Don’t Look Back isn’t nearly as good as the pretty-much-perfect debut album from Boston they dropped in 1976, due in part to how quickly the band churned this record out due to pressure from their label to write a quick follow up. There’s an old adage in the music business that you spend your entire life writing your first record but only a year writing your sophomore effort and that’s pretty true here. The title track is excellent and there’s a few other boppers during the album (“A Man I’ll Never Be” being especially poignant) but lead singer Brad Delp’s vocals really carry the day. On its whole Don’t Look Back sort of sounds like a band doing their best Boston impersonation– it’s certainly good enough, but lacks a lot of the magic that made their debut such a massive success.
Standout Songs: “Don’t Look Back”, “A Man I’ll Never Be”, “Don’t Be Afraid”
