Few bands have personified a city’s musical community as strongly as Vancouver’s PRISM. At one time or another, Prism was associated with rocker Bryan Adams and manager Bruce Allen, songwriter Jim Vallance, and producer Bruce Fairbairn – in fact, the latter two were members of early Prism.
Over a five-year period 1977-1981, the band released six hit albums, 16 singles and received 14 gold and platinum awards, and a Juno for Group of the Year in 1980. With its bracing sound, a distinctive mix of analog synthesizers and power chords, Prism came to epitomize west coast Canadian rock in the early Eighties.
As requested, here’s the Prism second album, 1978’s “See Forever Eyes“, produced by talented Bruce Fairbairn. This is the only official CD reissue, a Capitol Records Canada release as part of their “Northern Heritage Connoisseur Series“. It’s hard to find, with used copies being sold for over U$D 350.
PRISM sound for “See Forever Eyes” has a certain Styx feel, especially in the keyboard parts, parping, quite Pomp. However the songs have a poppy feel, melodic, at places similar to Americans Angel.
One of Prism’s best songs appears here in “Take Me Away,” which became a Top 30 hit in their homeland. Bruce Fairbairn has Prism playing to a cleaner, crisper sound, utilizing the color and sheen of the synthesizers, with the guitar riffs providing the back bone.
“Take Me Away” does deserve its chart notoriety, making the best of Lindsay Mitchell’s sharp guitar hooks and Ron Tabak’s floating vocals. The song was written by bass player Allen Harlow, who wasn’t part of Prism when he introduced it to them, but was added to the lineup after the band rehearsed the song in the studio.
“Flyin” takes full advantage of the keyboards’ piping energy better than any of the album’s tracks, and title track “See Forever Eyes” is a solid hard rock tune with a crystallized grittiness, bringing to mind New England. “N-N-N-No” is a cool straight 70s rocker, and there’s nice pompy overtones to “Crime Wave”.
A little flashier and more commercial sounding, ”See Forever Eyes” continues the group’s sound from their debut, with greater magnitude and dimension coming from the instruments. Prism are part of Canadian illustrious Rock history, a bunch of very good musicians.
There’s a digital download version of ”See Forever Eyes” but with opaque sound quality. This CD version is clean, crisp, and with the proper gain / mastering.
Highly Recommended
01 – Hello
02 – Flyin’
03 – Nickels And Dimes
04 – Crime Wave
05 – You’re Like The Wind
06 – N-N-N-No!
07 – Take Me Away
08 – You’re My Reason
09 – Just Like Me
10 – See Forever Eyes
Vocals – Ron Tabak
Lead Guitar – Lindsay Mitchell
Rhythm Guitar, Bass – Allen Harlow
Keyboards – John Hall
Drums – Rocket Norton
Produced by Bruce Fairbairn