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Don't Look Back
Studio album by Boston

Released August 2, 1978
Recorded Tom Scholz's Hideaway Studio and Northern Studio in Maynard, MA, 1977-1978
Genre Rock
Length 33:51
Label Epic
Producer Tom Scholz

Professional reviews
* Allmusic 4/5 stars link
* Robert Christgau (B-) link

Don't Look Back is the second 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 4 million copies in the first month of its release, and has been certified 7x Platinum by the RIAA in the U.S.

This album also marked the beginning of the band's legal fight with its record label Epic Records. Tom Scholz has been on record stating that executives at Epic pushed him and the band into releasing the album before they felt it was ready. 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.

This album and the group's first (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. "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 pulled off the shelves. 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.

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 Tom Scholz and CBS Records, the title was pulled after a small production run and did not re-appear 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.

The cover art for this album inspired the box art on the Atari 2600 release of the video game Space Invaders.

Also, the original title for this album was supposed to be Arrival, but Boston members discovered that ABBA already had an album by that name out, so Don't Look Back was chosen instead.

Tom Scholz has claimed in many interviews that he listens to the song "The Journey" before he goes to bed each night. Whether he continues to do this today or not is unknown.

Track listing

1. "Don't Look Back" Tom Scholz 5:58
2. "The Journey" Scholz 1:46
3. "It's Easy" Scholz 4:27
4. "A Man I'll Never Be" Scholz 6:38
5. "Feelin' Satisfied" Scholz 4:11
6. "Party" Scholz, Brad Delp 4:07
7. "Used to Bad News" Delp 2:57
8. "Don't Be Afraid" Scholz 3:50

Personnel

* Brad Delp - Vocals
* Barry Goudreau - guitars
* Sib Hashian - drums, percussion
* Tom Scholz - guitars, keyboards, bass
* Fran Sheehan - bass

Production

* Producer: Tom Scholz
* Engineer: Tom Scholz
* Arranger: Tom Scholz

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)
Year Chart Position
1978 Pop Albums 1
1987 The Billboard 200 146

Singles - Billboard (North America)
Year Single Chart Position
1978 "Don't Look Back" Pop Singles 4
1979 "Feelin' Satisfied" Pop Singles 46
1979 "A Man I'll Never Be" Pop Singles 31

Released August 2, 1978
Recorded Tom Scholz's Hideaway Studio and Northern Studio in Maynard, MA, 1977-1978
Label Epic
Producer Tom Scholz


This album marked the beginning of the band's legal fight with its record label Epic Records. Tom Scholz has been on record stating that executives at Epic pushed him and the band into releasing the album before they felt it was ready. 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.

This album and the group's first (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. "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 pulled off the shelves. 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.

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 Tom Scholz and CBS Records, the title was pulled after a small production run and did not re-appear 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.

The cover art for this album inspired the box art on the Atari 2600 release of the video game Space Invaders.

Also, the original title for this album was supposed to be Arrival, but Boston members discovered that ABBA already had an album by that name out, so Don't Look Back was chosen instead.

Tom Scholz has claimed in many interviews that he listens to the song "The Journey" before he goes to bed each night. Whether he continues to do this today or not is unknown.

Personnel

* Brad Delp - Vocals
* Barry Goudreau - guitars
* Sib Hashian - drums, percussion
* Tom Scholz - guitars, keyboards, bass
* Fran Sheehan - bass

Production

* Producer: Tom Scholz
* Engineer: Tom Scholz
* Arranger: Tom Scholz