Thursday Throwback: Boston – Peace of Mind
When I was looking through all the Throwback Thursday articles currently on the site, I quickly discovered that one band in particular has not been featured. So it’s time – welcome to Boston!
Boston needs very little introduction. One of the most well known classic rock bands from the 70’s and 80’s, their self-titled debut album sold over 17 million copies and produced many of the band’s stand out hits, including More than a Feeling, Foreplay/Longtime and Rock and Roll Band. With the exception of “Let Me Take You Home Tonight,” Boston’s entire album is available on the Rock Band platform starting in early 2008. And this is truly a throwback to the band, as we have had no Boston tracks on the Rock Band platform since. So I thought I would feature my favorite track from the album (both listening and playing in game), Peace of Mind.
Peace of Mind was as the third and final single from Boston’s self-titled debut album. As a single, the song peaked at #38 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1977. This song was also featured as DLC for Guitar Hero III.
I must say this is one of the most fun songs I have ever come across on the whole platform. I love playing all the instruments, as they all have variety and are a lot of fun. You have a wild variety in the bass, a great tune and solo on guitar, frequent changes in the chart and some great fills on drums, and vocals features great lyrics and Brad Delp’s ridiculous register.
I don’t think I need to convince you much to buy this, but here’s a preview anyway, just in case you still may not have this amazing track.
Have any bands or tracks you think should be featured in the future? Drop your feedback in the comments below!
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my guilty pleasure song.. that is now met by eyerolls and sighs if i try to pick it in a group due to a LOT of overplaying. oh well
tinykoko Reply:
July 14th, 2011 at 10:22 am
OH and a fact, why not.
it’s the song i used to measure my drumming skill as i was getting the hang of the instrument.. hitting all those drum rolls for the first time was a good feeling.
Great choice! One of my favorite tracks, especially on drums and guitar.
I’m still waiting for Harmonix to release “A Man I’ll Never Be” because I really want to play it on pro guitar.
It’d also be nice if HMX re-did some of the already released Boston songs and add keys support.
samjjones Reply:
July 14th, 2011 at 10:32 am
Agree. I suspect this was in the “original” plans, before the “RB3 version” backlash erupted over the Bon Jovi songs.
FoxForever Reply:
July 14th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
that received backlash? I never noticed.
Conriocht13 Reply:
July 14th, 2011 at 10:49 am
I would gladly re-purchase every Boston song we already have if they released an RB3 version of it, they should just do the entire album; yes, that would be 7 RB3 Versions, and only one new track. :-p But if we could only have one, Foreplay/Long Time (with pro-strings as well) would be killer.
Come to think of it, there are A LOT of RB1 songs that would greatly benefit from an RB3 Version, simply because of all the new features they’ve introduced in the past 3 and a half years. What’s more, because of how RB1 songs were imported, you can go through and delete individual songs, which negates many peoples issues with RB3 Versions. Kinda off topic, I know. :-p
This is an absolute blast on everything, especially pro drums.
Suggestion: “Red Tandy” by The Mother Hips
I’d love to get a RB3 version of this pack. I’ve been holding off forever.
Agreed, this one is a blast on drums.
I’d love about a five pack more of Boston and I think I’d have all the tracks I really like by them
- Amanda
- Don’t Look Back
- I Need Your Love
- Feelin’ Satisfied
- Cool The Engines
Maybe Higher Ground too. But mostly Amanda, since its one of only two songs with my gf’s name, and we both love that song.
Also would love some RB3 versions, although I tend to be wary of re-buying songs.
samjjones Reply:
July 14th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
You forgot “Let Me Take You Home Tonight”.
That should be priority 1.
Best song ever in Rock Band! RB3 versions of boston all around, plus a new pack of other Boston goodies would do more than nicely.
Yeah, 3 years after its release, I still find myself playing this song. There are few songs from that era of RB that I still play on a regular basis (My Iron Lung also comes to mind, as does Interstate Love Song)
So yes, I love this song and would be absolutely OK with an RB3 version of it, and the rest of the Boston pack.
Perhaps my favourite guitar track for the game, period. The entire Boston pack is quite worth it on the strings (I’d like to throw in that Bass is also quite good, a rarity in early DLC).
smacd Reply:
July 14th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Agreed, bass on Boston tracks are always pretty good and entertaining. Much better than the standard “straight eights, root of the chord, entire song” crap we often get on bass. But its more of a symptom of the genres themselves that rarely encourage the rhythm section to take any role other than keep time for yet another egotistical guitarist.
Did we ever hear why “Let Me Take You Home Tonight” never got done as DLC? I can’t imagine Tom Scholz lost the masters… Hm.
samjjones Reply:
July 14th, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Wasn’t that the only song on that album entirely composed by Brad Delp? Perhaps there’s some copyright ownership questions there, if the master’s available.
Cokes Reply:
July 14th, 2011 at 9:38 pm
It was written solely by Delp, but he’s also dead, so I would think the band retains the rights to it, while his family gets the ASCAP checks for it.
But who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to get HMXHenry or someone to answer via Twitter…
Whizzer Reply:
July 16th, 2011 at 3:51 am
Those are the two reasons I’ve heard of. Let’s hope the masters are indeed available. License issues may eventually be worked out, but there’s no recreating those masters, especially with a dead lead vocalist.
Cokes Reply:
July 18th, 2011 at 4:10 pm
HMXHenry has no idea, which means that whatever the reason is it’s not something widely circulated, even in the HMX offices
http://twitter.com/#!/HMXhenry/status/91849641976528896
one of my fav RB songs period. the drums rolls/fills are the best.
Shoot the Runner by Kasabian
This song is always a blast to play