While Tom Scholz was known as the mastermind and lead guitarist of Boston, the band also featured another talented guitar player that was featured on a few leads himself: Barry Goudreau. After Scholz created the Boston demos in his basement and laid in Brad Delp’s vocals, the song “More Than a Feeling” was instrumental in landing them a record deal with Epic in 1976. The only problem was that Scholz needed a band to play the songs live. He and Delp recruited Fran Sheehan (bass), Sib Hashian (drums), and Barry Goudreau as a second guitarist to recreate the Boston wall of guitar sound on tour. After Boston’s debut album hit BIG, the lineup stuck together through the second album “Don’t Look Back (1978)”, which Scholz was forced to put out by Epic before he deemed the record to be ready. A lawsuit ensued, time passed and eventually the other band members grew impatient with Scholz and his studio tinkering with what would be Boston’s third album. Scholz gave his blessing and the band members pursued other projects.

Goudreau’s self-titled solo album came out in 1980, and featured Boston-bandmates Brad Delp on vocals and Sib Hashian on drums. The result was a great Boston-sounding album (which bothered Scholz) that climbed to #88. The standout track “Dreams” received substantial airplay on rock radio but did not chart. “Dreams” should have been a hit, as it is just as good as anything on “Don’t Look Back”. The video below is a rare promo clip featuring the full lineup from the Goudreau band: