Ron Tabak: vocal
Lindsay Mitchell: guitar
Piano: Peter Bjerring
Richard Christie: bass
Jim Vallance: drums

Produced by Bruce Fairbairn. Recorded and mixed by Rolf Hennemann at Mushroom Studios, Vancouver.

Jim Vallance: piano, guitar, bass, drums, vocal

This is my home-studio demo (mono ... what a concept!).  The tempo is painfully slow, which seems to be the case with most of my demo's for Prism's first album. The vocal harmony in the chorus is me attempting to channel Levon Helm.

Also recorded by April Wine.

I wrote "Open Soul Surgery" in 1974. The title was suggested by my girlfriend at the time, Hilary Knight (yes ... she gets royalties). The guitar riff was liberally inspired by the 1970 hit record "Alright Now" by "Free:



The ascending guitar riff in the chorus was written in 1973 and originally appeared as part of a longer jazz-rock instrumental titled "Leonardo", performed by Sunshyne (the group that later became Prism).

Bruce Fairbairn and I co-produced the basic track for "Open Soul Surgery" in July 1975 at Mushroom Studios in Vancouver, with Rolf Henneman engineering and Jeff Tolman assisting. Lindsay Mitchell played guitar (rhythm and lead), I played drums and percussion, and I think Sunshyne member Richard Christie played bass.  I can't recall who played piano, although it was most likely Peter Bjerring.

The completed track was mixed at Mushroom Studios on October 21, 1975.

The vocal was originally intended to be performed by Lindsay Mitchell, but he had lost confidence in his ability to front the band.  At Lindsay's request singer Ron Tabak was brought into the band in July 1975.