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Reviews: Boston: Boston

Reviews: 9

Review by Khorn July 6, 2003 (2 of 3 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
You buy this one for the music, nostalgia, or because it is one of your faves. Soundwise I guess you get pretty much what was on the master tape and its fairly obvious that sound quality in an audiophile sense wasn't given much thought or priority back when it was first recorded. Still, if like me you must have it in your collection and like the music by all means buy it. From a sonic point of view IMHO I can't forsee how it can ever be much better than this on this SACD.

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Review by Noonions March 15, 2004 (2 of 4 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
I still think this is one of the best rock n' roll debut albums of all-time,but the sound on this SACD is disappointing.Those looking for those jaw-dropping sonics displayed on DSOTM and GYBR better look elsewhere-this is in two-channel stereo!There's nothing wrong with that,but this SACD doesn't offer much in terms of clarity or detail compared to the regular CD.Granted,its a bit smoother and it has more depth,but there are few "aha!" moments here.This is recommened only for diehard Boston fans.

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Review by Goodwood November 11, 2005 (2 of 2 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
I have to respectfully disagree with the previous reviews. I had several CD versions, including the MasterSound Gold version, and they just didn't work. The SACD shows why. The acoustic guitars sound so real, as do the electric guitars - now they sound like a real Les Paul through an overdriven amp. Delicious. I really feel like I'm listening to a freshly recorded master tape as opposed to something more like MP3. Its a classic album but does have some filler tracks on "Side 2", hence my rating.

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Review by wakacha March 15, 2009 (2 of 2 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
Okay I definately disagree with the first poster, this SACD sounds absolutely amazing. Sure theres no surround mix but hey you dont really need it with this jaw dropping sound quality. Every instrument sounds just impecable. Mind you I only really like the first like 4 songs but I would have bought the album just for them anyways. This album sounds great. If you like boston, buy it!

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Review by yenkoz28 April 26, 2009 (1 of 4 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
Stereo? What's the point? The only reason for re-releasing an older recording is to provide a new AND IMPROVED version. Is the stereo separation, S-N ratio, clarity improved? Sure. But not enough to warrant the SACD release. Multi-channel would be a completely different story, however.
This was the best selling debut album ever at the time, primarily because of the high tech sound without the use of synthesizers. Melody kept it fresh after thousands of repeat listenings, but people bought the record because of the groundbreaking sound: layer upon layer of guitars, acoustic subtleties and overdriven electric roars. What a tremendous thing this could have been, as a remixed multichannel SACD.
Instead, we have one of the biggest ripoffs in the history of recorded music. Instead of earning a place next to the SACD of Dark Side of the Moon, as one of the greatest recordings ever, it now sits next top Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.

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Review by analogue May 19, 2009 (2 of 3 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
For those who love classic rock there need not be any mention of this fabulous album from the mid 70's. We all know it and enjoy it. Its one of the great ones. The music is still dynamic and retains its freshness.

When sacd made its debut about 10 years ago there were a decent selection of classic rock titles released. Some were transferred well while others were a plain rip off and virtually no better than their cd counterparts.

Sad to say this Boston album falls in the latter category. Its a pity really.....when you think what could have been.

I would bet my bottom dollar this was tranferred from a regular low rez pcm master that was used for one of many regular cd incarnations. I noticed the same problem with the Journey sacds. (DO NOT BUT THOSE EITHER).

While the original music and album is awesome the sound of this sacd is very truncated, one dimensional and heres the dead giveaway...............when the instruments are massed together creating a musical cresendo the actual sound becomes truncated, thin, flat and veiled. Sort of the way a really bad cd sounds.
There is also a congested feel to the mix and insturments do not stand out in relief. They are all mixed together in a soup mix of flat sound. Oddly enough the drums do have a little weight to them occasionally but in the song fourplay when they become bambastic they fall flat yet again. The guitar can be snappy but only when a single guitar is playing. This sacd does have rare moments wehen it can sound decent during the mellowest parts but taken as a whole this sacd does not sound like the fantastic recording we all know it is. Its dead in the water so to speak and a great disappointment. What was Sony thinking??? Why the cheat????

Not recommended. Buy the remastered cd. Do not waste your money on a pretender.

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Review by Empanadilla September 3, 2009 (6 of 6 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
It's nearly impossible to separate your emotional perception from these works of art, but I'll try to do my best.
As opposed to PF DSOTM(one of my fave LPs of course), which to me, the SACD was a waste of time and money (nice packaging though) because it should have been Alan Parson's original Quad mix that had to be released and not the "Extended let's play it safe for those who have small sattelite speakers STEREO" unresearched, insipid and uninspired mix that was force fed to us,

This Boston Stereo SACD (which decodes fairly well in 5.1 DPL Music setting; panorama=1) is what I have heard come closest to how I think the master actually sounded like.

My history with this record. This album is one of the few classic ones that still gives me goosebumps from beginning to end (well , OK, up until "Hitch a RIde") and I will never get tired of listening to. It's a Masterpiece Performance and a sonic delight recorded in lovely analog tape by somebody who knew not only music, but its technological aspects-and a fine sense of melody.

Formats that I have it on: I had this in Stereo 8 track when it came out in 1976. Then a few years later,in the "Half Speed Mastered"(sic) CBS LP releases (which is still my favorite version, surely because of the extra limiting and EQ needed in the LP pressing :=) I'm a junkie for good vinyl sources), and on the Tom Scholz approved remastered CD that came out recently.

I received the SACD yesterday and this morning I did an A-B comparison with the CD, both feeding my Pioneer receiver directly thru PCM.
The result- The SACD is almost flat response/unity gain experience with , either ,a little bit of highs rolled up; or, that's how the Master sounded.
I can hear ALL of the instruments Extremely clearly- even the "air" between them (and , no ; I don't do drugs), which I couldn't in the CD or LP.
It's not brickwalled at all, I'd even say it's not even slightly compressed. The slightly high freq boost I think can be blamed on some very subtle harmonic exciter.

The CD on the other hand- is compressed , although not brickwalled, has a bass and lo-mid notch which I find annoying and no "air" in its Hi Freq, very poor highs.Great packaging , though...

Mind you , I have heard very dark/muddy sounding SACDs; Eric Clapton's "Slowhand", Aerosmiths "Toys in the Attic", but also some very bright sounding ones, i.e. "EWF "Gratitude", so I can't say that it's medium related...

The only downside I can find on this is the shoddy packaging with washed out graphics and badly color separated litho photos..
BUT, the retro Epic records pseudo orange record label on the disc almost saved it.

The conclusion is , that besides the LP version; this SACD is way superior in fidelity than any CD version and preserves the integrity of the original recording...BUY THIS!

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Review by sacreviewer July 9, 2010 (4 of 4 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
it was Empanadilla's review that convinced me to ignore the warnings in the other reviews and buy this disc at an evelated price, but sadly, analogue had it dead on. The recording is easily the worst I own on SACD, though my collection is small, it consists of discs that had generally positive reviews. The sound is extremely bright, and a jumble of instrumentation with very poor separation. It's simply fatiguing and after one listen it establishes itself as "that disc" that goes back on the shelf with no desire to take it out when you're in the mood for some great acoustics.

I knew full well this was 2Channel, so that's not the problem, it's the mix. I bought this for over $40 hoping to get the warm, but sonically balanced and striking version I listened to literally hundreds of times on vinyl back in the day, thinking a remixed SACD was the best shot--not to be. As said before, if you're looking to have this disc for nostalgia and insist on SACD for SACDs sake, then by all means, but if you have a system capable of great acoustics, don't expect this disc to bring it out, rather it's poor qualities will be magnified by your system's ability to reveal whats on the disc, for better or in this case, worse.

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Review by pvcmusiclover September 26, 2011 (1 of 2 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
Looking at an 88.2/24 conversion of the DSD, it looks like this has content extending to 30KHZ.

To my ears, it sounds like the master tape was a little bit under-biased, which would result in a somewhat bright and thin sound. In a really ideal world, they would exactly replicate original master tape bounce and run it do a DSD recorder. However, this is not the ideal world.

By and large, this disc sounds excellent! There's a good amount of air and the low end is fairly tight, not to mention that the sonic character of the instruments is fairly un-colored.

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