Ambrosia ‎– Somewhere I've Never Travelled (USED)

USED 1976 Pressing. No Ringwear, all flaps perfectly intact! Incredible copy! Folds into the shape of a pyramid. *See image #2 / MEDIA Just perfect, beautiful. 

After achieving moderate success with their self-titled debut, Ambrosia decided to up the ante by going for a bigger, more symphonic sound on this follow-up outing. To achieve this goal, they enlisted Alan Parsons, who mixed their first album, to produce and Andrew Powell (arranger for the Alan Parsons Project) to do full-blown orchestral arrangements on a number of the tracks. The resulting album lacks the careful fusion of pop and prog elements that characterized Ambrosia, with songs tending to fall into either progressive or soft rock categories. Just the same, it is a strong album with a number of sonically arresting moments. The finest songs are the most overtly progressive, the most dazzling being "Danse With Me, George," a tribute to Chopin that leads the listener through a bewildering array of styles (classical, jazz, and pop, to name just a few) in just under eight minutes. "Cowboy Star" is another knockout, bringing its tale of a city dweller who dreams of cowboy glory to life with a beautiful orchestral mid-section that is strongly reminiscent of Aaron Copland. None of the straightforward pop songs are as catchy or instantly memorable as "Holdin' on to Yesterday," but "Runnin' Away" presents an appealing blend of carefully arranged harmonies and acoustic sounds, and "We Need You Too" provides the album with a suitably stately finale by building from a piano-led solo ballad into a cascade of soaring strings and harmony vocals. All in all, Somewhere I've Never Travelled lacks the crossover appeal that made Ambrosia such a unique album but is still a worthwhile listen for progressive rock fans. 

These are Ambrosia's earliest albums and they are also their proggiest, slipping into extended jazzy instrumental sections and quoting Chopin pieces, but there are also hints of the soft slickness and melodic gifts that would give them yacht-rock hits a few years down the road, particularly on Somewhere I've Never Travelled, which finds the group slowly abandoning art for pop.-Allmusic