The Boney 500: Songs 296-294

[T_Bone0806]

Here are the next 3 songs on the countdown:

296. WONDERFUL LIFE-BLACK (1986)
ALBUM: Wonderful Life

Interesting in that the lyrics are mostly optimistic and the title is not sarcastic: the singer
does indeed seem to feel that life is wonderful. So why does the song sound so sad? Yes, the lyrics
do indicate he is in need of love, but they also indicate that, in spite of that, life is very much
worth living. The melancholy delivery of Black (aka Liverpool native Colin Vearncombe, who passed
away in January of this year), set against the gentle breeze of the music, creates a stunningly beautiful
effect. Well, as it turns out, Vearncombe's mother was ill, his record company had dropped him, he'd just
been divorced, and he was homeless when he wrote this song. Knowing that, the sound of the record starts
to make a little more sense.




295. TO EACH HIS OWN-AMERICA (1972)
ALBUM: Homecoming

Nice, melodic pop ballad from the group's second album.




294. MORE THAN A FEELING-BOSTON (1976)
ALBUM: Boston

Familiarity may not NECESSARILY breed contempt, but in this case it probably bred a lower position on my
list. This album blasted out of almost every window on my college campus when it first came out, and 40
years later you can still turn on classic rock radio and not have to wait too long to hear this or something
else from the album. It's still undeniably a great song, which gets in on the list, but it's been played to
death, which gets it knocked down a couple hundred spots.

[Ritterskoop]

Boston is my favorite band. Something tightened up inside when Brad Delp died.

[SportsFan68]

Thanks for a couple songs I would probably never have heard if they weren't here.

And that's probably due to the overexposure of songs like "More than a Feeling." That's how it works, though.

Side note about Boston -- they came through on a concert tour about a million years ago, probably looking for a sold-out venue between Denver and Phoenix or someplace. All the tickets were indeed sold, but the crowd was short a couple hundred people. The front entrance featured a metal detector and a quick search, and anyone caught trying to sneak in alcohol or other drugs was jerked out of line and invited to hit the road.

[earendel]

Thanks for a couple songs I would probably never have heard if they weren't here.

And that's probably due to the overexposure of songs like "More than a Feeling." That's how it works, though.

Side note about Boston -- they came through on a concert tour about a million years ago, probably looking for a sold-out venue between Denver and Phoenix or someplace. All the tickets were indeed sold, but the crowd was short a couple hundred people. The front entrance featured a metal detector and a quick search, and anyone caught trying to sneak in alcohol or other drugs was jerked out of line and invited to hit the road.

Another side note about Boston - in the best WKRP In Cincinnati episode ever (the famous Thanksgiving episode), Bailey Quarters tells Mr. Carlson that she can't decide whether to give away Boston T-shirts or Foreigner T-shirts. Mr. Carlson answers, "Boston. The foreign stuff shrinks."

[TheConfessor]

I had never heard of Black or Wonderful Life, but it's quite lovely. It never charted in the U.S. so how do you even know about it?

[T_Bone0806]

I had never heard of Black or Wonderful Life, but it's quite lovely. It never charted in the U.S. so how do you even know about it?

It came into the radio station I worked at on a promotional disc. I think MTV might have given it some airplay, too.

[T_Bone0806]

Boston is my favorite band. Something tightened up inside when Brad Delp died.

He could hit some notes only dogs could hear. Listening to this song and his performance still impresses me big time.