BOSTON AND THE PROTOTYPICAL CASE OF THE SOPHOMORE JINX
“You’ve got your whole life to write your first album, but only a few months to write your second.” No band proves this oft-uttered truism more than Boston. After penning a record where every single song was a contender for a hit — 1975′s chart-topping self-titled debut — Tom Scholz fell pray to the dreaded but sadly predictable sophomore jinx.
Since fixing my record player a few months back I’ve been diving headfirst into records I haven’t listened to in years like Boston’s second record Don’t Look Back, which served as the soundtrack for my Sunday morning Omelet-making project (onions, mushrooms and gruyere, if you’re wondering. with fresh homemade hash browns!). There’s no two ways about it; Don’t Look Back fucking sucks. There’s not a single song on the record that approaches even the weakest moments of the self-titled; the only one that even comes close is “Feelin’ Satisfied,” posted below, the Side B opener whose feel-good major key riffery and clap-along post-chorus evoke memories of the prior album’s “Peace of Mind.”
