Don't Look Back is the second studio album by American rock band Boston, released in 1978 by Epic Records, as the band's last album on the label.
The album's two-year gap from its predecessor marks the shortest between two of the band's studio albums to date; guitarist, producer and primary songwriter Tom Scholz claimed that Epic executives pushed him and the band into releasing the album before they felt it was ready. He also felt that the album "was ridiculously short". Their next album, Third Stage, was not released for another eight years, by which time the band and record label had parted ways and fought a courtroom battle that Boston ultimately won.
Recording
Don't Look Back was recorded during 1977 and 1978 at Scholz's Hideaway Studio, except for the piano on "A Man I'll Never Be", which was recorded by engineer Dave Butler at Northern Studio in Maynard, Massachusetts.
Songs
"Don't Look Back", "A Man I'll Never Be" and "Feelin' Satisfied" were all released as singles, reaching No. 4, 31 and 46 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100.
"The Journey" is a short instrumental track that links the opening title track and the third track, "It's Easy". In 1987, Scholz cited it as his favorite song on any of Boston's first three albums, but wished that it were longer. Grein referred to it as having an "almost religious" tone, anticipating that some listeners would find it "pretentious" but stating that he found it an effective interlude between the harder-rocking songs "Don't Look Back" and "It's Easy". It took him just three days to record. Barry Goudreau, who played rhythm guitar, was the only musician on the track besides Scholz.
"Party" was co-written by Delp and Scholz. It begins with a short, slow introduction before a surprising change of pace to the fast, harder sound that persists throughout the rest of the song, in much the same way as "Something About You" from the debut.
"Used to Bad News" was written by Delp, making it the only song on the album on which Scholz did not receive a writing credit. Emerson described "Used to Bad News" as "a charming, rather Beatles-like song". As with "It's Easy", Sendra considered the song to be more reflective than anything on the debut. Scholz played all the other instruments except drums. Grein stated that it "comes to a crashing, concert-like crescendo", specifically citing Hashian's drumming.
Compact disc releases
Don't Look Back was among the first commercially produced compact discs when the format was introduced in 1983, but because of ongoing legal issues between Scholz and CBS Records, the title was pulled after a small production run and did not reappear on CD until three years later. Inserts for the original CD pressings contained the "spaceship blueprints" from the original album dust jacket; those illustrations were not included in the 1986 reissue.
This album and the group's first album were remastered and re-released on June 13, 2006. The reissues were digitally remastered personally by Scholz after he heard indirectly that the remastering project was to be handled by Sony's team, which he felt was unacceptable. He took it on himself after negotiations with Legacy Recordings, saying, "I've always wanted to make those albums sound good on CD, and the chance arrived".
A small number of the Sony-remastered versions briefly went on sale in Canada on April 4, 2006, before being removed from sale. Those discs also included a live version of "Shattered Images" (mistitled "Help Me" on the packaging), an unreleased Boston original recorded at a 1976 concert in Philadelphia.
Critical reception
Don't Look Back received generally favorable reviews from critics. Billboard described the album as "an equally superior effort [as their debut album] that further refines this group's ability to play hard rock underlined by a sweet, melodic base". In a more mixed review, Ken Emerson of Rolling Stone said that the album "consolidated the sound of the band's debut album but was less pretentious than Bruce Springsteen's 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town". Emerson noted a theme of Scholz expressing his anxieties, particularly with making this album, as evidenced by lines about being unsure about measuring up as a man in "A Man I'll Never Be", and the line "I've been used/But I'm taking it like a man" in "Used to Bad News" (a song written by Brad Delp). Emerson also pointed out contradictions between the lyrics of certain songs, such as the line that "I'm much too strong not to compromise" in "Don't Look Back" versus the line in "A Man I'll Never Be" that "I can't get any stronger", or the line "Emotions can't be satisfied" in "A Man I'll Never Be" versus the title itself of "Feelin' Satisfied".
Brad Chadderton of The Ottawa Journal praised the album for its heavy, innovative and melodic guitar lines; for Brad Delp's vocals; and for lyrics that contain philosophical meaning, calling Don't Look Back an improvement over the debut album. Christgau's Record Guide gave the album a B−, stating "Not only are the guitars perfectly received, but the lyrical clichés seem specially selected to make the band as credible in the arena as they are in the studio, and Brad Delp's tenor, too thin for nasty cock-rock distractions, leaves us free to contemplate unsullied form." AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, saying Boston sounds "inspired" on the album.
- Brad Delp – vocals, rhythm guitar, tambourine
- Tom Scholz – lead guitar <small>(2–6)</small>, co-lead guitar <small>(1, 8)</small>, rhythm guitar <small>(1, 3–8)</small>, organ <small>(all)</small>, piano <small>(1)</small>, bass guitar <small>(all)</small>, "hands and cans" (percussion)
- Sib Hashian – drums, hands and cans
- Barry Goudreau – lead guitar <small>(7)</small>, co-lead guitar <small>(1)</small>, slide guitar <small>(2, 7, 8)</small>
- Fran Sheehan – bass guitar <small>(1; partial)</small>, hands and cans
Additional personnel
- Rob Rosati – hands and cans
- Cindy Scholz – hands and cans
- Gloria – hands and cans
Production
- Tom Scholz – producer, arrangements, engineer, cover concept, digital remastering
- Eric Carr – assistant engineer
- Dennis Coscia – assistant engineer
- Rob Rosati – assistant engineer
- David "db" Butler – piano recording (4)
- Wally Traugott – original mastering at Capitol Mastering (Hollywood, California)
- Tony Lane – art direction
- Gary Norman – cover artist
- Ron Pownall – album photography
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Chart (1978)
! Peak<br/>position
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)
| align="center"| 8
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)
| align="center"| 14
|-
!scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)
| align="center"| 13
|-
|-
! scope="row"|Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)
| align="center"| 18
|-
!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)
| align="center"| 6
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col" | Chart (1978)
! scope="col" | Position
|-
! scope="row" | Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)
| 21
|-
! scope="row" | German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| 43
|-
! scope="col" | Chart (1979)
! scope="col" | Position
|-
! scope="row" | US Billboard 200
| 72
|}