Losimba Third Stage was my first Boston album, and I got it not long after its release. I can remember very well that a friend of mine gave it to me, saying "It is said to be Hard Rock but doesn't sound like it". Depending on the definition of Hard Rock, he may be right or not, because Third Stage is as melodic as every Boston album. The two differences are that it is a concept album (and yes, the rating would be lower if it were not) and the introduction of Tom Scholz's biggest achievement, the Rockman. Please forgive me for not explaining the details of this little device, I'm not a guitar technician.

The songs sound consistent. They're all based on guitars in the typical Boston sound with the odd interlude on a Grand Piano, according to the sleeve a real Steinway. None of them is really bad, but some of them are simply not as good as the others. On the other hand, there are two excellent ones, the opener Amanda and Cant'cha Say (You Believe In Me), and two absolute standouts: Hollyann, the final track, has always been one of my favourite ballads, while I used the first instrumental track, The Launch, as my signature melody and intro whenever I was DJing.

In the end Third Stage is a really good album. Though the slight weaknesses, the biggest of them the short playing time of just 36 and a half minutes, prevent a five star rating, the concept bonus lifts it to four and a half which it thoroughly deserves.

aglasshouse I'd always enjoyed BOSTON's music, especially tracks from their self titled, Don't Look Back, and Walk On. So when I found out that BOSTON had released a new album back in 2013, I was actually pretty psyched. I mean, I had never hated any of their material, however I did know for a fact that BOSTON did tend to release radio-friendly material on most of their albums (this is not totally bad, but it does grind on you after awhile). So overall, I did have a slightly more positive feeling than I did negative towards Life, Love & Hope.

I opened Spotify, searched up BOSTON, scrolled to LL&H, and played it all the way through. My ultimate conclusion was as such:

"Eh."

I mean, it did sound VERY similar to the old BOSTON, perhaps with slightly less gusto as their past self. The same guitars slap out the same old tunes as they did back in the 70's and 80's, but as I said before, they just did not have as much feeling (heh). Also, sort of symbolizing this was the cover art. It was the usual giant flying saucer with the city of Boston atop it encased in a glass dome with the huge letters of BOSTON inscribed on the front. However, there wasn't anything around it except for what appeared to be red space. That was pretty disappointing. As a kid, I always loved BOSTON's album covers, especially the one for Walk On. I suppose the album cover does sort of show my feelings towards the album.

TL;DR, this album isn't terrible. If you are really looking for some good BOSTON, however, go pick up their debut instead. You won't be seeing any new content on this release.

I do not recommend this album.