Third Stage

After winning a legal battle with Epic Records, Scholz switched Boston to the MCA record label.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/05/arts/the-pop-life-new-boston-hit-a-throwback-to-70-s.html |last=Pareles |first=Jon |title=The Pop Life; New Boston Hit a Throwback to 70's |date=1986-11-05 |accessdate=2010-08-30 |work=The New York Times }} 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thirdstage.ca/boston/articles/newspaper-and-magazine-articles/360-boston-heaven-is-a-reel-to-reel-tape|title = Boston: Heaven is a Reel-to-Reel Tape - thirdstage.ca}} 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.

{{track listing

| headline = Side one

| all_writing = Tom Scholz, except where noted

| title1 = Amanda

| length1 = 4:16

| title2 = We're Ready

| length2 = 3:58

| title3 = The Launch"
a) "Countdown"
b) "Ignition"
c) "Third Stage Separation

| length3 = 2:55

| title4 = Cool the Engines

| writer4 = {{hlist|Tom Scholz|Fran Sheehan|Brad Delp}}

| length4 = 4:24

| title5 = My Destination

| length5 = 2:19

| total_length = 17:52

}}

{{track listing

| headline = Side two

| title6 = A New World

| note6 = instrumental

| writer6 = Jim Masdea

| length6 = 0:37

| title7 = To Be a Man

| length7 = 3:30

| title8 = I Think I Like It

| writer8 = {{hlist|Scholz|Jon DeBrigard (credited as John English)}}

| length8 = 4:06

| title9 = Can'tcha Say (You Believe in Me)/Still in Love

| writer9 = {{hlist|Gerry Green|Scholz|Delp}}

| note9 = Track length misprinted as 7:14 on CD releases

| length9 = 5:13

| title10 = Hollyann

| length10 = 5:09

| total_length = 18:35

}}

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)

• 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

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{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|type=album|title= Third Stage|artist=Boston|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1986|certyear=1979|access-date=27 June 2012}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|title= Third Stage|artist=Boston|award=Platinum|number=4|relyear=1987|certyear=1996|access-date=27 June 2012}}

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

{{reflist}}

{{Boston (band)}}

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Category:1986 albums

Category:Boston (band) albums

Category:1980s concept albums

Category:Albums produced by Tom Scholz

Category:MCA Records albums