Sunday, June 5, 2011

Artist: Prism, Album: Young And Restless, Song: Young And Restless

"Young and restless, running out of control."  Prism were a rock band from Vancouver that began recording in the mid to late seventies.  However, the band's members could be linked to numerous rock and jazz bands from the late sixties Vancouver music scene.  Their self titled debut in 1977 spawned huge Canadian hits like Spaceship Superstar and Take Me To The Kaptin.  The band at that time, included future music heavyweights like songwriter Jim Vallance as well as producer Bruce Fairbairn.  The band toured Canada and the U.S. in their prime and were signed to GRT Records for most of their career.  They had another huge release in 1979 entitled Armageddon which is likely very familiar to a lot of Canadians.  The title track was written about the chaos the band witnessed in Memphis on the first anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.  Another interesting piece about that release was the collaboration with a very young Bryan Adams, who contributed his songwriting.  This would lead to his own record deal and subsequent successful solo career.  Young And Restless was the band's first release with Capitol Records following GRT's bankruptcy.  The title track is a youth anthem that was released in 1980 and garnered them Juno nominations for both album and group of the year.  They won the Juno for the latter that year.  The band would go through some line up changes following this album and their album sales suffered as a result.  It would lead to a brief break up before the band resumed playing together again in the early nineties.  Today, only one of the original members (Al Harlow) remains and he is keeping the fire alive.  Prism released a new album in 2008 and the band continues to play shows.  They appear to be playing this summer at various venues across Alberta and British Columbia.  You can keep track of them at http://prism.ca/.  The album, Young And Restless, can be downloaded from Itunes or purchased from the band's website.  The title track is also available on numerous retrospectives that have been released of the band's work.  You can hear the song, Young And Restless, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0AVrDYvemI).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!