After almost a 10 year hiatus the Jonas Brothers returned with the much anticipated album, Happiness Begins on June 7th of this year. The resurgence of the Jonas Brothers brought old fans into a nostalgic feel as if they were still a 6th grader in middle school.

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Sorry for no review last week, we were really busy and couldn’t manage to get one released. Hope you can forgive us, enjoy the new review!

– Vinyl Boys

​​ Ariana Grande released her fifth studio album, thank u, next, on February 8, 2019. It was the follow up album to her hit album Sweetener which was released in August of 2018 so it was a quick turnaround for Grande. She hinted at the possible album’s release with the release of her first single from the album titled thank u, next which gained a lot of success. The next two singles gained minor success compared to thank u, next, but after the release of her third single, 7 rings, she officially announced the album and the release date, February 8, 2019. The album had immense success from the beginning with three top 10 hits and all twelve songs peaked within the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100 which is very impressive for a single artist on one album.

Khalid burst onto the scene with his first release and first hit song, Location, at the young age of 18. Khalid rose to stardom while he was still in high school. The young R&B/Pop star wasn’t done with his first release and followed it up with a hit record, American Teen, which peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 which is very impressive for a young inspiring artist. American Teen goes through the thoughts and feelings as well, an American Teen. The album as a whole was successful especially to younger audiences, who relate to the events of high school.

Daryl Hall and John Oates released their first album in 1972 which was ultimately a failure and was recorded in their beloved city of Philadelphia. They ultimately blamed the city for the failure of the album and decided to move to New York to record their sophomore album, Abandoned Luncheonette in 1973. Unlike their albums in the late 70s and 80s, both Daryl Hall and John Oates contributed to the actual singing in the tracks rather than Hall being predominately the lead and Oates being a backup singer which makes their first few albums unique. Abandoned Luncheonette wasn’t necessarily a huge commercial success either compared to their pop rock albums of the 1980s. The album had one song, She’s Gone, that entered the Billboard charts and peaked around spot number 7 in 1976, three years after the initial release of the album. Overall, the album still wasn’t as successful as Hall and Oates would have wished for, but now people acclaim this album to be an essential for any Hall and Oates fan along with the biggest album of their career Voices which was released in 1980.

Bruce Springsteen’s 4th installment came on ​​the 2nd of June in 1978. Springsteen was coming off his first commercially successful album, Born to Run, and released Darkness on the Edge of Town, a little less than 3 years after. Springsteen initially wanted the album to come out a lot sooner but a dispute with his manger delayed the production of the album. Springsteen ended up suing his former manager, Mike Appel, for fraud and breach of trust. The issue all began when Springsteen signed his initial record deal back in 1972, which gave a large sum of the profits of his music to his former manager Mike Appel. Springsteen and his band mates didn’t realize that they had signed away a large sum of their profits until the release of his third album, Born to Run. The three years of writing and recording gave Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band plenty of time to record not ten but seventy plus possible songs for the upcoming album. Through countless name changes and countless lyric changes, Springsteen reduced it down to ten songs, but no need to fear; the twenty of the additional seventy songs were compiled into an album of their own, The Promise, which was released in 2010. This may be one of the hardest rankings I have done to this date, every one of these songs is amazing.

Released in 1976, Boston’s first album titled “Boston”, was a massive hit, selling over 17 million copies. And there’s no question why. It was recorded by singer Brad Delp and guitarist/producer Tom Scholz in a basement in the middle of Boston. Although the album only has one top ten hit, “More Than a Feeling,” peaking at number five, the album is still great. I personally have it on vinyl and love to just listen through it. There isn’t really a bad song on it at all so here’s my review.