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- Critic score
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Q MagazineJan 28, 2014Even the welcome presence of Boston's original singer Brad Delp, who committed suicide in 2007, can't save it. [Feb 2014, p.119]
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Kerrang!Jan 8, 2014For its first half, Life, Love & Hope plays to Boston's strengths.... Sadly, from the insipid If You Were In Love onwards, the album loses its way catastrophically. [7 Dec 2013, p.53]
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Classic Rock MagazineJan 2, 2014It begins promisingly, with weighty guitar and measured vocals, before losing the plot completely, descending into a kitchen sink of confusion and ending up sounding like an incomplete demo. [Jan 2014, p.112]
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Dec 9, 2013Give Scholz credit for trying to plug the gap, though with up-and-down results. Boston diehards will be intrigued, but the overall album might not translate to the general public.
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Dec 9, 2013The songs come with soaring sentimental choruses, but brittle rhythmic foundations--you will miss Sib Hashian, Boston’s old drummer--as well as deeply grandiose or cornball keyboard parts.... Where Mr. Delp is absent, the singers Tommy DeCarlo or David Victor commit passable imitations, or Kimberley Dahme provides bland contrast.
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Dec 9, 2013Life Love & Hope doesn't, and hearing it might lead a devoted Boston follower to believe that, despite the few moments when things come together nicely, maybe Scholz has finally lost his touch. Check back in another decade for further developments.
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Dec 9, 2013Everywhere, Tom Scholz fine-tunes the angelic-choir harmonies and aerosol-guitar crescendos until they're spotlessly, unmistakably Bostonlike. Some things never change--but remembering a sound isn't always enough.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 2 out of 4
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Mixed: 2 out of 4
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Negative: 0 out of 4
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Jun 26, 2014
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Feb 28, 2014