Ambrosia

Description

The self-titled debut album by the American art rock band Ambrosia was released on 20th Century Records in 1975. The album was recorded by Billy Taylor, Chuck Johnson, Tom Trefethen, and Freddie Piro at Mama Jo’s Recording Studio in North Hollywood, California; with Piro producing. (It was Piro who did form Good News Records, the independent label Love Song and their lead singer Chuck Girard were signed to, and Piro was actually the owner of Mama Jo’s Recording Studio as well.) Alan Parsons, who was pretty fresh off engineering duties with Pink Floyd’s classic Dark Side of the Moon, mixed the album at Mama Jo’s. (Later, Alan Parsons enlisted the members of Ambrosia for his own debut – the first album by Alan Parsons Project.)

The album spawned the Top 20 chart single “Holdin’ On To Yesterday” which peaked at No. 17, while “Nice, Nice, Very Nice” reached No. 63. Engineer Alan Parsons received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical for the album (just like he did for Dark Side of the Moon).

Fun facts: Can It Be?, an album by The Way released on Maranatha! Music in 1975, was recorded at Mama Jo’s in the nighttime and early-morning hours, due to Ambrosia’s daytime sessions.

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/ambrosia/300997230)

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Nice, Nice, Very Nice” – 5:55
A2. “Time Waits For No One” – 4:53
A3. “Holdin’ On To Yesterday” – 4:19
A4. “World Leave Me Alone” – 3:18

Side Two
B1. “Make Us All Aware” – 4:29
B2. “Lover Aware” – 3:11
B3. “Mama Frog” – 6:05
B4. “Drink Of Water” – 6:29

Note: Simultaneously released on 8-track tape, cassette, and 12-inch vinyl LP by 20th Century Records.

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Ambrosia, backstage 1970s. (L-R) David Pack, Joe Puerta, Burleigh Drummond, Christopher North.

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Mama Jo’s Recording Studio.

Freddie Piro was an American music producer and engineer. In the early 1970s Piro started the construction of the Mama Jo’s Recording Studio, named after his mother. It was built on the property of Piro’s mother, located at Lankershim and Tuxford Streets in North Hollywood, California. Mama Jo’s was one of the first independently owned and operated recording studios in North Hollywood. (Piro also formed Good News Records, the independent label that signed Love Song and their lead singer Chuck Girard, as well as other West Coast singers associated with Calvary Chapel in Orange County, California. The first album to be recorded at Mama Jo’s was Final Touch, the second release by Love Song.)

Endowed with massive oak beams and copious velvet wall coverings, Mama Jo’s was one of the most beautiful recording studios around. Famed acoustician Vince Van Hoff was specifically hired to design the control room and it soon acquired a reputation for being a “tweaker” room; a place where artists, producers, and engineers who were really particular about sound quality wanted to work.

Many popular engineers and producers recorded at Mama Jo’s, including Jonathan David Brown, Jack Joseph Puig, T Bone Burnett, Al Perkins, Andy Johns, Alan Parsons (who recorded the very first Alan Parsons Project sessions at the studio), Brown Bannister, Burt Bacharach, and Larry Norman, among others.