Barry Goudreau
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Barry Goudreau (November 29, 1951) is one of the original guitarists for the rock band BOSTON. The group evolved from Goudreau's college band, "Mother's Milk", in which Tom Scholz of BOSTON joined as a keyboard player. Later, Barry recruited Brad Delp, who later became the lead vocalist for BOSTON. Barry worked with Scholz and Delp as early as 1969 on an initial set of demo tapes, where he performed all of the rhythm and lead guitar work. These early attempts to attract record label interest did not succeed. Later, Scholz re-worked and re-recorded some of these demo songs and wrote several new songs for a second set of demo tapes. By this time, Scholz had finally become proficient on the guitar, so he performed all of the guitar, bass and keyboard work. This second demo set won a recording contract with Epic Records.
Although Barry is not credited with any song writing on any BOSTON LP/CD, his guitar work was an integral part of the BOSTON trademark sound and style. This is attributable, in part, to the influence he had on Tom Scholz's adoption of many Goudreau blues-based riffing patterns, thundering pick slides, wild vibrato techniques and the partially engaged "wah" pedal tone generation that helped to define the BOSTON "sound". Barry composed and performed the lead work for Foreplay/Long Time, Don't Look Back, Used To Bad News and provided much creative input to the primary songwriter, Tom Scholz. In late 1979, Scholz became involved in legal and contractual battles with the band's manager, and later on, with CBS. Therefore, he informed the members of BOSTON that he would not be working on BOSTON material for at least a year and that they should feel free to do solo projects.
By this time, Barry had written many songs in hopes that Scholz would incorporate them into the next BOSTON LP. He approached Scholz with his songs under the auspice of using them for a solo LP, quietly hoping that Scholz would want to save them for the next BOSTON LP. However, Scholz did not express interest in using Barry's songs. Therefore, in 1980, Barry recorded his first solo LP titled "Barry Goudreau", using Brad Delp and Fran Cosmo (who would join BOSTON in 1991) on vocals and Sib Hashian (then drummer for BOSTON) on drums. The record company sought to cash in big time with this "almost BOSTON" line up and proceeded to promote the solo LP as a kind of "BOSTON-lite". The LP successfully hit the airwaves with the songs "Dreams" and "Mean Woman Blues". Scholz was enraged by the way in which the solo LP was promoted and he threatened to withhold the third Boston LP (Third Stage) if the record company did not immediately drop all support for Barry's solo LP. The lack of record company support (and hence radio play) caused the LP to die on the vine.
In 1984, Goudreau formed up the band "Orion The Hunter" and released a debut LP. This time, Fran Cosmo appeared as lead vocalist, while Brad Delp provided background vocals and co-wrote 5 of the album's songs. This record ellicited the hit song "So You Ran", which also had a music video. The band toured in support of Aerosmith in 1984 but ultimately broke up in 1985.
It wasn't until 1990 that Barry formed up the band RTZ (Return To Zero). Brad Delp left BOSTON in order to join the band. Ironically, Fran Cosmo replaced Brad as BOSTON's vocalist. RTZ experienced some success with the hit "Until Your Love Comes Back Around", but the record company chose not to renew their contract. By this time, record companies were dropping classic rock acts in favor of rap, pop, and grunge acts.
In 2003, Delp and Goudreau teamed up for their independent recording of "Delp And Goudreau". Although this effort was totally independent, the song "It's What You Leave Behind" currently garners substantial, but limited, radio play.
Finally, in 2005, Barry and the members of RTZ released 2 CDs of songs that were earmarked for the never-realized second RTZ CD. Barry continues to perform with Brad Delp, Fran Sheehan and Sib Hashian in small, local venues in the greater Boston area.
[edit] External links
- Barry Goudreau's Official Web Site
- gonnahitcharide.com, Boston Fan Site with Fan Forums, Live Chat, Event Calendar, Streaming Audio, Articles, and Archives.
- Boston Rocks Yahoo Group
| Boston |
| Brad Delp | Tom Scholz Barry Goudreau | Musicians |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums: Boston | Don't Look Back | Third Stage | Walk On | Corporate America |
| Compilations: Greatest Hits |
