Boston - Mother's Milk Demos (1975)

Tom Scholz first started writing music in 1969 while he was attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he wrote the instrumental 'Foreplay'. While attending MIT, Scholz joined the band Mother's Milk, where he met guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Jim Masdea, who would later become members of Boston, and vocalist Brad Delp was added to the collective in 1970. After graduating with a master's degree, Scholz worked for Polaroid, where he used his salary to build a recording studio in his basement, and to finance demo tapes recorded in professional recording studios. These early demo tapes were recorded with (at various times) Delp on vocals, Goudreau on guitar, Masdea on drums, and Scholz on guitar, bass and keyboards. The demo tapes were sent to record companies, but received consistent rejections, and by 1974 Mother's Milk had disbanded. Scholz subsequently worked with Masdea and Delp to produce six new demos, including 'More Than a Feeling', 'Peace of Mind', 'Rock And Roll Band', 'Life Isn't Easy', 'San Francisco Day', and 'Don't Be Afraid'. Scholz played all the instruments on the demos, apart from the drums which were played by Masdea, and the vocals which were provided by Delp, and they finally attracted the attention of promoters Paul Ahern and Charlie McKenzie. Masdea left the band around this time, apparently sacked as the managers insisted that he had to be replaced before the band could get a recording deal. Thanks to Ahern and McKenzie, Scholz and Delp signed a deal with Epic Records, following a live audition for the record company executives to prove that they would be able to perform Scholz's richly layered recordings on stage. The showcase was a success and the band agreed to put out ten albums over the next six years. In addition to the firing of Masdea, the record label insisted that Scholz re-record the demo tapes in a professional studio, but he wanted them to be recorded in his basement studio so that he could work at his own pace, and the story goes (as confirmed by Scholz himself) that he sent the rest of the band into the studio to noodle around and waste the label's money while he worked secretly at home, recording all the music in his basement. The multi-track tapes were then brought to Los Angeles, where Delp added vocals and the album was mixed by John Boylan. Most of the songs from the early Mothers Milk demos eventually found their way onto Boston's debut release, albeit in re-recorded form, but there are a couple of songs that never made the cut and which remain unrecorded by Boston to this day. 

Track listing
01 More Than A Feeling 
02 Peace Of Mind
03 Foreplay
04 She's A Looker/Talkin' To The Wall (unreleased)
05 Rock 'n' Roll Band 
06 Shakin' (Mother's Milk Shake) (re-titled 'Smokin'')
07 San Francisco Day (re-titled 'Hitch A Ride')
08 Life Isn't Easy (re-titled 'Something About You')
09 Love (re-titled 'Don't Be Afraid')
10 Shattered Images (aka 'Help Me')  (unreleased)
11 San Francisco Day (2nd version (re-titled 'Hitch A Ride')
12 Don't Be Afraid Of Love (re-titled 'Don't Be Afraid')