More Then a Feeling.

We had contributions from many talented individuals along the way, most of BOSTON'S songs were recorded in my basement with the same approach used for the original demos. A drum track was played to tape by Sib or one of our drummers (we've had eight, including me!) ant then I'd experimant with each instrument one track at a time, listening to the music come to life as each successive part was added. Finally Brad would do the same thing with the vocals, while I pushed the buttons.

Remastering these songs for the "Greatest Hits" was a labor of love with exhausting attention to detail. The collection now includes BOSTON recordings from all five studio albums spanning nearly 30 years.

Tom Scholz