{"id":2372,"date":"2012-10-09T11:56:02","date_gmt":"2012-10-09T15:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westwoodvalley.com\/?p=2372"},"modified":"2012-10-09T11:56:02","modified_gmt":"2012-10-09T15:56:02","slug":"my-musical-evolution-part-293-roach-days-revisited-third-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wrharrison.com\/musicalevolution\/2012\/10\/09\/my-musical-evolution-part-293-roach-days-revisited-third-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"My Musical Evolution – Part 293 Roach Days Revisited Third Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Boston<\/a>Wow, the first Boston<\/em> album to come out in years! I had heard all manner of rumors regarding the long absence of new Boston material. One was that the guitarist severely broke his hand and was rehabbing for years. I should see if Bing.com heard that one. OK so the reality is much more frustrating and less glamorous. It all revolves around lawsuits and contract disputes.<\/p>\n

I must admit that I never felt that Third Stage <\/em>lived up to my hopes. I liked Boston’s <\/em>first album, it was one of my first two Compact Discs. <\/em>I loved Don’t Look Back <\/em>even more. Somehow, Third Stage <\/em>just didn’t do it for me. I do like how they reworked my favorite song, The Journey <\/em>from Don’t Look Back<\/em> into The Launch.\u00a0 <\/em>A few years later I would often crank The Launch <\/em>on my super stereo in my truck.<\/p>\n

Apart from a few initial listens and some select tracks on some mix tapes, Third Stage<\/em> has long gone unplayed. As I listening to it again today, I’m not sure why. I can hear all the things that I love about Boston. <\/em>The unique sounds of the guitars, the eloborate orchestrations and vocal elements all scream classic Boston, yet somehow, the songs don’t seem quite as attention grabbing.\u00a0 I can’t quite put my finger on it. Imagine taking a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with Turkey, mashed potatoes, and all that stuff. Now repackage everything. Instead of Turkey carved at the table, it is the deli kind of turkey you might get on a Subway sandwich.\u00a0 Turn the mashed potatoes into french fries. The result, is that it is still turkey and potatoes but it isn’t Thanksgiving anymore. Does that make sense?<\/p>\n

This album would have been much more admired if it didn’t have the previous two albums to set the expectations.\u00a0 I mean if you could go back in time and take a couple tracks of this album and include them on each of their previous two, they would fit nicely and sound like they belonged. They really are good, it is just that the bar was set so damned high.<\/p>\n

In a wierd way, this album reminds me of Mike Oldfield’s <\/em>Tubular Bells 2.\u00a0 <\/em>On that album he does several tracks that seem to be sort of alternate takes from Tubular Bells.\u00a0 <\/em>As a fan of Tubular Bells, <\/em>it is easy to pick out each segment and relate it back to the corresponding piece.\u00a0\u00a0 Here it seems that The Launch is the Third Stage <\/em>version of The Journey.\u00a0 To Be A Man = A Man I’ll Never Be. Cool The Engines = It’s Easy.\u00a0 <\/em>Maybe i’m reading too much into it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amanda<\/em>
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