''Corporate America'' is the fifth studio album by American hard rock band

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, released in 2002. It is the first album to feature band members

Anton Cosmo Boston is an American rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1975 by Tom Scholz. The band's core members include multi-instrumentalist, founder and leader Scholz, who played the majority of instruments on the band's 1976 self-titled deb ...

and

Kimberley Dahme Kimberley Dahme (born April 22, 1966) is an American rock/country musician who is best known as a former member of the rock band Boston. She played bass, rhythm guitar and provided vocals. Career Dahme became the first female member of Boston i ...

, the last album released in vocalist Brad Delp's lifetime (though he would posthumously appear on the band's following album '' Life, Love & Hope''), the second and final album with vocalist

Fran Cosmo Fran Cosmo is an American musician best known as a former lead singer of the rock bands Boston and Orion the Hunter. Career Cosmo was first featured on guitarist Barry Goudreau's self-titled solo album in 1980, a prelude to the formation ...

, and the only album released by

Artemis Records Artemis Records was a New York–based independent record label, founded in June 1999 by Danny Goldberg with Daniel Glass as president, and closed in April 2006. The label was acquired by E1 Entertainment. As of 2006, Artemis Records was owned b ...

. ''Corporate America'' received mixed reviews, with critics praising the production values. It was also a commercial disappointment, failing to chart outside U.S. and Japan. The low sales led to a lawsuit by the band's leader,

Tom Scholz Donald Thomas Scholz (born March 10, 1947) is an American musician. He is the founder, main songwriter, primary guitarist, keyboardist and only remaining original member of the rock band Boston. He has appeared on every Boston release. Scholz, a ...

against Artemis. A 48-date North American tour was launched on June 6, 2003.

Recording

The title track was released on the Internet before the album's release and went number one on

MP3.com MP3.com was a website operated by Paramount Global publishing tabloid-style news items about digital music and artists, songs, services, and technologies. It is better known for its original incarnation as a legal, free music-sharing service, ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

charts. The song was released under the pseudonym "Downer's Revenge" in order to test its appeal to a younger demographic. Lyrically atypical song for Boston, according to Scholz, it's the most important track on the album. "Didn't Mean to Fall in Love" was said to be similar to "

More Than a Feeling "More Than a Feeling" is a song by the American rock band Boston, released as the lead single and the opening track from the band's 1976 debut album by Epic Records in September 1976, with " Smokin' as the B-side. Tom Scholz wrote the entire s ...

". "Livin' for You" is a live version of a song that appeared originally on the previous full-length album '' Walk On'' (1994). "I Had a Good Time" was included on a 2009 reissue of ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

'', the only track representing the album. Three songs from the album were included with the band's next studio album '' Life, Love & Hope'' (2013): "Didn't Mean to Fall in Love" was remastered, "Someone" was rearranged and re-recorded as "Someone (2.0)", and an original version of "I Had a Good Time", "Te Quiero Mia", was included as a

bonus track An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

Reception

The Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS ...

'' said the ''Corporate America'' is a typical Boston album and isn't as good as their previous ones. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' said the album is full of "overblown prog-rock pomp and hackneyed sentiments". ''

The Vindicator ''The Vindicator'' is a daily newspaper serving Youngstown, Ohio, United States and the Mahoning County region as well as southern Trumbull County and northern Columbiana County. ''The Vindicator'' was established in 1869. As of September 1, ...

'' named the album 2002's "most dismal rock record" along with

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. The band consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarists John Shanks and Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley ...

's '' Bounce''. ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' compared the album stylistically to

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drummer), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, ...

and called it "sweet-sounding, brawny pop-metal". ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' contrasted the album's fresh, energetic sound to "downscale aesthetic of

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

". In a retrospective, ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

'' noted the songs as "not memorable enough" and Delp's vocals as "underutilised". Looking back, Scholz called the album "a disaster" and "an experiment that didn’t work". Scholz felt it was a mistake to let other people get more involved in the writing and recording process. The album charted at #42 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and by December 2002 had sold 60,000 copies. In 2003, Scholz sued Artemis for failing to promote the album properly.

Track listing

Personnel

Boston *

– vocals (1, 3, 9), guitars (1, 3, 5, 8, 9), bass (1–5, 8, 9), drums (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9), keyboards (3, 5, 7–10), electric guitars (4), organ (6), lead guitar (6, 7, 10), backing vocals (6, 8), arrangements *

Brad Delp Bradley Edward Delp (June 12, 1951 – March 9, 2007) was an American musician who was the original lead singer and frontman of the rock band Boston. He began collaborating with leader Tom Scholz in 1970 and appeared on every album except '' W ...

– vocals (1, 3, 5, 8), backing vocals (2), harmony vocals (10), acoustic guitar *

– vocals (2, 3, 7), lead vocals (6, 10), rhythm guitar (10), arrangements * Anthony Cosmo – vocals (2), guitars (2, 6), harmony vocals (6), acoustic and rhythm guitar (7), arrangements *

– vocals (3, 4, 9), acoustic guitar (4), harmony vocals (6), arrangements *

Gary Pihl Gary O. Pihl (pronounced "peel") (born November 21, 1950) is an American rock musician and guitarist best known for playing with Sammy Hagar and the hard rock band Boston.

– keyboards (10) Additional musicians * Dow Brain – keyboards (2) * Frank Talarico – keyboards (2), percussion loop (7) * Sean Tierney – keyboards (7) * Billy Carman – bass (6, 7) * David Sikes – bass (10) * Tom Moonan – drums (6, 7) * Curly Smith – drums (10) * Beth Cohen – flute and vocals (9) * Julia Van Daam – girl voice (1) * Bill Ryan – radio broadcast voice (3), nightstand clock (5) * Charlie Farren – vocals (9) ;Production * Tom Scholz – producer, engineer, art direction * Fran Cosmo – co-producer, engineer * Anthony Cosmo – co-producer, engineer * Dietmar Schmidt – live studio session engineer (4) * Bob Acquaviva – drum track engineer (6, 7) * Adam Ayan – digital transfers, editing * Daniel Chase – digital transfers, editing * Steve Churchyard – digital transfers, editing * Adrian Hernandez – digital transfers, editing * Matt Knobel – digital transfers, editing * Carl Nappa – digital transfers, editing * Gary Pihl – digital transfers, editing, image editing * Bill Ryan – digital transfers, editing * Toby Mountain – mastering * Alisa Andreola – design * Darryl Hirschler – front cover artwork * Darvin Atkeson – back cover artwork * Ron Pownall – photography * Kathy Murry – image editing

Charts

"I Had a Good Time" peaked at #30 on the Billboard Heritage Rock Chart on November 11, 2002.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corporate America (Album) Boston (band) albums 2002 albums Albums produced by Tom Scholz Artemis Records albums