Ambush from USA 1981

Here's an outrageously rare rock album that I've enjoyed immensely over the last years.  In fact, I love it to death.  I had intended to buy a copy for reripping but it's gotten way out of reach for the average vinylophile.

It's very much in the Kiss, Foreigner, etc., AOR vein of hard rock, plus a couple of sweet piano-based ballads (like the inimitable hit Beth).  My wife's comment that the singer 'sounds like Cher' drove me into a frenzy until I started to think about why it's so disconcerting to certain rock-ignorant people for men to sing in such a high range over hard rock or heavy metal, starting with Robert Plant obviously.  The fact is it just feels right when they go up an octave, as if they were screaming frantically but with the acoustic control of musical notes, so much so that when someone sings in the appropriate register, I think especially of Eddie Vedder in early Pearl Jam, we yearn for him to let it out and go higher, at least I do, like Chris Cornell did so effectively in Soundgarden (Jesus Christ Pose).  You could also make the case that with bass, drums, and electric guitar adding so much in the bass registers, something is needed higher up to complement the whole sound, because rock is after all about filling up the entire listening areas of the ear until there is no space left for more.  And with Led Zep, like on this record, the backup vocals are even higher up than the melody--  I remember reading how people were amazed that Robert Plant was able to add a whole octave on top of the melody in their classics like Misty Mountain Hop.

Anyways, as an example from this album, here's the first track, All My Life:





On the discogs release page you can see the credits for these wonderful artists and the composers of the songs.  Their tight and professional guitar playing is on display in the track called Forever:





Such a wonderfully singable song, like so much of the old Baby Grand.

The megahit for me, should've been a top ten song back in the day, is the Wayne Givens-penned track called The Answers:





I could listen to that one all day, the sadness, the jaded rock'n'roll voice, the quasi-philosophical musings, the whole classic sound and nostalgia of listening to songs like this one late at night on AM radio as a kid, thinking of the alluring and cool magic of being a rock star...

Yes, I've got to find the answers in my life....



There are songs I thought I'd never sing
and melodies that haunt my soul
no one knows what the day will bring
can the dreamer, reach his goal?
If dreams come true, me and you,
will always be together for all time.
Time will heal, how I feel
I've got to find the answers in my life...

There are time when I can see you
and hear your voice in the night
And how I wish that I could be with you
and share with you the morning light
I see you there and you still care
and then I know it's only in my mind
I'll be strong, I'll get along,
I've got to find the answers in my life...

There are days that I could walk away
and lose myself within the crowds
But then I know that I could never stay
like a drop of rain among the clouds
If dreams come true, me and you,
will always be together for all time.
Time will heal, how I feel,
I've got to find the answers in my life...

I've got to find the answers in my life...
I've got to find the answers in my life...