Classic Rock Bottom

It's the twenty-sixth album in the series I thought up all by myself!

This week we're going with the 2002 release from Boston, Corporate America. This is the followup to 1994's Walk On so it's another eight year wait between albums.

By this time, I'm sure that Boston fans were tired of the wait between albums or maybe they noticed that Walk On wasn't really that good except for the "Walk On Medley". Of course that could just be me since I found the majority of that album to be fairly bland.

This was the first Boston album that did not reach platinum status at the very least. As a matter of factual fact, it has not even been certified by the RIAA. This was also the lowest charting Boston album, peaking at #42 on the US charts (but #3 on the Top Independent Album chart). 

Personally, I really like this album. It's my third favorite Boston album (maybe even my second, depending how I feel). The first song is a bit bland to me, but it takes off after that. The last song is a live version of a song off of Walk On, so it's a bit of a toss away. Other than those two songs, I really dig this.

I vaguely remember reading something about how Tom Scholz wasn't happy with the production on this album and there was going to be a re-release. I don't think this has ever happened, so maybe it was just one of my dreams.

Allmusic.com kinda likes it!

For all the bad press heaped these days on vintage stadium rock, Boston's Artemis debut resonates with a crisp, fresh energy that's hard to find in the downscale aesthetic of post-punk. As Tom Scholz fans might expect, a metallic sheen gleams across the surface of each track, adding luster to resonant anthems like the politically correct title track as well as more intimate acoustic moments on "With You" and elsewhere. (The same sleek textures coat the album's one live track, a cover of "Livin' for You" that's marred only by the electronic snare drum, which sounds distressingly like the zap of a toy space gun.) Acoustic guitars glisten in fields of dewy reverb, while Scholz's electric leads and fills project a streamlined muscularity. The vocals, delivered by a rotating cast of guests, range from arena stratospherics to whispery folkisms; in the fashion of Phil Spector, Scholz is more concerned with blending them into his timbral landscape than with encouraging interpretive profundities. But that's fine, for Boston has always centered on one man's sonic fantasies, and for better or worse these are undimmed and as assertive as ever, even in the era of Corporate America.

Corporate America

1. I Had A Good Time
2. Stare Out Your Window
3. Corporate America
4. With You
5. Someone
6. Turn It Off
7. Cryin'
8. Didn't Mean To Fall In Love
9. You Gave Up On Love
10. Livin' For You

Availability: OOP, a used copy runs around $27.

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I forgot what the theme of the series is...

Hmmm....

Maybe I should end it here then.

Do not do anything to disturb good ju-ju...  I will rectify this situation quickly...  the name of the series is...

Albums that follow other albums that were successful enough to get a lot of fan attention but the follow-up couldn't sustain that momentum because the bands just couldn't figure out the formula for sustained success so now we get to hear this great time slices of rock and roll.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming...  crisis averted.

I like this album too..  And I like the opener, so I got that going for me.   I too thought they were supposed to fix some of the production issues that plague this album but I think they only re-recorded a few tracks for the ill fated new album which I cant recall the name of because I didn't buy it because it sounded worse than any Boston ever recorded before.  And now we learn that Boston is cancelling shows because they want men to be able to pee in womens bathrooms. I guess if youre going to get behind a cause you might as well make it a social experiment cause.  Congrats, your now in the same boat as that goofball Jonas brother and Demi Lovato!  Losers!

oh yeah this album, back to simpler times... A time when computer generated music was just starting to become prevalent, oh wait, Hip Hop has been doing that for years...

ahem...  back to a much simpler time...  when music was, uh...  it was ... ah, who cares.

I had a Good Time grows on you, the harmonies work and its really a catchy little tune.  The album actually works very well until you get to Without You, which really breaks the album up.  It sounds nothing like a Boston tune and has a female lead.  Its kind of a country feeling tune.  But not in a bad way.  It just feels like it doesn't fit.

Someone gets you back though, another programmed drum track with catchy riffs and choruses.  Kind of a specialty of this band.  Turn It Off is dark and heavy, another bit of a departure but this time it works better in that it still feels like a Boston tune.  Cryin' is another very strong ballad much like Stare Out Your Window.  Didn't Mean To Fall In Love feels like the formula for this album, the drum machine beat feels similar and the keyboard provides atmosphere that works, but then the acoustic guitar kicks in and the Hammond/organ kicks it up a notch.  Too catchy to resist...  Ditto for the closer.

I actually thought this version of Boston was onto something with this album, I had hope that they would rework the best bits of this album with some new stuff when they announced a new album and the rework of this one.  But typical Boston...  Years later something completely different comes out.  Not that that's a bad thing, it just didn't work this time around, like it should have with Corporate America...

I,uh....

ummm......

forgot the title of the latest album as well.

Love & Hope, maybe?

Life, Love & Hope...  had to look it up

2/3 right I was! Whoo hoo!

The only three Boston albums I own are the first three.  I did hear some of the most recent "Boston" album, and I can't say it gave me even a slight desire to pick it up.  I've watched for a couple of the later albums, thinking I'd pick them up if I could find 'em really cheap at the record store, but no such luck.

The first track is kind of a dud.  It just never develops into anything.  But that second track is not bad at all.  It's weird that Brad Delp isn't singing it, and it also has a strong vibe of modern rock like the Goo Goo Dolls or some band like that. Corporate America, I guess that's the obligatory political tune.  I don't mind a political tune at all.  They usually have good intentions.  The verses sound nothin' like the Boston I once knew.  You can hear the classic Boston sound a bit in the chorus, but that's it.  It's not a bad song.  With You is a decent little acoustic number, but it's hard to believe this is a Boston album.  What the heck was Scholz thinking?  He still had Brad Delp.  I don't get it.

The start of Someone is really the first track that feels like Boston.  Even the hand claps. Cosmo sounds good on Turn It Off.  That's actually a pretty good and interesting song.  The production really suits this tune.  Cryin' isn't the slightest bit interesting.  It actually sounds like Oasis, and I'm pretty sure all of you guys totally dislike that band.  Quite honestly, this album feels like it's 8 hours long.  Tracks five and six made a serious attempt to grab my attention, but that momentum is totally gone by track 8.  The final two tracks do nothing to fix this problem.

I've gotta say, although I appreciate the chance to give this album one shot, it did not hit it's mark.  I have no problem leaving post-Third Stage Boston behind me.

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