Electrophonic Tonic

1. What were your VERY FIRST impressions on listening to the album, say from the first five minutes in?
Ambrosia's sound sounded so familiar to me, but I have never heard a single song by them and only knew of them in passing as one of the rare American prog rock bands. Right off the bat, it's clear Ambrosia has a knack for AOR song writing, but I felt like the prog was lacking. However, that would change as the album went on.

2. What did you think of the opening tracks?
I liked the unusually groovy bounce on Nice, but I feel like the album really begins to take off on the 2nd track, Time Waits for No One. It had that small Yes flavored passage very early in the song and when the vocals came in, it reminded me of the Moody Blues, sans their obscenely British attitude. Holding on to Yesterday takes it foot off the gas and lightens the sounds, but the breathy backing vocals and the violin part later in the track really bring it all together. The guitar work on World Leave Me Alone is some of the best instrument work on the album.

3. What did you think of the later tracks?
Starting with Make Us All Aware, the album takes on a Supertramp style sound, especially with the piano work. That influence/sound climaxes with Lover Arrive, which excels with it's dreamlike tone and heavenly instrumentation and backing vocals. And just when the Moody Blues sound seems to have gone away.... Mama Frog slaps you in the face with how much it sticks out from the rest of the album, but in a good way I believe. Drink of Water is a goodtrack but it takes away from Mama Frog's powerful ending.

4. Did you like the vocalist? Hate him/her? Any impressions?
I'm not sure who is the lead vocalist is, (all the sources that have credits for the album do not designate a lead vocalist) but I enjoyed his voice. It complimented the music well, but is nothing incredible or unique.

5. Did the music (only) generally appeal to you, or not?
I would say so. This is a fairly diverse collection of songs, but all of the ideas and styles had something I could grasp onto and enjoy.

6. Did the album get better or worse as you listened to it (first time)?
Better. The album grows more into it's prog sensibility as the album goes on and it is better fro that, I believe.

7. What did you think of the lyrical content?
I'm slightly disappointed the song titles essentially give away the lyrical themes in the songs, but that is the minorest of minor complaints I have for this album.

8. Did you like the instrumental parts?
On repeated listens, I was really impressed with the background instrumentation such as the strings, keyboards and piano.

9. What did you think of the production?
Fairly subtle, but the sounds are blended together together into a delicious smoothie of light prog rock.

10. How well do you already know the band/artist?
Knew of them. That's about it.

11. What sub-genre, if any, would you assign this music to?
Light progressive rock with predominantly AOR and soft rock traits.

12. On repeated listens, did you find you liked the album more, or less?
Much more. My score for the album jumped up at least 3-4 points after 5 listens.

13. What would you class as your favourite track, if you have one?
Lover Arrive, Mama Frog and World Leave Me Alone were the standouts for me.

14. And the one you liked least?
It's not that the opening two tracks were bad, but I enjoyed them least compared to the rest of the album. And, I think Drink of Water starts off a little slow but recovers nicely.

15. Did the fact that this album is a debut/sophomore/middle period or later period allow it, in your mind, any leeway, and if so, was that decision justified or vindicated?
From what I can tell, this is a debut album. Unfortunately, it seems like this would be Ambrosia's watershed album from the reviews I've read online.

16. Are you now looking forward to hearing other albums by the band/artist?
Not really, but this will be rotation when I'm looking for a light-prog rock album.

17. Did you get, thematically, the idea behind the album if there was one?
I didn't pick up on a theme.

18. Did the album end well?
As I said, Drink of Water starts off slow, but the final 2 minutes of instrumentation do the album justice.

19. Do you see any way the album could have been improved?
Aside from some mellotron, perhaps the opening tracks could have been a weeeeeeeeeeee bit more proggy.

20. Do you think the album hung together well, ie was a fully cohesive unit, or was it a bit hit-and-miss?
I think the album works better as a collection of song, a sort of 'Best of' rather than a cohesive album. But since Ambrosia did not try to have a central theme to the album (as far as I can tell...), I don't have any issue with that.

Ovarall Album Rating: I was wrestling with what my score should be, in the end, I'll give it a Pitchforkian score of 8.85/10