Life Beyond L.A. [Original recording remastered]

Ambrosia | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 1, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B00003TKGJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,853 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Japanese reissue of the soft rocker's top 20 1978 album forWarner Brothers featuring the top five smash 'How Much IFeel' and the rockin' title cut. 10 tracks total. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice, nice, very nice!, February 8, 2000

By 

Press (No. California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life Beyond L.A. (Audio CD)

This is the third album by a band that I consider one of the best bands to come out of America in the last half of the 20th century.

I can't pick a favorite song off of this record, nor can I pick a favorite album from Ambrosia or a favorite band member. All are the epitome of rock, even progressive rock, as art.

The music and production on this (or any) Ambrosia album is far more imaginative than your average rock group (this ain't no top 40 pop band). They effectively utilize more instruments than most bands use in an entire career. Ambrosia develops as many styles as songs on this album.

Who else could pull off a song like "Apothecary", ("Late again, for chemistry class")? Joe Puerta's pleading vocals in "If Heaven Could Find Me", gave me chills while writing this. He also sings beautifully on his composition "Heart To Heart". The whimsical "Angola", although humorous, is a strong statement of the excesses of American culture. "Ready for Camarillo" closes the CD with grace and power that can't be matched by any other group.

But don't make the mistake of buying just this CD. All four releases are masterpieces in there own rights. You will not find a "filler" on any of there recordings (except possibly on Road Island which has not as of this writing been released in the U.S.)

Ambrosia... Nice, nice, very nice!

Personnel: Joe Puerta: Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar and Guitars on "Heart to Heart" David Pack: Lead Vocals, Guitars, Acoustic and Electric Keyboards Burleigh Drummond: Drums, Percussion & Vocals Additional Personnel: Christopher North: Piano on "Camarillo", Organ on "Heaven" and "Camarillo" Joe Sample: Piano on "Apothecary" and "Heaven" David Cutler Lewis: Piano on "Art Beware", Rhodes and clavinet on "Dancin'", mini-solo on "Not As You Were" Cliff Woolley: Harmonica on "Art Beware" Marty Krystall: Sax on "Dancin' by Myself" Daniel Kobialka: Violin on "Heart to Heart" Produced by Freddie Piro & Ambrosia

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what took so long...?, March 9, 2000

By 

"mcgavin" (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life Beyond L.A. (Audio CD)

I can't beleive it took so long to release this album on cd. My older brother had this album in the late seventies when I was in high school and it became a staple in my collection. How much I feel was the song that everybody remembers and rightly so.It was and is a classic but the other lesser known songs were just as good if not better. I really liked Ready for Camarillo and Apothacary had a way of going from light rock to a jazzy unique peice. But I always waited for Heart to heart because it put my girlfriend in the mood and was one of my favorites as well. Now that this cd is available ,get it before some record company clown makes us wait another twenty plus years to enjoy this classic. D.B.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Good, January 27, 2007

By 

K. Zuelke (Fort Thomas, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life Beyond L.A. (Audio CD)

I was a huge Ambrosia fan in the 70s, and I still think their first album and their second, _Somewhere I've Never Traveled_, are both among the top 10 albums produced during that decade--it's exhilarating music, just absolutely wonderful. The band got a bad rap with critics and their more intense fans because of three easy listening hits that came off their next two projects, and one of them, "How Much I Feel," is here on _Life Beyond LA_. In a certain mood I don't mind those radio hits, simply because David Pack and Joe Puerta both have such terrific voices, the band is so tight and cool (as good as Steely Dan in that sense), and their tunefulness and vocal harmonies have only ever been surpassed by the Beach Boys themselves (another band I love). But, yeah, OK, the hits in question are a touch on the schmaltzy side. But that is *not* what marks this band on the whole, and Life Beyond LA is still well worth getting. I just bought it and listened to it fresh lately (first time in fifteen or twenty years), and I'm greatly surprised at just how good it is. Many of the lyrics still have the young, angry, artsy edge that I loved about their first two albums, and I can listen to Pack and Puerta sing all day long--believe me, as singers they are *that* good. "Apothecary" is my favorite, a jazzy piece that swings, with clever lyrics in the voice of a drug addict, and the title cut rails against LA phoniness, and it rocks as well. "Art Beware" follows right along: "Art beware, it's all been done / There's nothing new under the sun." I loved the whole first half of the CD, hit single and all. The second half continues with "Dancin' by Myself," with an interesting staccato rhythm that stops then flows into smooth, high-70s pop mode in the chorus. It's perfectly indicative of the drift the band was undergoing away from their progressive art rock beginnings. "Angola" gets back to political commentary, with a comic air that still makes a serious (angry) comment about how blasé Americans are with their absurd consumer abundance. "Heart to Heart" is romantic pop--a bit dull, maybe, except I still love Pack's voice whenever I hear it, especially when he climbs into a falsetto as naturally and effortlessly as Brian Wilson, as he does at one point. "Not as You Were" is a pleasant rocker, with a late 70s-sounding keyboard--it's catchy and it works, but it's not thrilling either. On the whole, while not as ambitious as their first two albums, Life Beyond LA is pretty darn good. For someone only familiar with Ambrosia's radio hits, this is the place to start if you're looking to feel your way towards their mind-blowing early works, and the terribly underrated and ignored (and terrific) final album, _Road Island_. In the end, this band is so good and so talented that I'd recommend anything they put out. Ambrosia is 70s pop/rock at its very smartest and best.