Small Change (Prism album)

Small Change
Studio album by
ReleasedDecember 1981
RecordedSummer 1981
StudioOcean Way Recording
Genre
Length34:48
LabelCapitol
ProducerJohn S. Carter
Prism chronology
All the Best from Prism
(1980)
Small Change
(1981)
Beat Street
(1983)
Prism studio album chronology
Young and Restless
(1980)
Small Change
(1981)
Beat Street
(1983)
Singles from Small Change
  1. "Don't Let Him Know"
    Released: 1981
  2. "Turn On Your Radar"
    Released: 1981
  3. "Rain"
    Released: 1981

Small Change is the fifth studio album by Canadian rock band Prism, released in December 1981 by Capitol Records. It was the first of two Prism studio albums with lead vocalist Henry Small, who had replaced Ron Tabak after his forced departure and the last studio album to feature guitarist and founding member Lindsay Mitchell. The album is generally regarded as the genesis of the smoother, more adult-oriented sound of the band's later work. The album peaked at No. 53 on the Billboard 200.[1]

On release, the album was received favorably by the majority of music critics, although it was criticized for being too commercial. This was a departure from the band's early arena rock roots and opinions became much more negative in subsequent decades. Regardless of the criticism, Small Change became Prism's most commercially successful studio album on the Billboard 200 and it was their first and only album to the make the Top 100. The lead single, "Don't Let Him Know", inspired by the Kim Carnes song "Bette Davis Eyes",[2] was written by Jim Vallance, using his real name instead of the pseudonym Rodney Higgs that he used on previous Prism studio albums, and Bryan Adams. It became Prism's first and only Top 40 hit in the US and went on to peak at number-one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1982. It stayed in the charts for just over four months.[3] The follow-up single, "Turn On Your Radar", was their fifth and final single to chart, peaking at No. 64 on the Billboard Hot 100. Small Change went on to achieve Gold status in Canada (in excess of 50,000 copies sold).

  1. ^ Awards, retrieved 4 January 2015
  2. ^ Prism song "Don't Let Him Know", retrieved 4 January 2015
  3. ^ Billboard Rock Tracks chart, 27 March 1982