Boston's Tom Schultz apparently lost any chance of securing another record contract when he spent five years perfecting the sound of Boston's first album.It still paid off in spades. This was '76 mind you - a couple of years earlier, folks were rocking to Grand Funk albums.
The unique production value of that album changed the whole equation - no rock album sounded like that prior to that time (not to mention it was a debut release).
You're right. But even back in the 70s I can;t imagine a record company executive was happy with a five-year production period. LOL.