Released August 2, 1978 Producer Tom Scholz Artist Boston Label Epic Records | Length 33:47 Don't Look Back
(1978) Third Stage
(1986) Release date 2 August 1978 | |
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Recorded 1977–78 at Tom Scholz's Hideaway Studio and Northern Studio, Maynard, Massachusetts Genres Rock music, Hard rock, Rock and roll, Arena rock, Progressive rock Similar Boston albums, Rock music albums | ||
Don't Look Back is the second studio album by American rock band Boston, released in 1978. The title track is one of the band's biggest hits, reaching #4 in 1978 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album sold over four million copies in the first month of its release, and was certified 7x platinum by the RIAA in the US.
Contents
This album also marked the beginning of the band's legal fight with its record label Epic Records. Scholz claimed that Epic executives pushed him and the band into releasing the album before they felt it was ready. He also said that the album "was ridiculously short. It needed another song." Their next album, Third Stage, was not released for another eight years, by which time the band and record label had parted ways and were fighting a courtroom battle that Boston ultimately won.
Recording
Don't Look Back was recorded during 1977 and 1978 at Scholz's Hideaway Studio, except for the piano on "A Man I'll Never Be," which was recorded by engineer David 'db' Butler (erroneously credited as "Dave Butler" in the liner notes) at Northern Studio in Maynard, Massachusetts.
Original release
When Don't Look Back was released on LP, 8-track and cassette in 1978, it was originally to be titled Arrival, but Boston members discovered that ABBA had already released an album by that name, so Don't Look Back was chosen instead. The album was listed erroneously as "Arrival" in the cassette inserts of some other CBS releases at the time promoting albums available from the record company and its associated labels.
Compact disc releases
Don't Look Back was among the first commercially produced compact discs when the format was introduced in 1983, but because of ongoing legal issues between Scholz and CBS Records, the title was pulled after a small production run and did not reappear on CD until three years later. Inserts for the original CD pressings contained the "spaceship blueprints" from the original album dust jacket; those illustrations were not included in the 1986 re-release.
This album and the group's first album (Boston) were remastered and re-released on June 13, 2006. The re-releases were digitally remastered personally by Scholz after he heard (not directly) that the remastering project was to be handled by Sony's team, which he felt was unacceptable. He took it on himself after negotiations with Legacy, saying, "I've always wanted to make those albums sound good on CD, and the chance arrived."
A small number of the Sony-remastered versions briefly went on sale in Canada on April 4, 2006 before being removed from sale. Those discs also included a live version of "Shattered Images" (mistitled "Help Me" on the packaging), an unreleased Boston original, from a 1976 concert in Philadelphia.
Track listing
All songs written by Tom Scholz, except "Party", co-written with Brad Delp, and "Used to Bad News" written by Delp.
Personnel
Per liner notes
Songs
1Don't Look Back6:01
2The Journey1:44
3It's Easy4:27