Prism - 1999 - Live 75-77

Prism

1999

Live 75-77

01. Bach's Lunch At The Why

02. Zombie Roch

03. Suspended Evening

04. Plain Truth

05. Great Deceiver

06. Prelude #1

07. Triangle Of New Flight

08. Multi Dimensional Jive

09. Hands In The Fire

10. Nasebluten

11. Flute Solo

12. Ditty

13. After The Games

14. Keyboard Solo

15. King's Mischief

16. Skeletone Rag

Here is pre-Hands aka Prism in an earliest 1975-76 incarnation and the 1976-77 near-Hands form that finally coalesced into Hands. Get a sneek peak at the raw and true life of a band struggling to be heard through noisy nite club chatter, apathetic ping pong ball echoes, local Texas radio shows, live and in the studio.

Prism plays mostly original tunes but does cover Gentle Giant’s “Plain Truth” and King Crimson’s “Great Deceiver”. Their Crimson cover is impressive, even in such a raw format and Prism sings as good as if not better than Wetton. The best offering of this early era is the live studio session cut, “Triangle Of New Flight”. Probably a crowd pleaser with all its funk but weakest cut to me was the you-can-dance-to-it, “Multi Dimensional Jive”.

Things polish up noticeably with late era Prism’s “Hands in the Fire” which sounds much better than the later version found on Hands. Probably the hippest, jazzy, offbeat cut is the 8:43 “Nasebluten” which shows just how creative and what potential these guys really had. This is great Canterbury jazz fusion stuff here. Tracks 11-15 are all from Prism’s opening for Gentle Giant at the Electric Ballroom in 1977. We hear a great flute solo, then “Ditty” which is found on Hands’ Palm Mystery release. More quality Prism follows in a Dregsian mode, then a keyboard solo, and another Palm Mystery cut, “King’s Mischief”. Prism outros in a whacked, jazzy, and playful tune called “Skeletone Rag”. For fans of Hands this a completist must-have.

Prism was the bridge between the immature Ibis (as taped on ''Hands - The early years'') and their later incarnation, the masterful Hands.Shroom collected live material between 1975 and 1977, when the group was using the Prism moniker and a 16-track CD was released two decades later, showing an evolving and complex Symphonic Prog band with influences from Kansas, Yes, Gentle Giant and the likes.Sound quality is below acceptable levels, but most tracks are great with extended instrumental work, based on electric guitar, keys, flute, violin.Some tracks are included in Hands' regular albums and there is a great cover on Gentle Giant's ''Plain truth''.Plenty of rural touches all over as well as some nice jazzy interludes.Cool stuff.