Posted on 03/14/2007 3:48:16 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Family: Rocker Brad Delp's death was suicide.
CONCORD, N.H. The family of rock musician Brad Delp says his death last week was a suicide.
In a statement relayed through police, the family gave no other details concerning Delp's death at his Atkinson, New Hampshire on Friday.
Police have said his fiancee, Pamela Sullivan, found him there.
Delp was the lead singer for the band Boston, which was founded in the 1970s.
The statement says Delp -- a native of Danvers -- was a man who gave all he had to help everyone around him.
It goes on to say he was "very tired" and that the family takes comfort in knowing that he's finally at peace.
Some of Boston's hits include "More Than A Feeling" and "Peace of Mind."
>>Boston was playing arenas a few years ago and was playing to 10,000 people a night...what have you been up to lately? Have you sold over 50 million records worldwide and touched the hearts of tens of millions over the last 3 decades?<<
I know that in that time I was eating MEAT.
On a side not, I have no respect for the act of suicide, nor those who do it. I don't care if they cured cancer while they were alive.
http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=26289a6a-ea2c-43be-ae9f-7cf8854e075d
It says that he locked himself in a bathroom with 2 charcoal grills...
Hopefully he got a good last meal then.
Fleetwood Mac was actually a blues-rock group before they became Seventies superstars.
James Young wrote that one, and the lyrics read: "Eddie, now don't you run..." I'm not sure which direction JY's politics truly run, but that song seemed to be a warning to Fat Teddy - follow the same path as JFK and RFK at considerable peril. It never seemed like a "conservative" tune, but at least it's somewhat vague. Now, Suite Madame Blue, on the other hand, could easily be the FR anthem.
It's poetic.
Brad Delp had of the very, very best voices in Rock. It's a shame he's gone.
I went to a Fleetwood Mac concert in the mid-90s. They were awful. At one point, they asked the audience to stand. Many of us took the opportunity to continue all the way to the parking lot.
Donna Summer still had a set of pipes on her, though.
Only problem is Robbie Robertson didn't write that stuff. The Band was a very collective collaboration as far as writing and arrangements. Robbie Robertson cheated the other Band members. They were all doped up including RR and he got away with it by claiming the lion's share of writing credits thus royalties
You're right... Barry Goudreau's website offers a slightly different version of the way the original album came together; one which makes more sense considering the previous collaboration.
I should've been suspicious of Scholz's version, which downplays Barry's contribution. I saw those guys on stage in 1979 at the "Day of Rock 'n Roll" multi-act concert at the Superdome. I could see 'em *all* from my spot there in the third row; Barry is every bit as good a guitarist as Tom. Some of Boston's concert appearances have been derided as lip-synched, but the one I attended was certainly an authentic stage performance.
I wonder how Goudreau, a boy with a good Cajun surname, got way up yonder on the East coast? Hmm. ;-)
BTW, Barry has a CD that he recorded with Brad available through his website.
>>The musician, a longtime vegetarian who had been known for his clean living, had left notes for his family and Sullivan taped to a door.<<
The "clean living" line reminds me of this:
It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote
counts. Here are the facts about the three leading candidates.
Candidate A: Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists.
He's had two Mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10
martinis a day.
Candidate B He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used
opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.
Candidate C He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an
occasional beer and never cheated on his wife.
Which of these candidates would be your choice? Decide first, no peeking,
then scroll down for the answer.
He may be a "Pissant" but he's also full of s@#t!
His last recorded video on March 2 singing of all things...You Say It's Your Birthday...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOjv3yWc5sw
imho...
The sound processing of the guitar parts was obnoxious. It was tolerable only because the music was good to begin with -- it was great rock and roll well arranged. The songs were well written lyrically and musically. The guitar tricks seem, in retrospect, like TS yelling, "look at what I can do!"
It all worked in spite of that annoying layering. Two guitar voices would have been plenty.
But it really all worked - and this, I really believe -- that first album was an enduring smash loaded with top-40 material because of Brad Delp's soaring vocals. I think that's what pushed it over the top from being just a "really good" first album to being an "untouchable" first album.
Delp was the front-man par excellence. He made the package. Without him, TS's kewl tricks might have ranked him to some status several wrungs below -- perhaps dozens of them -- Todd Rundgren, Jeff Beck, Brian Eno -- notorious but largely forgotten tweakers.
Wow. Great video -- no ego, loves to rock.
I keep forgetting to say, "what a shame. what a waste." to get that far in life and give up. God rest his soul.
Unfunny, unoriginal and inappropriate! Go on, try to steal home too!
Full disclosure: I love the Boston guitar sound (pre-Third Stage when the Rockman and too much chorus were employed) so I'm biased (no pun intended). The guitars are criticized as much as they are praised but like Delp's voice they are unique and instantly recognizable.
I know more about the actual guitar rig(s) than I do the production/tracking except to note that Scholz was such a perfectionist I think he would have concentrated on getting a guitar track just the way he wanted rather than cover it up with gobs of multitracking.
Really, the bulk of the processing was at the rig - a wah pedal 'stuck' in a certain position to act as a bandpass filter and loads of attenuators (power soaks) on the amplifiers themselves. Scholz was an early adopter of the DiMarzio pickup - they had midrange for miles especially compared to the stock humbuckers in his Les Paul goldtop. Throw it all together and there's the classic Boston tone.
Consider that most of the first album was done in his basement studio in the mid 1970s and digital recording/mixing and 24 or 32 track systems were beyond his grasp at the time. Therefore, a take had to be a good one or it was scrapped altogether. He has also noted that he had to devise a wire-hanger button-pusher to use with his toe in order to record & play guitar simultaneously!
I guess I'm saying that overdubs were certainly used (obviously on the harmony leads with rhythm guitars behind) but hardly to the degree that subsequent bands - e.g., a Def Leppard with Mutt Lange - did them. Instead, the focus was on getting the sound coming out of the amp speakers - the rest is a lot easier after that! By the same token cranked-up Marshalls are the soundtrack of the late 1960s through the present day but they do tend to all sound the same. Scholz/Boston obviously used Marshalls but made them sound very different.
PS - the pedantic side of me notes that Scholz' goldtop may have started out with P-90s instead of humbuckers. But he did replace the originals with the DiMarzios.
More pedantry:
http://www.perfectsoundrockrefurbs.com/articles.html#Article%2015%20-%20Power%20Soaks%20and%20other%20Tails...What%20Gives?
So I erred somewhat :(
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