Search - :: Best of the Boston Sound {Various Artists}

If Boston Had A Sound, It Was Most Definitely Orpheus!

02/03/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you're looking to take an interesting audio trip back to the east coast in the late sixties and early seventies, buy "The Very Best of Orpheus" instead. Most fans and music historians agree that Orpheus was without a doubt, the best thing to come out of the over hyped "Boston Sound" fiasco. Unfortunately, this CD includes only one of the many Orpheus songs that were in heavy rotation on national airwaves. In fact, with the exception of the pretentious Beacon Street Union track, "The Clown Died On Marvin Gardens", (penned by a painfully un-hip Wes Farrell), none of the other included tracks received even moderate airplay. Unlike Orpheus, bands like Bagatelle, Ultimate Spinach, Beacon Street Union and Earth Opera found it nearly impossible to secure gigs outside of the occasional frat party or high school dance. I can remember seeing the Beacon Street Union play a pitiful set at a park in Rhode Island. The apologetic band members handed out free marijuana to convince the audience to stay. The scheme worked, but the other "Boston Sound" bands weren't so lucky. Both Ultimate Spinach and Earth Opera were regularly booed by audiences expecting to hear the more sophisticated music of Orpheus. In response, producer and "Boston Sound" chief architect, Alan Lorber, employed a band called Chameleon Church, (an Orpheus knock-off featuring a young Chevy Chase), to tour southern universities posing as Orpheus! According to a 1988 Boston Globe interview with Chase, this was done to capitalize on Orpheus' growing popularity. Interestingly, during this period, the real members of Orpheus had become darlings of the New York music scene and were trying in vain to sever all ties to the "Boston Sound". Unfortunately for them, the noise made by both the record label's hype and the moronic music of their stable mates was too loud to overcome. Perhaps the first casualty of guilt-by-association in the music industry, Orpheus lasted only three spectacular albums before the original band folded. In 1971, Bruce Arnold, one of the group's founding members, went on to form a new Orpheus, which featured some of the New York studio musicians who played on the first three MGM albums. The resulting fourth album released on Bell Records is now widely considered to be a cult classic. All four albums are included on "The Complete Orpheus", which is also available on Amazon."

Concise but not essential

Stephen F Mulcahy | United States | 01/07/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"this is a decent compilation of boston bands from the 60's. however, if you already have the 2cd set that came out 6 or 7 years ago, you will find much of this superfluous- there really is a lot of overlap between the two. the best songs that aren't on the former set are puff's CHANGES, the bead game's beatle esque SWEET MEDUSA (featuring early steely dan drummer jim hodder), and the impressive and actually kind of moving instrumental by ford theatre :"THEME FOR THE MASSES". This band put out a fine psychedelic album of the same name as well that hopefully will be issued on cd soon. The Earth Opera ( probably the best of the bosstown sound bands), Ultimate Spinach, Beacon Street Union tracks are all classics, as is the minor hit by Orpheus, even if it is kind of mellow baby boomer music and even if kings of yuppie rock hootie and the blowfish apparently have covered it. the rythym and blues of bagatelle and the jazz rock of eden's children are other highlights. this isn't great stuff by any stretch, but it is interesting . i'd have liked to see some better liner notes as these also repeat the earlier collection's..and this serves best as a starter for the fans of 60's rock...
the 5 best bosstown sound albums:
1 earth opera-earth opera
2. beacon street union-the eyes of the beacon street union.
3. ultimate spinach-behold and see
4. ultimate spinach-ultimate spinach
5. beacon street union- the clown died in marvin gardensHonorable mention: ford theatre-trilogy for the masses
eden's children-eden's children
EDEn's children-sure looks real
Chamaeleon church-chamaeleon church (arguably NOT a bosstown sound band)
earth opera-the great american eagle tragedy"

"light harmony with orchestral blending...soft rock was born

J. Lovins | Missouri-USA | 09/10/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"We're looking at the late '60s into the early '70s when music was taking another turn in their musical journey...listening to the radio you could hear the sounds and times changing...this album is justly named from the man who was at the helm ~ Alan Lorber, generated a new phrase "Boston Sound" (Boss-Town Sound). Blends of folk, close harmony and loves song themes come through with each lyric...haunting, almost mesmirizing in content as you listen to each track..."OFF WITH THE OLD", by Chamaeleon Church would be a good example...entire gig of compilations is a blast, need this one for your collection, trust me!Total Time: 73:09 on 18 Tracks ~ Varese Sarbande 302-066-235-2 ~ (2001)"