Friday Nite Retro

Welcome to Friday Nite Retro! Tonight we're servin' up a big old plateful of Ambrosia. . .the members of Ambrosia decided on the moniker in 1970 as it connoted a vision of their music: all shades, textures, colors and styles. While most people are familiar with Ambrosia's radio hits of the 1970s, the songs on their five albums range from progressive to experimental. Their initial musical influences, like many of their generation, came from The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Ambrosia fused symphonic art rock with a slickly produced pop sound. The band is as comfortable with ballads as they are with driving rock and roll. They can be meaningful or mischievous; however, the music is continuously copious and the harmonies are magnificently intermingled. The following is a nice mix of their music:

2006 Career Achievement Award for Hit Songs


The first album, Ambrosia, was released in 1975. It spawned the chart singles Holdin' on to Yesterday as well as the FM classic Nice, Nice, Very Nice:

Holdin' on to Yesterday


In 1978, Life Beyond LA was released; Ambrosia's third album. It marked a bit of a move away from their progressive rock style and the lush arrangements and introduced a more Pop/Jazz influence. The album marked their biggest pop breakthrough, scoring their first gold hit, How Much I Feel:

How Much I Feel


In 1980, Warner Bros. released One Eighty, a smash LP that produced two of the year's biggest hits, "You're the Only Woman", reaching number thirteen, and "Biggest Part of Me", which reached number three. The LP earned the band three Grammy nominations, including Best Pop Vocal Group. A headlining world tour soon followed. One of the biggest honors bestowed upon the band was Quincy Jones' declaration that "Biggest Part of Me" was one of his all time favorite songs. The title of the album, One Eighty was believed by fans to signal the group's 180-degree change in direction. In actuality, it was so named because it was recorded in January of 1980 (1/80):

Biggest Part of Me


You and I (You're the Only Woman)


In 1982, Ambrosia released their fifth and last album, Road Island. With it's dark central themes, Road Island was a conceptual, adventurous work of art that brought forward Ambrosia's exceptional talents. It also marked the end of an era for the band. Critics and fans alike poorly received it and in the wake of the album's disappointing performance, the band broke up, ending their run of chart success:

How Can You Love Me


In 1989, Ambrosia reunited with all four original members and began playing live shows again, mostly on the West Coast. In 1995 the band began to expand their annual touring schedule. In 1997, Warner Bros. released Ambrosia's long awaited greatest hits CD, Anthology, an album that spanned the group's entire career and included three new tracks. In addition to Anthology, the entire Ambrosia catalog has been re-mastered and released on CD for the first time. The Year 2000 marked the 30th anniversary of Ambrosia, and the band celebrated with a very busy touring schedule that reaped box office success.

In 2002 the band released a live album, Live At The Galaxy, and a best-of album with the tracks remastered, titled The Essentials, which includes a broad spectrum of their music. In 2004, they released yet another best-of album titled How Much I Feel And Other Hits, which contains mainly ballads. There have been no new albums since 1982, but they have written and performed new material, so a CD of all-new songs is a possibility.

Check out the band's website here.