Prototype - Prototype (1983)

Prototype - Prototype Following stints with the likes of Painter, Hammersmith, 451 Degrees and then production duties on albums by Pretty Rough, White Wolf and Qwest, Dan Lowe decided once again to try another stab at a recording career. Envisioned as a studio project with consummate Canadian keyboardist/arranger Doug Riley on lead vocals, Prototype was born. They only produced one album. Guitarist Dan Lowe got his professional start in Calgary, Alberta as a member of The Shades Of Blond who recorded one single in 1966 called "All Your Love". The tune would eventually pop up on a (now rare) 4 song EP next to an early incarnation of The Stampeders. As members came and went a name change was introduced as 49th Parallel and over the course of a year a solid line-up developed featuring Abbott, Lowe, Carlson, Petch, Woodhouse and Bare. The group released three singles on Gaeity Records between mid-1967 and late spring of 1968, at which time Petch and Woodhouse left and Dave Downey was added as bassist (Petch was not replaced). Throughout 1968 and parts of 1969 they toured throughout North America with an ever fluctuating roster. Despite these shake ups, they did hit and run recording sessions which bore several singles for Venture Records including "Twilight Woman" that managed seven weeks on the CHUM charts with a peak position of #16 in April 1969, and its follow-up, "Now That I'm A Man", in September 1969 which managed a modest 3 week ride on the CHUM charts and a peak position of #22. A full-length album was hastily assembled from singles and studio outtakes because the line-up was continually fluctuating and new recordings were impossible to conduct. This would be compounded by the immediate departure of singer Dennis Abbott following the album's released. Enter Dorn Beattie, who, along with Lowe, Velker, Downey and Bare began working on another album in 1970 which was never completed, though the single, "I Need You", did surface (and failed to chart). Eventually the band changed its name to Painter and signed on with Randy Bachman's Molten Records. Painter managed an LP and at least one successful single, "West Coast Woman", on Elektra in 1973 after which Beattie and Lowe renamed the group Hammersmith. Hammersmith managed two albums for Mercury - 'Hammersmith' (1974) and 'It's For You' (1976). Mercury dropped the band in 1977 and Beattie quit to join All The Rage In Paris (1978), and in recent years, has become a succesful country singer. Hammersmith stayed together until the end of 1977 at which time Lowe and Morice formed a new act called 451 Degrees who put out an eponymous LP on Pickwick in 1980. 451 Degrees would eventually mutate into Prototype (who also recorded an album). Throughout this time Lowe became more instrumental in the behind-the-scenes success of other bands particularly as producer for such acts as Whitewolf, Qwest, Amin Bhatia, and George Fox. He also composed the music for the Canadian movie 'The Virgin Queen of St. Francis High' in 1988. However, Lowe's biggest claim to fame was to turn the industry's head on its ear (literally) with the invention of Q-Sound - a stereo enhancement process that has been used on albums by such artists as Madonna and Pink Floyd.

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