Life Love & Hope
by Boston
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
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  1. Amrils
    Feb 28, 2014
    8
    An Almost Return to Form.

    After the previous album, Corporate America, it sounded like Boston (or should I say Scholz) were done. Following Brad Delp's tragic suicide, Scholz was left with the difficult task of finding a replacement for Delp's wonderful vocals. Which is where this album struggles - without Delp's voice to drive the melody forward and give it that much needed energy,    An Almost Return to Form.

    After the previous album, Corporate America, it sounded like Boston (or should I say Scholz) were done. Following Brad Delp's tragic suicide, Scholz was left with the difficult task of finding a replacement for Delp's wonderful vocals. Which is where this album struggles - without Delp's voice to drive the melody forward and give it that much needed energy, Scholz is left with even the best songs on this album sounding a little flat.

    Production-wise, Scholz has done some pretty odd things to this album, with the guitar work frequently drowning any bass work and the drums lacking any big oomph. He's done his best with the vocals and the guitars sound as dreamy as ever, though the mix is heavy on guitar and lacking in bass.

    Where this album succeeds, in my opinion, is taking a familiar sound and changing it. Boston aren't ever going to sound the same as they did on Boston and Don't Look Back or Third Stage and anyone going into Walk On, Corporate America of Life Love & Hope has to accept that. Scholz had to find a suitable replacement for Delp, either that or radically change the bands sound, both of which hes tried here. I think hes hit the right mix with Heaven On Earth or Life, Love & Hope.

    So... why the score of 8, given the albums failings? I've given this album a lot of time and whilst it has its low points (If You Were In Love and Way You Look Tonight especially) the tracks where it completely succeed (Heaven On Earth, Didn't Mean To Fall In Love, Life Love & Hope, Love Got Away, Someday) more than make up for it. The first time I listened to this album, I agreed wholeheartedly with every criticism I'd heard - tinny drums, jarring mix of vocals, odd choice of mixing. But having given the album much needed repeat visitations, its grown on me and it certainly feels like the choice of drums and vocal mixes was deliberate, to bring out the choral elements of the tracks - heavy drumming and thick bass lines might have drowned that out.

    If Scholz manages to actually keep the same band for a whole album next time, we'll probably hear Boston back at their best.

    Bottom line - 810 if you're going to give it time. 610 if you're going to listen to it just the once or twice.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
47

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Q Magazine
    Jan 28, 2014
    40
    Even the welcome presence of Boston's original singer Brad Delp, who committed suicide in 2007, can't save it. [Feb 2014, p.119]
  2. Kerrang!
    Jan 8, 2014
    40
    For 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]
  3. Classic Rock Magazine
    Jan 2, 2014
    50
    It 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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