Toronto

"Making your move
You come down fast as lightnin'
Crossing the stage
And now you can feel the excitement

So shake it up
Turn it on
Shake it up
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah"

The Canadian rock band Toronto had a few good albums between 1980 and 1983. I'd say the top hit they had was Your Daddy Don't Know from the Get It On Credit LP. Actually that whole record was good with Run For Your Life, Start Tellin The Truth, Ya Love To Love, and the title track. I played the hell out of that one.

The Girls Night Out recording came out the next year with the title song plus All I Need and Ready to Make Up. Other songs of note are Enough Is Enough, Head On, and Silver Screen from the Head On disc. Even The Score plus the title track from Lookin' for Trouble. Toronto wrote the song What About Love that was made famous by the American rock group Heart.

Update: I finally got to see and hear Holly Woods and Toronto in the flesh. Please stop me if I keep saying "Awesome, Awesome". I was searching the internet one night to see if any classic rock music would be playing in the small city I was in. I was surprised to see that Toronto would be here on the same day as me but the venue was not listed. I went searching likely spots and the 4th place I checked had a poster confirming a show that night. For a guy like me this is great because I never had a chance to see all my favorite bands when they were popular. One more to cross off my wish list.



It's been awhile since the hay days of the band so I really wasn't expecting the sound to be great. I was wrong about that. The sound system was tuned well for the building and the bass really kicked in making it sound much better than I remember in my old Ford Maverick. Holly Woods sure hasn't lost her voice over the years. It sounded great, just like I was hoping. She can still hit and hold the high notes. A couple times there I found myself saying to myself "this is awesome".



Half way through the 3rd song I started thinking, that guy on lead guitar sure looks like Al Harlow, the current lead singer of my favorite band Prism. Sure enough it was which really shocked me because I never heard of that happening before. He happened to exit after the show near where I was standing and I had a chance to talk to him. He said it was a last minute thing. Sounded pretty good for last minute.

In conclusion. Awesome above expectations.




"You fool!
You think I'm dumb and blind
You've come to late to change my mind
Just ask someone who's tried before
I don't get mad, I even the score"

Prism

"Whenever I'm feelin' down there's only one thing pullin' me through
Twelve bar shuffle and a mega watt stereo."

Sometimes no statement could ever be more true. The lyrics are taken from the song American Music sung by Ron Tabak of Prism. Ironically Prism is a Canadian band from the province of British Columbia. There's no doubt that if Canada would have had a better marketing system for music in the 80's that Prism would have become a worldwide sensation. The band is one of my favorite all time bands period. I won't get into the history and specifics of Prism too much as that information can be found on their website. What I would really like to mention is their great songs. The songs have lasted the test of time. You should check out Prism if you don't know who they are. The first song that really got my attention was Armageddon, a song almost 8 minutes long with a "Six Million Dollar Man" type intro. After buying the 8 track tape I soon realized that every song was good on the 1979 album called Armageddon. Other favorites on this album were: Virginia, Night To Remember, You Walked Away Again, and Mirror Man.

"I had a dream the other night
And as the dream unfurled
I took a trip in a rocket ship
And I found another world"



The above lyrics taken from the song Take Me To The Kaptin make me think of finding a better place than the one we are at. I'm not saying we are in a bad place but sometimes it's fun to fantasize about different possibilities. The song always makes me feel good when I hear it on the radio. It's one of the ones that take me back in time.




After discovering Prism on the Armageddon album I soon found out that other great music was available on the self titled album Prism. Along with Take Me To The Kaptin was the fantastic Spaceship Superstar. Other good songs include: It's Over, Open Soul Surgery, and Vladivostok.

The next album I found was See Forever Eyes which contains the great song of the same name plus another favorite, Take Me Away. Flyin' is also good.



"Get so damned tired and uninspired doin' all these one night stands
It's a giant leap for Rock'n'Roll...but it's too much for just one man
I'm a Spaceship Superstar... gotta solar-powered laser beam guitar
I'm at the top of all the charts on Mars...I'm a Spaceship Superstar!"



In 1980 the album Young And Restless came out with a song of the same name and American Music as highlights.



Ron Tabak, the original lead singer of Prism was killed in a cycling accident in 1984 but the music has lived on. I heard Darcy Deutsch sing the songs some years ago. For a time Henry Small took over lead vocals. Recently I heard Al Harlow, who is an early member of Prism sing the lineup of songs very well. I still recommend seeing this band if you have the chance.



There's something special about Prism's music. Canadian classic.

Big Black Sky

Here is an image for die hard Prism fans which i took of my t-shirt . At the time i wrote this i couldn't find this picture anywhere else. Steve O of Prism personally gave me this shirt during an intermission at their concert. After talking to him for awhile I was getting ready to pay someone and he just said "this is my gift from me to you". I was impressed. Big Black Sky is Prism's newest album.

Update: I met Al Harlow who was filling in as lead guitarist for Holly Woods of the band Toronto. I showed him my Take Me To The Kaptin ringtone. Cool Guy.