Song#: 1055
Date: 06/05/1982
Debut: 89
Peak: 86
Weeks: 4
Genre: Rock
Pop Bits: Ambrosia were doing quite well with the soft rock sound they changed to in the late 70s. A pair of #3's with "How Much I Feel" and "Biggest Part of Me" kept the band on a roll. But for their fifth album, "Rock Island," they scrapped the soft rock and retreated back to their earlier rock/prog rock roots. The change was not well-received with this single tanking and the LP becoming their lowest peaking on the chart (#115). In the aftermath, the group disbanded.
ReduxReview: Anyone expecting a groovy, soft rock tune here got a big surprise. This mix of Alan Parsons Project with a little Doobie Brothers sounds nothing like Ambrosia's major hits. A change-up in sound can work for some artists, but for this group it may have been too significant of a change. Record buyers dropped the hammer and said "no thanks." It's a little unfortunate as this is a good, charging song. But I can understand that those that swoon over tunes like "Biggest Part of Me" would probably not be into the prog-rock epic "Ice Age" from the LP. For me, I like Ambrosia's more prog-rock stuff. Skip the hits and listen to their adventurous Alan Parsons-produced 1976 album "Somewhere I've Never Traveled."
ReduxRating: 6/10
Trivia: Around this time, a member of Ambrosia's touring band left and was replaced by session musician Bruce Hornsby. Later in 1984, Hornsby formed his own band called The Range, which included Ambrosia founding member Joe Puerta.
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