AMBROSIA

02. Somewhere I've Never Travelled The vocal of the band are an important distinction, which unfortunately I did not manage to think really who sings in which music, since the credits are somewhat generic. Joe Puerta in the bass is an enchantment, I am not wrong that he played with the The Alan itself Parsons Project during years and after with Bruce Hornsby too. At several moments in this track (and in the whole album) the band mixes pop with psicodelia and the progressive thing, a must. Still more for an American band, since the USA had never tradition in directions of the type. Beautiful keyboards in the end of the song.

03. Cowboy Star This one already begins Space to give emphasis to the title, the narration of the beginning gives a brilliant touch to song that gradually is increasing and takes life in order that a song enters modern - renascentista. A luxury! Since in a lot of discs prog pop of the type to guitar is somewhat relegated, but be taken into account that she does not do tom-tom lack while we hear the disc, then be completely well! Does the second part already begin orchestral and what I would call a banjo (???) send us certainly to a cartoon, (laughters) remember a little the commercial of the Marlboro also. Without words. Come for the world of Marlboro! (it excuses people I did not hold out, and I do nor smoke laughters). The turn is still more exciting.

04. Runnin ' Away The introduction of guitar is lovely, and the song also, it is of that what are exciting, of that what you hear again without an apparent motive. The vocal ones of the refrain in healthy falsetto enchanting. The vocalizations of the band are without shadow of doubt without equal, I say and repeat, it is that that I miss. The vocal ones of the directions 70's.

05. Harvey Vocal many people of the band (because I could realize all they sing) are without shadow of doubts a find. Harvey is enchanting, of voice and guitar, with Q of nostalgia, I do not know because reason reminds of me of Forret Gump the movie (marvellous movie), a short music too much, the only one however.

06. I Wanna Know It would beat the front, orchestrated and rhythmical guitars, I go down pulsante, almost a groove, up to the entry of the violin, which gives a different touch so that then the orchestra comes to the surface and so that it is weighed and which reminds of me a lot of The Alan Parsons Project. The metal gives a touch 60's, I halve soul. And to vary the refrain is an enchantment with the sensational vocal thing, so much in melody how much in insignia. It has a beautiful ground of guitar with an unusual insignia.

07. The Brunt Total, Progressive Space, already begins detonating, conventions of keyboards, battery and bass. Vocal epic poets with tone of cartoon (it does not trim with it), and I am not wrong a xylophone it permeates the song also. Again does the metal give a touch without equal, and the following orchestration shows that the band had to be more recognized, which is the whistles orchestrates, confusion and travel? Without equal. Soon percussões unusual and vocal I eat in a ceremony, revolt of people, meeting, market, have no idea what!? This song is sensational.

08. Danse With Me George (Chopin's Plea) A beauty of music, of that to stand up, sacodir the dust and to dance, to be set free. A madness divertidíssima, with beautiful pianos and arrangements. After a beauty doidera and vocalizations turn that you would calm and violins, the disc in general has the best orchestrations. Without equal the orchestrated parts.

09. Can't Let A Woman To more ' Rock ' of the disc, a legal riff to pack a great song. With a great ground that I believe to be of keyboard (laughters), but the distinction again goes for bass, which along the whole disc walks in almost incredible versatility.

10. We Need You Too Piano in the introduction, a vocal lovely melody. A few keyboards a lot of fodas, eating I set orchestra free, faces of Ambrosia and also they knew Alan Parsons very well what they were doing.

Because I read the band it was very known in the USA in the middle of the 70 years up to the beginning of the 80 (phase in which it was in the active service), but it is a pity not sar more known, it seems that there are some years they went on a trip again (like most of the directions of the 70 years), but not with the same formation.

The music on Ambrosia is very commercial with memorable choruses and hooks while there are some definite progressive tendencies in some of the instrumental interplays. Some of the songs reminds me a bit of the way Kansas sounds when they are most commercial. There are some songs that sounds more proggy than others though. Good examples would be Nice, Nice, Very Nice, Make Us All Aware ( note the melody line which sounds like one of the melody lines in the epic The Odyssey from Symphony X) and Mama Frog which has a jazz/ fusion rythm. The hit song Holdin' On To Yesterday is the song I think reminds me the most of Kansas, but it´s actually allright even though it´s very commercial.

The musicianship is really good on this album and I´m quite impressed with Ambrosia as musicians and composers.

The production is excellent. I really enjoy the soft seventies rythm section and the synth sounds used in some of the songs.

Allthough this is not my favorite style in rock I have to recognize quality when I hear it and Ambrosia are certainly a quality band. Fans of pop with prog tendencies like 10cc, Supertramp, Queen, Kansas, Toto, Boston could enjoy this. I know I did to a certain degree. 3 stars is deserved in this case.

Until recently, I had no idea Ambrosia dinosaur had survived the 80's ice age, or that they had reformed in the semi-comatosed late 90's. And they actually toured for a couple/few years. And he we get a live album that doesn't specify in which year, but at least gives us the Galaxy club as venue. With three out of four original members, but not the all-important David Packs, Ambrosia hit the road as a sextet, including the Ollestad brothers (both multi-instrumentalists) and lead guitarist Jackson. I have always thought that the addition of musicians in a group was not always a good thing past the quartet being transformed into a quintet, usually this bringing a lot of watering down in the band's musical propos. And with ambrosia, which I was never a fan of, this passage from quartet to septet is more than alarming, it would be downright pre-occupying if a cared a single little bit about them.

Although I had appreciated their-Steely Dan-derived debut (except those two ugly AOR hits), tolerated their APP-cloned second album, hated everything afterwards, so I had some kind of hope after seeing the track list proposed: about half the tracks came from their debut, the rest coming mostly from the third and fourth album, once the group stopped pretending "prog" attributes. But from the outset, there was no doubt about it though, the track list proposed made this a "greatest hits of-live" album

Alas, my hopes were quickly trashed as the sextet lost all of their debut album's subtleties, and the tracks coming from it have been watered down to pure 100% mindless AOR juice, made from concentrates, but no pulp added. Right from the start, Ambrosia gives us the hideous Nice, Very Nice turd that plagued later 70's FM stations, but the other Holdin' Out To Yesterday, Drink Of Water & Times Waits For No One arte peppered around the succession of AOR mouthwash basin that's called their repertoire. While probably the best tracks of theirs, it seems that even as a sextet, they can't seem to recuperate from Packs' absence, and these tracks are executed fairly but don't come up to the waist level of the studio versions, the Steely Dan-ish feel having disappeared.

Yet, these I just mentioned are actually the top of the iceberg quality-wise, because it's all downhill from that moment on. The three tracks from the fourth album are actually more faithfully rendered than the above-mentioned debut album songs. But the songwriting is simply uninventive, AOR-ish and puke-inducing love ditties. Only one track comes from the symphonically-pomp Somewhere album: the title track, which gets butchered a bit because the strings are missing. BTW: don't get your hopes up, the Beatles cover is atrocious. There are two tracks I couldn't place through their five albums, but one of those is a new track from the Ollestad newcomers, and it sounds perfectly Ambrosia-esque, while the Mama Don't Understand was just one more of the same.

Musically, outside the drumming, the musos are more than apt (but they're six instead of four), but they sound like Journey or Rep Speedwagon. So obviously if you like the last two bands named, run for this album, you're probably in for a treat, because the sound is excellent and AOR-wise, this is indeed their greatest hits done live. But the more meaningful tracks of their first two albums are inconspicuously absent (one man is absent), which reinforces my poor opinion of this "thing".

Formed in 1970 in Los Angeles,California of US,AMBROSIA,though not regarded as a 100% progressive rock band,created a highly-acclaimed album in 1975 within the progressive rock circles.Using a number of different instruments apart from the rock instrumentation,like piano,violins and mandolin,and based on their superb vocal lines,AMBROSIA deliver in their debut album a fantastic journey in the world of progressive/art rock.The band blended a lot of different styles,ranging from ballad-like tracks to complicated symphonic arrangements,drawing influences from southern and boogie rock like THE ALLMAN BROTHERS,KANSAS or THE EAGLES and prog rock giants like YES,KING CRIMSON and GENTLE GIANT.Deep and intense emotions are not hard to emerge listening to this album and I strongly recommend AMBROSIA's debut to all fans of multi-influenced inventive music!

After this album, the band would deteriorate into the pure pop of "180" (the title refers to a 180 degree change of direction), followed by the weird "Road Island", so this was to be the band's last decent (but unfortunately flawed) effort.

Sharing only a little in common with the prog-giants of the day, Ambrosia still manages to bring a lot of artistic flair to the table with this release, featuring some complex melodies, skilled playing and the occasionally avant-garde moment for good measure. Most of all though, they play with infectious enthusiasm and beautiful vocal harmony-- something that most of the prog-greats never even attempted.

The songs themselves begin accessible with the radio classics "Nice", "Time Waits for No One", and the beautiful and bluesy "Holdin' On To Yesterday." At the half-way point, however, the band begins to experiment with the more complex and experimental, which despite their lack of epic scope or monstrous instrumental moments are largely successful and thoroughly enjoyable.

A fun purchase for anyone who digs classic '70's rock, but also for the jaded prog-snob looking for a smart sing-a-long to put next to their Fripp.

"Harvey" is a simple and elegant plea, short yet convincing. "I Wanna Know" brings us back to rock, more mainstream than prog. The album peaks on the next two tracks, "The Brunt" and "Danse With Me George". The first of these has some terrific sound effects, from thundering herds to the sound of coffee pouring (audible as the herds vanish in the distance and the singer returns to reality). The second tells the story of Chopin and George Sand and their curious relationship. The piano and orchestra soar to great heights at the end, and then, in a rather ingenious touch, the final resolved chord dissolves into chaotic dissonance.

"Can't Let a Woman" returns us again to the more mundane world of rock. The album closes with a weak track, "We Need You Too".

In addition to "Nice, Nice, Very Nice", I was pleased with "Time Waits For No One", "Make Us All Aware", "Lover Arrive" (a soft ballad but with some nice artful backing orchestration and piano), and the wild fantasy of "Mama Frog". "Holdin' On To Yesterday" is another ballad, pleasant but a little more pop-oriented. "World Leave Me Alone" is more standard rock, OK but not compelling. The album closes with "Drink Of Water", a philosophy-of-life number that was to be echoed in the next album's "We Need You Too", but these closing numbers are the weakest points of these two albums.