Originally Posted by Anteater

Ambrosia - Ambrosia (1975)

What do you get when a bunch of Californian wannabe Beach Boys see King Crimson at a concert back in '72 and decide to follow suit? Before all that blue-eyed soul scthuffz like You're The Biggest Part Of Me, there was this little crossover gem: poppier and yet more muscular in places than most of America's often derivative and unspired prog-related music at the time, this self-titled debut has everything a proghead might want in a record: wicked instrumental chops coupled with vivid lyrical imagery, awesome songwriting and some muy excelente vocal harmonizing courtesy of frontman David Pack and the rest of the band. Besides all this, the proceedings are splendid on the production side of things as well: Alan Parsons, fresh off Pink Floyd's DSOTM, was behind the reins of this particular carriage, and the results are irrefutably grand.

Searching for an American prog. album that can rival the U.K.'s best? Have at ye!