Don't look back where Boston is concerned. If you do, you might get lost trying to keep tabs on the way things have twisted-and-turned over the course of the band's infamous 32-year history -- the latest chapter of which is about to play out on the stage of Bloomington's U.S. Cellular Coliseum (7 p.m. July 20).

One of the reasons it's an infamous history is that few bands that have lasted this long have produced fewer albums with more people involved along the way.

Boston recorded just three LPs over the course of its "classic" period, from 1976 to 1986. All of them, it should be noted, were multi-platinum sellers.

In the 22 years since, just three more recordings have followed, and one of those is a "Greatest Hits" package.

So: Five albums of new material over 32 years of active duty, or an average of one every 6.25 years.

And: a constantly fluctuating membership with 18 musicians coming and going, and going and coming (see the accompanying chart).

Guitarist Gary Pihl, currently the second longest-running Bostonian, joined the band near the end of 1985, and made his segue at one of the pivotal events in Central Illinois rock annals (more about which shortly).

He chuckles when some of these facts and figures are tossed his way.

Asked if Boston holds the record for the fewest albums for a band of its duration, he pauses for a moment, and then asks, "Hmmm -- what about Steely Dan?" (Close, but no cigar: the notoriously low-profile duo has almost twice as many recordings to its credit.)

Pihl does seem to acknowledge, with another chuckle, that the band has had a rather astonishing run on drummers, few of whom have been kept behind the trap set very long.

"I have no idea if that's just a random effect or not, but there have been seven over the years" -- or a new one less than every half-decade.

At a March 2007 tribute concert to late lead singer Brad Delp, who took his own life that month, most of the band's past membership turned out for the memorial, that huge drummer brigade included.

"I have to say that everybody was as friendly as could be and in good spirits," Pihl recalls. "There was no animosity. The main question was, how do you get seven drummers on stage at the same time?"

One more question: Does having so few albums make it tough to come up with variety when setting out on a tour like the one that set out a month or two ago with two brand new lead singers -- Stryper vocalist Michael Sweet and MySpace fan-boy Tommy DeCarlo (see accompanying story)?

Pihl notes that while the albums may be few, the hits from each one were many, with even the non-Top-40 cuts from "Boston" (1976), "Don't Look Back" (1978) and "Third Stage" (1986) receiving heavy rotation on album-oriented FM stations.

"Because the first two were especially successful -- 'Boston' is still the biggest-selling debut album in history -- audiences still want to hear most of those songs," Pihl says. "And when you've got Styx or Lou Gramm on the bill as we do for this tour (Gramm will open the Bloomington show), that means, when you come down to it, you can only play 15 songs."

He notes the new tour contains several Boston songs "that we've never played before," but declines to divulge their identities, preferring that fans be pleasantly surprised at the show.

As mentioned earlier, Pihl is the one Boston member with a deep Illinois connection: He was born 57 years ago in Chicago, and performed one of the pivotal shows of his career 45 minutes to the east of Bloomington.

That moment came in September 1985, at the legendary first Farm Aid concert in Champaign.

The occasion marked Pihl's final live performance as part of Sammy Hagar's band, which he had joined in 1977. Hagar's appearance at the concert also represented a new career move, into the lead singer slot of Van Halen, who were also on the Farm Aid bill.

Within hours of Hagar moving into Van Halen, Pihl was taking a flight directly from Farm Aid to his new gig with Boston. "So I wasn't out of work for even a day!"

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