AMBROSIA

Formed in 1970 in in San Pedro, California, drummer Burleigh Drummond, keyboardist Christopher North, singer/guitarist David Pack and singer/bassist Joe Puerta started out working under the name Ambergris Mile. Given there was already a band recording and touring under the Ambergris name, they turned to a dictionary opting for "Ambrosia" (nectar of the gods).

Throughout the early-'70s the band made inroads playing the San Pedro club scene, but expanding throughout Southern California. To supplement their meager income the group began working with a small hifi company specializing in the installing of audio systems in clubs and arenas. In 1971 they were testing a new sound system the company had installed at the Hollywood Bowl. Their work attracted the attention of Hollywood Bowl engineer Gordon Parry. In the role of mentor, Parry helped the quartet play a show at the University of California, Los Angeles. Parry also introduced them to Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Zubin Mehta. Mehta hired them to support the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the 1971 All American Dream Concert at the Hollywood Bowl. The resulting publicity found them performing in the debut of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. They auditioned for A&M Records, but were subsequently signed by 20th Century Records.

Produced by Freddie Piro (with Alan Parsons serving as the mixing engineer), 1975's "Ambrosia" featured a collection of eight band originals. With all four members contributing to song writing chores, the collection featured an interesting mixture of pop, classical and progressive influences. Most of the attention went to David Pack, but the band were blessed with two talented lead singers. The funny thing is to my ears their voices were very similar and it was frequently hard to tell who was handling lead vocals. Pack shined on the more commercial tunes like the ballads 'Somewhere I've Never Been', 'Lover Arrive' and his atypical rocker 'World Leave Me Alone'. Joe Puerta seemed to handle the band less mainstream outings including the debut single 'Nice, Nice, Very Nice' and progressive tunes 'Mama Frog' and 'Drink of Water' (the pair actually shared lead vocals on the latter). Having been fascinated by percussion since he was a child, Drummond was simply a ferocious player, while North proved to be surprisingly delicate on keyboards and synthesizers. These guys had clearly been listening to English progressive bands like Gentle Giant, King Crimson (whom they actually saw early in their career when Crimson played Los Angeles' Whiskey a Go-Go) and Yes, but they seldom let the genre's excesses get to them. Yeah, 'Mama Frog' skated close to progressive navel gazing territory, but even it was redeemed by some ferocious drumming from Drummond and then band's sense of humor - a drunken Gordon Parry reciting part of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwock". What captured by ears and heart was their clear affection for a prog song, this would absolutely be their most prog song they ever piut out. this would be a phenomenal first effort for ambrosia and good build up for their sophomore album. 4 stars

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