Despite this, the duo built a small studio near Watertown, Massachusetts to record ideas. The two-who shared a concept of the perfect rock band, one "with crystal-clear vocals and bone-crunching guitars"-viewed themselves as only part-time musicians. By night, he played keyboards for bands in the Boston bar and club scene, where he collaborated with keyboardist/drummer Jim Masdea. After graduating with a master's degree, he began working for the Polaroid Corporation in the product development division. In the late 1960s, Tom Scholz began attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he first began writing music.
It has sold at least 17 million copies in the United States alone and at least 20 million worldwide. The album has been referred to as a landmark in 1970s rock and has been included on many lists of essential albums. The album's singles, most notably " More Than a Feeling" and " Long Time", were both AM and FM hits, and nearly the entire album receives constant rotation on classic rock radio. The album was released by Epic in August 1976 and broke sales records, becoming the best-selling debut LP in the US at the time, and winning the RIAA Century Award as best selling debut album. Guitarist Barry Goudreau and bassist Fran Sheehan, who joined the band after most of the tracks had been recorded, contribute some overdubs to " Foreplay/Long Time" and appear in the final track on the album, "Let Me Take You Home Tonight", which was recorded separately from the rest of the album. Sib Hashian plays drums on the rest of the tracks. Drummer Jim Masdea worked extensively with Scholz during the writing, arranging, and demo process and plays drums on one song on the final album, " Rock & Roll Band". The album's style, often referred to as the "Boston sound", was developed through Scholz's love of classical music, melodic hooks and guitar-heavy rock groups such as the Kinks and the Yardbirds, as well as a number of analogue electronic effects developed by Scholz in his home studio.īesides Scholz, who played most of the instruments on nearly all of the tracks, and Delp, other musicians appear on the album. The album's contents are a complete recreation of the band's demo tape, and contain songs written and composed many years prior. In an elaborate ruse, Scholz tricked the label into thinking the band was recording on the West Coast, when in reality, the bulk was being tracked solely by Scholz at his Massachusetts home. By 1975, the demo tape had fallen into the hands of CBS-owned Epic Records, who signed them.Įpic wanted the band to record in Los Angeles with a record producer, but Scholz was unwilling and wanted to record the album in his basement studio, so he hired Boylan to run interference with the label. He subsequently started to concentrate on demos recorded in his apartment basement with singer Brad Delp they had received numerous rejection letters from major record labels in the early 1970s. Scholz had studied classical piano in his childhood and became involved in the Boston music scene in the late 1960s. Produced by Tom Scholz and John Boylan, it was released on August 25, 1976, in the United States by Epic Records.
Elaine Paige - included in the album The King and I: 2000 London Cast Recording (2000).1951 with Victor Young and His Orchestra. Bing Crosby - recorded the song on April 9.Max Bygraves - included in the album 100 Golden Greats (1976).Julie Andrews - included in the album Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King And I (1992).In the 1999 animated film version, it was sung by Christiane Noll, Adam Wylie, Charles Clark, Jeff Gunn, David Joyce and Larry Kenton. In the 1956 film version, it was sung by Deborah Kerr (dubbed by Marni Nixon) and Rex Thompson. It is sung by the Governess Anna Leonowens (originally played on Broadway by Gertrude Lawrence) to her son Louis after the curtain rises on Act One of the musical, to persuade him not to be afraid as they arrive in Siam to serve the King. "I Whistle a Happy Tune" is a show tune from the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King and I.