Third Stage

Third Stage is the third studio album by the American rock band Boston, released on September 24, 1986, on MCA Records, as the band's first album on the label. It was recorded at Boston co-founder Tom Scholz's Hideaway Studio over a long, strained, six-year period "between floods and power failures". Scholz and vocalist Brad Delp were the only original members. The lyrics invoke themes of aging and working through stages in life. The first track and lead single, "Amanda", became a number one hit and one of the group's best known songs. The album itself was eventually certified 4× platinum by the RIAA.

Development

After winning a legal battle with Epic Records, Scholz switched Boston to the MCA record label. The album's first track, "Amanda", had been written in 1980 (when Boston began work on the album) and became the band's only #1 single. It reached #1 for two weeks in November 1986. The second Top 10 single, "We're Ready", reached #9. The singles "Cool the Engines" and "Can'tcha Say (You Believe in Me)/Still in Love" also got substantial airplay, with the former reaching #4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, and the latter peaking at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987. "Can'tcha Say" remains Boston's last Top 40 hit.

After only three weeks on the chart, Third Stage reached #1 on the Billboard 200 for four weeks. It is the first CD-formatted album to have been certified gold (500,000 copies) by the RIAA. It was also certified gold in the LP format, believed to be the first album certified in both of these formats. In all, the album was certified 4× platinum.

It is the first Boston LP with electronic drum samples, the first to include songs not written by either Scholz or Brad Delp, the first Boston LP without original members Barry Goudreau and Fran Sheehan (Sib Hashian played drums on three tracks and Sheehan was included in the early recording session and received a writing credit). Jim Masdea plays drums on most of the album. According to Masdea, "the first side, half of it or a little bit more, is all Sib. Then 'The Launch,' 'My Destination' – I played with Tom. And then the second side, that's pretty much all me." It is the first Boston recording to use the Rockman guitar processor, invented by Scholz. No orchestral sounds or synthesizers are on the album. Critics have noted that the album has a darker, more somber tone than Boston's previous work.

Personnel

Adapted from Third Stage liner notes.

• Brad Delp – vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion
• Tom Scholz – guitar, bass, grand piano, electric piano, Hammond organ, theater organ, drum editing, "guitar 'violin', rocket ignition, thunderstorms, unidentified flying objects"
• Gary Pihl – co-lead guitar (8)
• Jim Masdea – drums (3, 5–10)
• Sib Hashian – drums (1, 2, 4)

Production

• Tom Scholz – producer, arrangements, engineer, liner notes
• Gragg Lumsford – piano track engineer (9) at Blue Jay Studios (Carlisle, Massachusetts)
• Augustine Antoine – technical support
• Mike Blackmere – technical support
• Bill Clack – technical support
• Del Eilers – technical support
• Neil Miller – technical support
• Gary Pihl – technical support
• Bob Ludwig – mastering at Masterdisk (New York, NY)
• John Salozzo – cover artwork
• Chris Serra – cover concept sleeve drawing
• Richard Ocean – photography
• Ron Pownall – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

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Chart (1986–1987)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)	35
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)	30
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)	24
Japanese Albums (Oricon)	8

Year-end charts

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Chart (1986)	Position
Chart (1987)	Position
US Billboard 200	17

See also

• List of number-one albums of 1986 (U.S.)