Rick Boston
{{Short description|Canadian musician, composer and producer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Rick Boston
| image = Rickboston.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Rick Boston in March 2022
| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name = Richard Wallie Boston
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| origin = Los Angeles
| death_date =
| death_place =
| genre = Indie rock
| occupation = Guitarist, composer, producer, singer-songwriter
| instrument = Guitar, piano, bass guitar
| years_active =
| label = Foodchain Records
World Domination
| associated_acts = Low Pop Suicide
Dave Allen
Rickie Lee Jones
Alice Cooper
The Januaries
| website =
}}
Richard Wallie Boston is a Canadian musician, composer and producer based in Los Angeles, United States. He is known for his roles in Low Pop Suicide and for producing Rickie Lee Jones' album, Ghostyhead.
Early life and education
Richard Wallie Boston was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He studied{{where|date=May 2015}} jazz arrangement and composition.{{cite web |title=Rick Boston |work=Sugarcoded.tv |url=http://www.sugarcoded.tv/finger/composers/rick.swf |access-date=May 5, 2015}}
Career
Boston played guitar for Belinda Carlisle's 1988 album, Heaven on Earth. He was a member of Hand of Fate, working with John Keck to produce the 1990 album, Hand of Fate, and is credited for vocals.{{sfn|Hand of Fate|1990}} He played guitar for and produced Sky Cries Mary's 1991 EP, Exit at the Axis.{{sfn|Sky Cries Mary|1991}}
Boston subsequently worked extensively with Dave Allen of Low Pop Suicide, making a series of releases on World Domination Recordings. Boston was the band's frontman, singing and playing lead guitar, on their 1993 debut album On the Cross of Commerce,{{sfn|Low Pop Suicide|1993}} but both Allen and Jeff Ward exited the band. As the only founder left, their second LP, The Death of Excellence,{{sfn|Low Pop Suicide|1995}} was a more personal vehicle.
Exploring a more acoustic sound, Boston released one solo album in 1996, Numb,{{sfn|Rick Boston|1996}} a verbatim copy of Low Pop Suicide's last release, the Unzipped EP.{{sfn|Erlewine|n.d.}}
In 1997, he partnered with Rickie Lee Jones in songwriting, playing, and production for her album Ghostyhead.{{sfn|Jones|2000}}
Boston was a member of The Januaries,{{sfn|Sosnowski|2014}} which released two albums in 2000, The Januaries{{sfn|The Januaries|2000a}} and The Girl's Insane.{{sfn|The Januaries|2000b}} The title track of the latter album also appears on the 2006 album Versions by Thievery Corporation.
=Composer=
Boston composed "You Know We're Gonna Hurt" for Joe Cocker's 1989 album, One Night of Sin. He composed eight of the songs on Lowen & Navarro's 1991 album, Walking on a Wire,{{sfn|Lowen & Navarro|1991}} and another for their 1993 album, Broken Moon.
In 2003, Boston was co-writer with Lili Haydn on the song "Come Here" on her album Light Blue Sun. Boston worked as composer on Alice Cooper's 2005 album, Dirty Diamonds for which he co-composed "Woman of Mass Distraction", "You Make Me Wanna", "Dirty Diamonds", "Zombie Dance", and "Stand".
== Film songs and scores ==
In 1987, with Lowen & Navarro, Boston wrote "It's Time To Move",[https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57781 Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol (1987)]' at AFI Catalog. a song for the film 1987 Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol. He also worked with Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on songs for the American romantic comedy film Roxanne'' directed by Fred Schepisi. The songs were "Party Tonight", written by Jeffrey Baxter (as Jeff "Skunk" Baxter) and Rick Boston, "Can This Be Love", written by Jeffrey Baxter (as Jeff "Skunk" Baxter), Rick Boston, Janet Minto, and Pamela.
In 1988, Boston was the songwriter for "She's Cruel" and "Killer Groove" for Death Spa, an American horror film directed by Michael Fischa and starring William Bumiller, Brenda Bakke, and Merritt Butrick. He also wrote "Rebuilding the Big House" for the film A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.
In 1993, as a side project with Dave Allen as the Crash Baptists, Boston composed music for The Harvest,[https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-harvest/cast/2000045677/ The Harvest] at TV Guide. a 1993 thriller directed by David Marconi.
In 2008, Boston and John O'Brien composed a big band-style arrangement of the Iron Man theme song for the film Iron Man (2008 version),[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rick-boston-mn0000853279/credits Rick Boston] at AllMusic. directed by Jon Favreau.
= Producer =
Boston worked with John Keck to produce the 1990 album, Hand of Fate. In 1997, he partnered with Rickie Lee Jones in songwriting, playing, and production for her album Ghostyhead.{{sfn|Jones|2000}}
In 2006, Boston worked as producer with artists Rodleen Getsic and Norwood Fisher of Fishbone on Getsic's song, "The Reaper".{{sfn|Getsic|Boston|Fisher|2006}}
Selected discography
;Solo
- {{cite AV media |last=Rick Boston |title=Numb |type=CD |publisher=World Domination |year=1996 }}
;With Hand of Fate
- {{cite AV media |last=Hand of Fate |title=Hand Of Fate |type=CD |publisher=WTG Records |year=1990 }}
;With Sky Cries Mary
- {{cite AV media |last=Sky Cries Mary |author-link=Sky Cries Mary |title=Exit at the Axis |type=EP |publisher=Capitol |year=1991 |others=Rick Boston (guitar, producer)}}
;With Low Pop Suicide
- {{cite AV media |last=Low Pop Suicide |author-link=Low Pop Suicide |others=Rick Boston (producer) |title=The Disengagement |type=EP |publisher=World Domination |year=1992 |ref=none}}
- {{cite AV media |last=Low Pop Suicide |others=Rick Boston (composer, guitar, producer, vocals) |title=On the Cross of Commerce |type=CD |publisher=World Domination |year=1993 }}
- {{cite AV media |last=Low Pop Suicide |others=Rick Boston (artwork, bass, composer, guitar, producer, vocals) |title=The Death of Excellence |type=CD |publisher=World Domination |year=1995 }}
;With Rickie Lee Jones
- {{cite AV media |last=Rickie Lee Jones |author-link=Rickie Lee Jones |year=1997 |title=Ghostyhead |type=CD |publisher=Reprise/Warner Bros. Records |id=46557 |others=Rick Boston (bass, bells, composer, dulcimer, guitar, kalimba, loops, piano, producer, programming, recorder, Wurlitzer) |ref=none}}
;With The Januaries
- {{cite AV media |last=The Januaries |others=Rick Boston (bass, composer, guitar, producer, programming, background vocals) |title=The Januaries |type=CD |publisher=Foodchain Records/Lightyear |year=2000a }}
- {{cite AV media |last=The Januaries |others=Rick Boston (composer, performer) |title=The Girl's Insane |type=CD |publisher=Foodchain Records |year=2000b }}
;The Rick Boston Jamie Cohen Project
- {{cite AV media |last=The Rick Boston Jamie Cohen Project |title=All The Way From America |type=EP |publisher=Halfpipe Records |year=2009 |ref=none}}
;As composer
- {{cite AV media |last=Lowen & Navarro |author-link=Lowen & Navarro |title=Walking on a Wire |type=CD |publisher=Chameleon |year=1991 }}
- {{cite AV media |last=Alice Cooper |author-link=Alice Cooper |type=studio album |title=Dirty Diamonds |year=2005 |publisher=New West / Spitfire |ref=none}}
References
= Citations =
{{Reflist|25em}}
=Works cited=
- {{cite web |first=Stephen Thomas |last=Erlewine |date=n.d. |title=Numb: Review |work=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/numb-mw0000071870 |access-date=May 5, 2015 }}
- {{cite web |first1=Rodleen |last1=Getsic |author-link1=Rodleen Getsic |first2=Rick |last2=Boston |first3=Norwood |last3=Fisher |title=The Reaper |work=Archive.org |year=2006 |url=https://archive.org/details/TheReaper |access-date=May 5, 2015 }}
- {{cite web |first=Rickie Lee |last=Jones |title=Friends: Rick Boston |work=RickieLeeJones.com |year=2000 |url=http://www.rickieleejones.com/friends/boston.htm |access-date=May 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305062844/http://rickieleejones.com/friends/boston.htm |archive-date=2016-03-05 |url-status=dead}}
- {{cite news |title=The Greatest Retro Band That Never Was: The Januaries |date=October 16, 2014 |first=Pamela |last=Sosnowski |work=Rebeat |url=http://www.rebeatmag.com/the-greatest-retro-band-that-never-was-the-januaries/ |access-date=May 5, 2015 }}
Further reading
- {{cite web |last=Boston |first=Rick |title=Rick Boston Film Composer |url=http://rickboston.org/film-composer/ |website=RickBoston.org |access-date=2018-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807042837/http://rickboston.org/film-composer/ |archive-date=2020-08-07 |url-status=usurped}}
- {{cite news |date=April 7, 1995 |title=Low Pop Suicide Still Looking For That Big Break |first=Joe |last=Ehrbar |work=The Spokesman-Review |url=http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/apr/07/low-pop-suicide-still-looking-for-that-big-break/ |access-date=May 5, 2015}}
- {{cite news |title=Ex-gang Of Four Bassist Taking A Pop At Posterity |date=May 1, 1993 |first=Len |last=Righi |work=The Morning Call |url=https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1993-05-01-2920556-story.html |access-date=May 5, 2015 |url-access=registration}}
External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20200807031923/https://rickboston.org/rick-boston-bio/ Rick Boston Bio]}} (archived)
- {{allMusic|id=rick-boston-mn0000853279}}
- {{discogs artist|280570-Rick-Boston}}
- {{IMDb name|0098275}}
- [http://www.armory.com/~notbob/lowpop/ Somewhere Nice To Fall] — The Somewhat Acknowledged Low Pop Suicide and Rick Boston Webpage
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boston, Rick}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:20th-century Canadian composers
Category:20th-century Canadian male musicians
Category:21st-century Canadian composers
Category:21st-century Canadian male musicians
Category:Canadian film score composers
Category:Canadian male composers
Category:Canadian record producers
Category:Canadian rock musicians
Category:Canadian expatriate musicians in the United States
Category:Musicians from Edmonton
Category:Musicians from Los Angeles