WCSX Classic Cuts : Cool the Engines

WCSX Classic Cuts

Boston: "Cool the Engines"

The Hook: What happened after it was recorded and mixed is more memorable than the actual recording of it.

Album: Third Stage

Year: 1986

Writers: Tom Scholz, Brad Delp and Fran Sheehan

Stats: Peaked at number-four on the Billboard's Top Rock Tracks chart.

Background: For Boston guitarist and main songwriter Tom Scholz, what happened to "Cool the Engines" after it was completely recorded and mixed is the most memorable thing about it. After it had been completed sometime in the early '80s, he'd put it on a shelf, where it waited for about four years until issues that prevented the release of Third Stage were ironed out. He describes what happened when he went to add that tape to the rest of the album.

Boston guitarist Tom Scholz on what happened between when the band finished recording “Cool the Engines” and when he went to add the tape to their Third Stage album a few years later. OC:…come out. :25

“My only copy of that song had turned into something that was basically the consistency of Scotch transparent tape and I had to resurrect it by spreading silicone goo on the tape, with it stretched out like 30 feet across my studio. Rolling it by and rubbing the stuff on the tape – every single inch of tape. Somebody never wanted that mix to come out.”