Boston Rock & Roll Band CD

For many years, there were only the official Boston albums in the group's catalog. Unlike many bands, they held out recycling their work in a series of budget-line collections, granting only a two-fer release of their first two albums in 1983. Things changed once Greatest Hits was released in 1997, since its release guaranteed the eventual appearance of records like Sony Music Special Products' Rock and Roll Band, a budget-line compilation of highlights from the first two albums. Since it's a budget-line collection, it does not contain all of the hits. In fact, it has only one big hit in "More Than a Feeling," which may well satisfy the needs of most casual fans. The remainder of the disc features one minor hit from Don't Look Back ("A Man I'll Never Be"), plus four tracks apiece from the first two albums. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

For many years, there were only the official Boston albums in the group's catalog. Unlike many bands, they held out recycling their work in a series of budget-line collections, granting only a two-fer release of their first two albums in 1983. Things changed once Greatest Hits was released in 1997, since its release guaranteed the eventual appearance of records like Sony Music Special Products' Rock and Roll Band, a budget-line compilation of highlights from the first two albums. Since it's a budget-line collection, it does not contain all of the hits. In fact, it has only one big hit in "More Than a Feeling," which may well satisfy the needs of most casual fans. The remainder of the disc features one minor hit from Don't Look Back ("A Man I'll Never Be"), plus four tracks apiece from the first two albums. Some of these may be fan favorites, but to the uninitiated, they may sound a bit weedy. Some may argue that this unevenness is actually more representative of the actual Boston albums than a hits collection would be, but no matter how you look at it, Rock and Roll Band doesn't really give casual fans what they want or need. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine