Prism - See Forever Eyes

Continuing on my trip through 1978 and here's Prism's second album See Forever Eyes. I remember going with my cousin to a hole in the wall record store to pick up an 8 track copy he had special ordered. Yeah, it was like that once upon a time in smaller towns and suburbs.

Like any good Canadian kid I thought "Spaceship Superstar" was as close to a perfect song as there ever was. Here was their follow up, and I was going to hear more than one song. After ejecting the ever present Double Live Gonzo! from the truck's player this one got a fair amount of play over the summer, and I liked what I heard. Especially the rock songs where Lindsay tore it up.

The early Prism albums were as much driven by the interplay between the guitar and keyboards as they were by the soaring vocals of Ron Tabak - a pattern some of my favourite bands employ to my delight (SAGA I'm looking at you).

When the album launches into "Flyin'" arguably one of the best tracks on the album, it was a song that would draw comparisons to Styx mainly because both bands had gotten their hands on the German Oberheim synthesizer and used the same preset (I'm guessing it was a preset, did they have patches then?).

Now at the time I didn't know who was in the band. I was just a 15 year old shy lanky kid who loved music. A year of so later when I did pick up this album, I also picked up their debut and both albums were played constantly, so looking back it's a bit blurred as to what goes where.

Of course being the 70s there were sucky songs (opinion courtesy of 15 year old me), and Prism would become pretty proficient at the power ballad. Listening now to "You're Like the Wind" and "You're My Reason" I can imagine there were a lot of burnt thumbs at their concerts for all the waving flames.

See Forever Eyes likely contains the only bowling strike captured in a rock song (I'm just guessing, but really, name another song). "N-N-N-No!" is a song played so high and fast it's amazing Ron was able to hit the notes. Apparently the guys used to joke about how high a key they could write their songs in. I love this song. N-N-N-No kidding (don't you roll your eyes at me).

At the time I was (and still am) enthralled by Lindsay Mitchell's guitar playing but over the year's what really emerges on the first couple of albums in particular was John Hall's keyboard wizardry pre-midi and sequencers. What he accomplished is kind of mind boggling in it's complexity.

Even now, this album is a lot of fun and not just for the nostalgia that takes me back to my youth. These were solid songs.

Comments

6 Cylinder

As a kid we had one radio station, not counting CBC, and generally there was very little that was worth listening to, although there were times something would come on that would make you pay attention. It was 1979 and on a couple of occasions I heard "There Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and it cracked me up, and I always wanted to get a copy for myself. A few years ago when my niece was dancing, they did a performance to this song, and now I can't separate my niece from a bunch of dancing chicks in chicken suits. Such is life. When I found this in the dollar bin I actually let out a little chirp, my goodness could it be? It was, and it was in great shape - including the inner sleeve. Score. I had no idea what to expect, for all I knew there was only one song worth listening to, and if that was the case it was still a dollar well spent. If I could buy an album by Showdown and enjoy it, odds are I'll find something to enjoy here to. Before I put this on I...

Garfield - Strange Streets

I'd seen this before in the bin, but kept flipping through the stacks. I'd see it a few more times, each time stopping to look at it a little more. There was something kind of cool about the cover where the stylized Celtic knot had the dotted yellow line - it was a strange street for sure. I pulled the record out of the jacket and I was struck by the centre image. There was the familiar Mercury label, the same one I'd seen a thousand times on BTOs Head On album. Well, I'd bought things based on odd associations before - like when I had to buy anything that Solid Rock Records released (this was generally a good thing) who knows maybe this was a hidden gem. There weren't any real scratches or rash, just a lot of dirt and dust - it seemed to clean up okay, but we'll see how it goes. The album opens with the title track, and this wasn't straight ahead pop, or rock. It was leaning to the progressive, but with a pop bent. Oddly enough the vocals reminded me of Mi...

Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!

The first time I got this album it was a gift from my old roommate Otto. For a goofy little nebbish he would occasionally surprise me with some left of field musical treasures. Although, I still think he was reaching a little when he brought home the new "Led Zeppelin" album by Kingdom Come and forced me to listen to "Get it On" over and over again. I'd not listened to Mars Needs Guitars in a long, long, long time. The first thing that I jumped out at me was how David Faulkner's vocals reminded me of his fellow countryman Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil. I think the reason this never occurred to me was at the time I didn't have any Midnight Oil until Diesel and Dust in 1987. I'm not saying it was all the time, but there were a couple of songs where it stood out. Not a bad thing, just a thing. Even at the time this felt slightly out of step with what was going on in 1985. It seemed like everyone was using drum machines and synthesizers and having t...

Old Enough to Forget

Search This Blog