''Beat Street'' is the sixth studio album by Canadian rock band

Prism Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...

, released in July 1983 by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

, two years after Prism's successful studio album, '' Small Change'' (1981). It was the last of two Prism studio albums featuring lead vocalist Henry Small, who had replaced Ron Tabak after his forced departure in 1981. It features high-profile guest backing vocalists, including the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large Bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Ou ...

Timothy B. Schmit Timothy Bruce Schmit (born October 30, 1947) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He has performed as the bassist and vocalist for Poco and the Eagles, having replaced bassist and vocalist Randy Meisner in both cases. Schmit has al ...

Toto Toto may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Pets * Toto (Oz), Toto (''Oz''), a dog in the novel and film ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' * Toto, in Japanese ''The Cat Returns#Plot, The Cat Returns'' Characters of agency * a ...

Bobby Kimball Robert Troy Kimball (born March 29, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter best known as the original and longtime frontman of the rock band Toto from 1977 to 1984 and again from 1998 to 2008. Kimball has also performed as a solo artist and ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, musician, arranger, producer, and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the band Chicago from 1981–2009. ...

. The album is notably the band's first album not to feature their guitarist and founding member

Lindsay Mitchell Lindsay Christopher Mitchell (born 28 May 1949) is an English-born Canadian musician and songwriter who achieved success as the guitarist and founder of the Canadian rock band Prism. Early life Born on May 28, 1949 in North London, England, Mitc ...

. The album was their last recording of original material until they officially reformed in 1987–88. In that line-up of the band, Small was replaced by Darcy Deutsch. ''Beat Street'' is more of a solo album by Henry Small than a Prism album as it features no other members of the band apart from guitarist Paul Warren, and it relies heavily on

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

s. The album was the last recording of original material under Prism's name until they officially reformed in 1987–88. They reformed without Small who was working on

Who Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book ''Horton Hear ...

bassist

John Entwistle John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician who was the bassist for the rock band The Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band's only membe ...

's solo album '' The Rock'' which featured Small singing the lead vocals on all of its eleven tracks. "Beat Street" was received negatively by the majority of music critics and it was also a commercial disappointment; failing to reach the ''Billboard'' Top 200 and peaked outside the chart at #202. However, Prism found some success with the single "I Don't Want to Want You Anymore." This single received quite a lot of radio airplay and peaked at No. 37 on the

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched i ...

chart, Prism's last single (to date) to do so. ''Beat Street'' also peaked at #90 on the Canadian Top Albums chart (''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimension ...

''). The album was re-issued in January 2009 on Renaissance in the United States as a digitally remastered CD, featuring rare bonus content. The reissue comprised 18-tracks. It included the original album digitally remastered from the original 1/2" mix tapes; alongside five outtakes, and four alternate versions of the songs featured on the album.

Background

The original members of Prism had already left by the time the album was being recorded. The band's manager Bruce Allen owned the name and a new band was built around Small. However, Allen had a falling out with the president of

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

at the time over the management of

Tom Cochrane Thomas William Cochrane ( ; born May 14, 1953) is a Canadian musician best known as the frontman for the rock band Red Rider and for his work as a solo singer-songwriter. Cochrane has won eight Juno Awards. He is a member of the Canadian Music ...

. Suddenly the album, which at that point had been charting all over the east coast of the US, was basically pulled by

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. Small had put a touring band together, but Allen called and said the tour was cancelled. Soon afterward Prism was dropped from the label, and the band broke up.

Critical reception

Reviewing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

critic Mike DeGagne wrote that the album "contains none of Prism's past

arena rock Arena rock (also known as AOR, melodic rock, stadium rock, anthem rock, pomp rock, corporate rock and dad rock; ; ) is a style of rock music that originated in the mid-1970s. As hard rock bands and those playing a softer yet strident kind of p ...

charm or instrumental stamina." adding that "The tracks are watered-down attempts at playing pop/rock with lyrics that sound as if they've been written overnight." He also claimed that "Without John Hall behind the keyboards or Tabak's singing, Prism just wasn't Prism anymore."

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. Prism * Henry Small –

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and background vocals * Paul Warren –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

s Additional musicians *

Richie Zito Richie Zito (born August 21, 1952) is an American songwriter, composer and record producer from Los Angeles. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Zito has experienced success as a prolific session musician, being featured on a wide array of ...

– guitars;

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

Mike Baird Michael Bruce Baird (born 1 April 1968) is an Australian investment banker and former politician who was the 44th Premier of New South Wales, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Western Sydney, and the Leader of the New South ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

;

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* Dennis Bellfield –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

Alan Pasqua Alan Pasqua (born June 28, 1952) is an American rock and jazz pianist. He studied at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of Music. His album ''Standards'' with drummer Peter Erskine was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2008. As a ...

– keyboards * Jimmy Phillips – keyboards *

Michael Tempo Michael Tempo (born James Michael Temple) is an American drummer, percussionist and songwriter. Tempo is a prolific session musician, working with artists such as Tom Russell, Michelle Shocked, John Renbourn, Anthony Crawford, Jessica Harper, ...

– percussion *

– backing vocals *

– backing vocals Production and artwork * John S. Carter – producer * Warren Dewey –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

* Gene Wooley – assistant engineer * Richard "Beef" McKernan – assistant engineer * Wally Traugott – mastering * Bill Burks –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in Theatre, theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

* Andy Engel – design * Ron Slenzak –

photography Photography is the visual art, art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It i ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beat Street Prism (band) albums 1983 albums Capitol Records albums