SOMEWHERE I'VE NEVER TRAVELLED

The second release for Ambrosia finds them with more arranged pieces and some orchestrated songs. Standouts are the title track, Cowboy Star, The Brunt, and Danse With Me George. Cowboy Star and Danse are the songs with detailed orchestrations. Look for Ian and Ruth Underwood on Danse, my favorite song on the album. Overall a prog classic second only to the first album, and a must-have if you likede the first one.

Ambrosia at their best. After an outstanding debut album, they spread their capabilities to make even more impressive and original progressive music. There are some notorious influence of American composers Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein as well as Polish piano wizard Frederick Chopin. Highlights are And/Somewhere I've never travelled, Cowboy Star, The Brunt and Danse with me George. An American progressive rock milestone.

For a few years, I kept reading reviews that gushed about the classy progressive-pop music of US quartet Ambrosia, and thus I was pretty excited when my cousin presented me with this album two years ago. It was an enormous disappointment and I still shake my head with disbelief whenever I read about how great Ambrosia (or this album at least) is supposed to be.

One thing I won't dispute is the band members are consummate musicians. However, instead of being musicians with real character like one would expect from a prog band, these guys sound like sessionists for some sort of soft-rock band. I really don't think much of the songwriting or the sound (which is something like a much watered down version of early Utopia and mid-period Styx). Keyboardist Christopher North probably provides most of the exciting moments here, but even that is mainly in the form of a few flourishes that accompany a verse, rather than a solo or a lead melodic line.

The only aspects of this album that interest me are the outro of the title track, I Wanna Know (which has a very nice intro and an unusual guitar solo but is still not that far away from territory covered by The Eagles or even Survivor), the Todd-Rundgren influenced ballad We Need You Too (and it ain't prog neither!) and what is probably the album's centerpiece Danse With Me, George, a lengthy affair with a few diverse sub-sections that is nonetheless quite flawed.

Even other songs that help qualify this album for prog status such as percussion-heavy The Brunt and Cowboy Star (which has orchestral interludes that are inferior to most other prog attempts at orchestration ... I do believe I heard Bonanza's theme song in there at one point!) are downright annoying.

The vast majority of this album sounds like aimless soft-rock. Think of Bread, England Dan and John Ford Coley, Dan Hill and a few others of that ilk. Now imagine one of their ballads ... take away the main tune ... double the track length ... throw in a few pretty frills ... That's what I hear when I hear Ambrosia. I still can't believe its lofty reputation. ... 25% on the MPV scale

At most three stars but more likely 2,5 in my book!! Yes Tony!! We never seem to agree on anything but giving this five stars is really criminal and inducing prospective progheads in erroe and misleading them greatly.

Ambrosia's debut had its charm with its Steely Dan-ish (no pun Tony) classical arrangements but here we go over the top. Alan Parsons did a masterful job with the sound of this album but never managed to save it from sickly sentimentality!! The overall meddling of the string philarmonic orchestra with rock tunes written by a group, was always a difficult task that only Procol Harum's Gary Brooker managed correctly but here we have the best example of failure along with Wakeman's Journey To The Center Of The Earth. And the resulting album we are talking about here would be almost laughable if the musicianship was not good. Sure Parsons makes a good production job, but he could not avoid the disastrous songwriting , however ambitious it was. Kitsch and pompous are the best words I can think of when I talk of this album.

This is recommended only to ulta-symphonic fans that enjoyed Parsons 's Tales of E A Poe but that was MUCH superior to this album. And then Ambrosia will turn even uglier siging soft rock tunes aimed at commercial radio from the following album on.

Best Avoided!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The next albums also!

While not heavily progressive, Ambrosia had a definitely proggy attitude. One of those bands who successfully combined poppish melodies with unusual arrangements and stellar musicianship, they garnered both critical and popular praise alike. The key to Ambrosia's success was their song-oriented approach to art rock. The song came first, and then the progressive elements were added to the mix, yielding a hybrid that scored some bona fide hits (i.e. "Holding on to Yesterday," "Nice, Nice, Very Nice," and "How Much I Feel") while retaining a progressive edge. Other similar bands in this pseudo-prog vein included Gypsy, The Alan Parsons Project, The Moody Blues, Supertramp, and The Beatles.

Like the Beatles before them, Ambrosia had a knack for creating what one might call experimental pop. Ambrosia tunes were always heavily melodic, but maintained an adventurous spirit that would often springboard a song from a chorus into a complex instrumental centerpiece or ethereal bridge. This, their second album (produced by Alan Parsons of Dark Side Of The Moon fame), features a smooth mix of styles from the radio-ready pop of "Can't Let a Woman" and "Runnin' Away" to the lushly symphonic "Somewhere I've Never Travelled" and "Cowboy Star." And that's not to mention the proggy pieces "I Want to Know," "Brunt," and "Danse With Me George."

Several of the songs on this album, such as the frolicsome "Danse With Me George," feature full orchestrations that go well beyond the usual background string arrangements common in other pop music. The terrific "Cowboy Star," for example, boasts an orchestrated middle piece that sounds like a soundtrack for a western, before a thunderous organ bridge brings the song back around to its closing vocals. "Danse With Me George," which is the most overtly progressive piece on the album, starts with a classical piano lead in, after which the verses pave the way to a glorious mix of styles, including a barroom rag, the fully orchestrated Le Danse, a 20s-sounding refrain, and a Spanish section before the classical piano leads the song into a Zappa-ish bit of fun. Finally, a vocal bridge takes the song back into the final verse and a magnificent classical ending. Really wonderful stuff.

Ambrosia's adventurous yet accessible music was one of the high points of the 70s. If you missed out on them, grab this album, as well as their first, self-titled album. (Later albums, while good, lost much of the band's progressive edge.) Unless you're one of those stuffy types who can't stand a little well composed pop mixed in with your prog (you know who you are!), I guarantee you'll be utterly charmed by this talented group.

While not heavily progressive, Ambrosia had a definitely proggy attitude. One of those bands who successfully combined poppish melodies with unusual arrangements and stellar musicianship, they garnered both critical and popular praise alike. The key to Ambrosia's success was their song-oriented approach to art rock. The song came first, and then the progressive elements were added to the mix, yielding a hybrid that scored some bona fide hits (i.e. "Holding on to Yesterday," "Nice, Nice, Very Nice," and "How Much I Feel") while retaining a progressive edge. Other similar bands in this pseudo-prog vein included Gypsy, The Alan Parsons Project, The Moody Blues, Supertramp, and The Beatles.

Like the Beatles before them, Ambrosia had a knack for creating what one might call experimental pop. Ambrosia tunes were always heavily melodic, but maintained an adventurous spirit that would often springboard a song from a chorus into a complex instrumental centerpiece or ethereal bridge. This, their second album (produced by Alan Parsons of Dark Side Of The Moon fame), features a smooth mix of styles from the radio-ready pop of "Can't Let a Woman" and "Runnin' Away" to the lushly symphonic "Somewhere I've Never Travelled" and "Cowboy Star." And that's not to mention the proggy pieces "I Want to Know," "Brunt," and "Danse With Me George."

Several of the songs on this album, such as the frolicsome "Danse With Me George," feature full orchestrations that go well beyond the usual background string arrangements common in other pop music. The terrific "Cowboy Star," for example, boasts an orchestrated middle piece that sounds like a soundtrack for a western, before a thunderous organ bridge brings the song back around to its closing vocals. "Danse With Me George," which is the most overtly progressive piece on the album, starts with a classical piano lead in, after which the verses pave the way to a glorious mix of styles, including a barroom rag, the fully orchestrated Le Danse, a 20s-sounding refrain, and a Spanish section before the classical piano leads the song into a Zappa-ish bit of fun. Finally, a vocal bridge takes the song back into the final verse and a magnificent classical ending. Really wonderful stuff.

Ambrosia's adventurous yet accessible music was one of the high points of the 70s. If you missed out on them, grab this album, as well as their first, self-titled album. (Later albums, while good, lost much of the band's progressive edge.) Unless you're one of those stuffy types who can't stand a little well composed pop mixed in with your prog (you know who you are!), I guarantee you'll be utterly charmed by this talented group.

More about Somewhere I've Never Travelled:

Track Listing: And (0:46) / Somewhere I've Never Travelled (4:12) / Cowboy Star (6:24) / Runnin' Away (3:31) / Harvey (1:29) / I Wanna Know (6:02) / Brunt (5:29) / Danse With Me George (7:51) / Can't Let A Woman (4:24) / We Need You Too (5:33)

Musicians: Burleigh Drummond - percussion, drums, vocals Christopher North - keyboards, vocals David Pack - guitar, keyboards, vocals Joe Puerta - bass, guitar, vocals

The second effort from Ambrosia is nowhere near as ambitious or creative as their debut, saved mostly by the undeniably superb musicianship of the individual players and Alan Parsons’ technical proficiency in the studio. That said, this is not particularly progressive music, more like simply very well-played and stylish pop, much in the vein of 10CC, Toto, or even Kate Bush.

Ambrosia were never really considered to be a progressive band back in their heyday, at least not in the circles I hung out in. They were skilled musicians, and their music stood out on the radio for its creative and grandiose keyboard arrangements, melodic guitar, and David Pack’s distinctive and easy-to-listen-to vocals. But the lyrics are rather trite for the most part, and there are so many nuances that remind you of other bands that it’s hard not to notice the many resemblances. “Runnin’ Away” for example, brings to mind England Dan & John Ford Coley, and even America a little bit. “Harvey” could have been a Jim Croce tune, and I suspect some people who heard it back then probably thought it was, with its strumming acoustic guitar and slightly pretentious ‘thinking mans’ lyrics.

“I Wanna’ Know” has some strikingly Eagles-like guitar work and bare-chested vocals, and “The Brunt” blends the brassy sounds of Chicago with street recordings, cowbell, and a closing vocal track that wouldn’t have sounded odd coming out of John Elephante’s mouth.

Even the most interesting track on the album (“Danse With Me George”) can’t escape comparisons, from Eric Carmen to John Hall, this despite the excellent Chopin-inspired piano passages that give some life to the work.

Speaking of John Hall, “Can’t Let a Woman” is a dead-ringer for half of the stuff Orleans did in the 70s. And “We Need You Too” could have been an early Elton John tune were it not for Pack’s instantly recognizable vocals.

The only noteworthy tracks here are “Cowboy Star”, where the spoken-word passages and string arrangements hearken back to the Moody Blues but sound just about as good as some of that band’s better works anyway; and the title track which is purely Ambrosia, but still doesn’t break any new musical ground.

Technically this is outstanding musicianship, but then again so were most of Toto’s albums. Neither band really moved into progressive territory at any point in their careers, and neither really pushed themselves to achieve even though they had the consummate talent to do so. This is a decent album, probably even good, and I should probably give it three stars for that. But these guys have proved time and again in their other side projects and collaborations with musicians throughout the business that they have the aptitude for producing stunning work. This just isn’t that work. Two stars.

peace

This album is the middle of the three "good" Ambrosia albums. In some ways it surpasses the first, but there's also a little bit of unevenness here so overall it isn't as strong. The short introduction of "And", segueing into the title track, makes a promising start. "Cowboy Star" is a look into the mind of a nostalgic dreamer, with a startling surprise in the instrumental middle section. The first weak tune here is "Runnin' Away", slipping into a pop music vein.

"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".

01. And . A small pretty introduction with chimes, and vocal what remind of me a lot of Beach Boys, a small sample from what it will come.

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.

In Ambrosia's second release, we already see the decline of music quality and for the most part, their departure from really great progressive music. It really is a shame that they were striving more for commercialism in this album, because, if they had followed in the greatness of their debut album, Ambrosia could have been a progressive rock band to contend with. The debut album was amazing and I consider it essential. This album is more of hit and miss. There are a few high points but the low points seem to outweigh them. I'm sure Ambrosia was trying to gain a larger audience, which may have happened in the short run, but as far as the long run, it did nothing but damage their reputation. In fact, I believe the contrary to what most other people are saying and that is, Life Beyond L.A. was a better album than this. Okay so maybe LBL.A. wasn't as progressive, but there are some prog elements and they don't seem to be as forced as they are on SINT. I think that might be part of why I don't enjoy this album as much, it seems that the best parts of the album are more forced in their attempt to outdo the debut album, which didn't happen here.

Their first album is considered to be the most progressive and I rated this one with two stars, because I couldn't really a lot of "prog relation" with the music from this work. Orchestrations are killing my enthusiasm which was already very low for this album.

When you have listened to such a song as "Runnin' Away", my only intention is indeed to run away. And it is not the country style "Harvey" that would convince me to like this album. It is best recommended to do a double "press next" while reaching these two songs.

At times, the music reminds me some "Chicago" stuff. Not my cup of tea at all. As their first effort, I can only consider this as basic US rock music; with a syrupy angle ("The Brunt"). Gosh! Songs as "I Wanna Know » or "Can't Let a Woman" just leave me pretty cold, without any interest.

The only decent song is the "10CC" oriented "Danse With Me George". It is the longest one of the album and theme changes are pleasantly filling the eight minutes of this track. Lot's of piano and classic oriented passages (it is also called "Chopin's Plea"). This is a song full of extravaganza and decadence. I quite like it. It is by far the most (if not the only) interesting piece of music even if some orchestration and marimba don't add anything great to the whole.

To summarize my view about this album, I would just tell that IMHHO, it is a complete waste of time to listen to it. Prog is totally alien (except for "Danse?"). You'd better ignore this album.

One star.

After listening to the wonderful initial release AMBROSIA, that these gentlemen put out I was eagerly anticipated finding this one and spinning it. Hmmm....I think the dreaded "pop" gene slipped into the group VERY quickly in their career. This just doesn't have the excitement or weirdness or progness of AMBROSIA. SOMEWHERE IVE NEVER TRAVELED has lost much of the creativity feature on their first album and suffers greatly from that. Fans of Toto/Steely Dan/Journey may enjoy some of this. I just can't get into it. Traded in the disc shortly after purchase for something more worthwhile of being on this site. 2 stars is it.

The secound studio album from AMBROSIA was to me a great deception in all of senses, first by the addition of some orchestral moments that daze the band by the fact which this orchestral arrangements is several moments becomes the main melody ( im my opinion they must be the complement or simple accompaniment), as for instance in the track 1 ' "Somewhere I've Never Travelled" 7 "The Brunt" and track 8 "Danse With Me George (Chopin's Plea) and ....The rest of the disk is very poor in really progressive moments and only track 9 "Can't Let a Woman " escape . But the album is a "suffering", mainly in comparison with the first album. My rate is 2 stars !!!

I like this album. Harmonies are definitely the bands strong suit, but this album shows them pushing their sound as far as they can before the pull in the reins on Warner Bros. This album does sound like a typical Alan Parsons Project (get it) - his sonic fingerprints are all over this album. The hooks are strong, and the melodies are catchy. While not essential, "Somewhere I've Never Travelled" is a good album overall, a mediocre progressive record at best. I happen to like Ambrosia's niche in the "Southern California" pop scene (the Eagles, Jackson Browne, Fleetwood Mac) and for their sound, I think it's mostly a winner.

I've had this album for few years, it was the 1978 Warner reissue, then I upgraded to the original on 20th Century with the pyramid gimmick. It seems my attitude towards this album has changed. I had no trouble warming up to their debut. Any fan of crossover prog will enjoy that, but for the longest time on their followup, I felt they overdid themselves, but then I started noticing how the music started to click in. "Cowboy Star" is a rather enjoyable song with elaborate arrangements and strings from Andrew Powell (who also did strings for the Alan Parsons Project, which comes as no surprise as Alan Parsons did engineer this album). "Runnin' Away" is a soft rock ballad, the kind the band did in an attempt to score a hit. ""Harvey" is a nice rock piece, but I think the biggest problem I have with this album is "Danse With Me George". I still find it a bit gimmicky, with all the Chopin quotes, lounge influences, and even flirtation with Latin music really through me off. Now I just get a kick off how utterly ridiculous this song is. For years I was wondering why the song title was spelled "Danse" instead of "Dance", and who was this George they were referring to? Turns out they were referring to George Sand, an author, a lady posing as a man (apparently women in 19th Century France couldn't be authors, so she had to go under an assumed name) who had an affair with Chopin, and the lyrics were on this romance, from the point of view of Chopin. So hence the French spelling of "Danse". "Can't Let a Woman" and "We Need You Too" are rather appropriate closers after hearing the ridiculous "Danse With Me George". Of course most people might only think of Ambrosia as marginally prog, given the hits they scored on easy listening stations, but I still can't see how fans of crossover prog would not enjoy their first two albums. The second one really needed a lot more patience to stick, and I'm glad to finally give it a second go and liking it much more. Their following albums are not prog, apparently. Life Beyond L.A. featured their major hit "How Much I Feel", but obviously that's no surprise they'd head that way, even their first two albums had straightforward songs in pop/rock fashion for hopes of radio airplay. Glad to finally say I finally enjoy their second album, but start with their debut first.

Symphonic Pop anyone? Ambrosia's follow up to their progtastic debut is a very different sounding album in many respects.In some ways it is even slicker and poppier but at the same time it is more symphonic with Alan Parson's Project's Andrew Powell providing some excellent orchestral arrangements. And of course with Alan Parson's himself in the producer's chair this time the sound is as rich and as immaculate as you would expect.The opening two tracks "And....Somewhere I've Never Travelled" are very catchy pop songs played and sung with particularly gorgeous harmony vocals and lead directly into "Cowboy Star" the first of the symphonic tracks.The main song is fairly basic pop song but the instrumental section is a full blown orchestral extravaganza very reminiscent of Copland.If like me you are a Copland fan you will probably like this track- a lot.Side one is completed by a couple of pleasant pop songs.I am one of the few (I think) Prog fans who like big bombastic tracks broken up with simpler songs and actually make an album feel more balanced. Genesis were masters of that as evidenced on "Wind and Wuthering".

Side two is in some ways even more ambitious. The opening track "I Wanna Know"has a great emi-improvised slowburn build up before the song proper kicks in and a great big fat bombastic prog-rocker it is too."The Brunt" which follows is another very quirky number about dealing with traffic and likening it to a .The main instrumental section is head spinningly complex almost Zappaesque ending up as a bizarre soundscape full of jungle noises and chants mixed with the sound with the sound of elephants trumpeting in the background.The musical pastiche."Danse With Me George" presumably referring to Chopin's relationship with George Sands is even more ambitious at just over seven minutes and close in spirit to what 10CC were doing on the "Original Soundtrack" but frankly more innovative and enjoyable. The album is rounded off with a punchy power-pop rocker "Can't Let a Woman"jwhich perfectly shows up their dynamic style and a wistful ballad "We Need You Too"although even that last track has some dramatic moments. I must admit when I first heard this album many moon ago I found it almost too dense to fully appreciate but with repeated listenings the shear richness of this recording really does reveal itself.Clearly it is not for everyone but as a pop-prog cross-over this album is hard to beat.

Another Classic- 5 stars