Hey, it was 27 years ago today that Mt. St. Helens erupted on the day of my high school graduation, and covered the cars in the parking lot with a fine layer of volcanic ash - not to mention sullying the fine rosewood finish of my Yamaha CP-30 electronic piano, which I'd played during the ceremony! I thought I'd take us back to those days of seemingly endless possibilities - albeit a bit clouded by the aforementioned ash - with a song selection that evokes vivid memories for me."*Ambrosia's*":http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0ifexqw5ldae song "Biggest Part Of Me," from their album _One Eighty_, reached number 3 on the Billboard charts right around the time of the Mt. St. Helens eruption. While some might find it too lush and polished by today's standards, it really is a nearly perfect specimen of its time in pop history. Expressive vocals, intricate multi-tracked harmonies, layered keyboards and unchallenging lyrics - how can you go wrong?I suppose one way you could go wrong is to have Merv Griffin introduce the band - ugh. This is clearly a lip-synched performance from old Merv's show, but there's an interesting audio glitch at the end when they fade the recorded track too early and you still hear Burleigh Drummond thumping away on the live drums. Note that this is the full version from the album, which includes a tasty minor-key bridge that was omitted from the radio edit. #%*@! radio philistines!!!
mousetrap says
By the way, this doesn't date me, okay? Maybe I was a child prodigy and graduated from high school at age *EIGHT*, y'know? Or, um...*FOUR!* Yeah, that's it. Stranger things have happened!
Augusts1 says
Yea and my mother is the Queen of England, lol! I was working at a men's clothing store in Oregon City(living in Beavercreek, a tiny nowhere town way out in the country past Oregon City) when the Mt. blew. That was such a weird experience! So surreal. They closed the store down early & let us go home. I recall driving home & being able to see the Mt. doing it's natural freaky thing!
Great song. Reminds me so much of The Doobie Brothers though. Funny how the drummer keeps going at the end of the song, lol. Whoops!
mousetrap says
I know where Beavercreek is, dude. But I definitely didn't venture across the river much in my younger days. So yeah, you remember the post-volcano days well, eh? Do you remember how people took to walking around outside with surgical masks, and other improvised filters, to avoid breathing too much ash? And how the banks eventually had to put up signs at their front doors, asking people to please remove their masks before entering the bank? That made such an impression on me.
I actually wrote a song called the "Mt. St. Helens Blues" and performed it at my school before I graduated. Somehow word got to a local radio guy and he had me come on his show to talk about it. That's probably the most "famous" I've ever been. From that I went to hosing ash off the parking lot of an apartment complex where I worked that summer. Sooooo many heaping piles of ash. [shudder]
I do love the Ambrosia song - can't help it. But even though I was _deeply_ into the Michael McDonald-era Doobies around this time, I didn't hear Ambrosia as sounding all that similar. Probably because prior to this song and the other hit from this record, "You're The Only Woman," they were really known as more of a prog-rock band, if you can believe it. "Holdin' On To Yesterday" and "Nice, Nice, Very Nice" weren't very Doobie-esque songs - particularly the latter, having been based on a Kurt Vonnegut book.
Augusts1 says
Yea I recall the surgical masks! Can't believe you recall the banks requests too, tff! I recall that now that you mention it. Cool, you wrote that song & got some play on radio.
I wasn't too into Ambrosia so I didn't realize they were prog rock. Interesting. Must've been a shock for them to go from prog rock to this song!
Hey, it was 27 years ago today that Mt. St. Helens erupted on the day of my high school graduation, and covered the cars in the parking lot with a fine layer of volcanic ash - not to mention sullying the fine rosewood finish of my Yamaha CP-30 electronic piano, which I'd played during the ceremony! I thought I'd take us back to those days of seemingly endless possibilities - albeit a bit clouded by the aforementioned ash - with a song selection that evokes vivid memories for me."*Ambrosia's*":http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0ifexqw5ldae song "Biggest Part Of Me," from their album _One Eighty_, reached number 3 on the Billboard charts right around the time of the Mt. St. Helens eruption. While some might find it too lush and polished by today's standards, it really is a nearly perfect specimen of its time in pop history. Expressive vocals, intricate multi-tracked harmonies, layered keyboards and unchallenging lyrics - how can you go wrong?I suppose one way you could go wrong is to have Merv Griffin introduce the band - ugh. This is clearly a lip-synched performance from old Merv's show, but there's an interesting audio glitch at the end when they fade the recorded track too early and you still hear Burleigh Drummond thumping away on the live drums. Note that this is the full version from the album, which includes a tasty minor-key bridge that was omitted from the radio edit. #%*@! radio philistines!!!
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