Holy snot balls, rub tiger balm in my eyes I did not expect this. I mean, I knew of David Pack was from Ambrosia mainly because I'd seen his name on Kerry Livgren's solo album Seeds of Change. I couldn't place the band though, as the only song I could recall was "Biggest Part of Me" that honestly sounded like a cheap knock off of The Doobie Brothers. Heck even the name, Ambrosia sounded wimpy. I thought it was a flower or the kind of drink that came with cherries and a wee tiny umbrella.
The album opens with "Nice, Nice, Very Nice" and it's a killer song that has soaring keyboards and a great groove. Heck Kurt Vonnegut gets a writing credit so you just know it's going to be something ... nice. From the opening song I could not reconcile this as Ambrosia ... this was cool. Turns out the sucky stuff started on their appropriately named album One Eighty from 1980. However, take anything I write with a heaping teaspoon of salt ... okay, maybe not heaping, I'm not looking to have anyone puke up lunch because of this. A grain, a grain of salt is okay. Stick with that ... or maybe two or three.
Anyway, I am no expert on all things Ambrosia, which by the way isn't a girl drink or a flower ... it's the food (or drink ... but still no umbrella's) of the gods. I still find it odd I associated the band name as being stupid but would die on a hill defending April Wine as being cool.
I can see why Ambrosia was a support act for Kansas in the '70s - they would have been a hell of an opening act and very complimentary musically. If anything Ambrosia was a tad more straight ahead rock and roll with progressive trappings.
Regardless this is a really strong debut and I've enjoyed this far more than I expected. Musically this seemed to blend pop with progressive. You can actually hear the seeds of change* that would germinate on One Eighty. The featured two strong lead vocalists who also wrote together along with the other members of the band. Joe Puerta sang and played bass, with David Pack also taking turns singing and playing guitar. David's voice is smooth while Joe's voice has more of a quirky edge. They work well together. Christopher North was on keyboards and backing vocals and Burleigh Drummond was behind the kit and also provided backing vocals. As an aside I didn't know Burleigh was in Ambrosia, but I did know he drummed on a couple of Lost Dogs records.
The album was recorded at the legendary Mama Jo's ... well legendary because I first saw it listed on the credits of a Larry Norman album. Larry was legendary so by association Mama Jo's was too, and this just adds a little icing to the cupcake.
The first side was really strong and closes out with one of my favourite songs from the album. "World Leave Me Alone" was written and sung by David Pack. The song caught me right off, and the acoustic guitar riff reminded me of a pretzelled interpolation of the opening to "Mrs. Robinson." That's not a shot, it's a really good song. The other song by David Pack that was really good was the ballad "Lover Arrive."
Not to be left out, the quirkiest song on the album "Mama Frog" written by the band was sung by Joe Puerta and it's a long almost jazzy song that contains a truly bizarre narrative section that then gives ways to a cacophonous musical movement that then segues back to the song's opening and abruptly ends. It's awesome, even if it doesn't hold up to repeat plays.
"Beware the Jabberwocky, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch?
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumlous Bandersnatch!"
* oh look at me trying to be clever referencing Kerry Livgren's brilliant solo album that David sang on. Well, not really all that clever since I said it in the opening paragraph and was merely repeating myself.
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