Lighthouse Thoughts

Canadian brass rock band Lighthouse were formed in Toronto 1969. Unusually, the band leader Ronn "Skip" Prokop was a drummer, he has played previously with artists such as Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana and Al Kooper before forming his first band The Paupers. Of these, the Kooper connection is probably the most significant, as the music of Lighthouse is based around a solid brass section and big arrangements, similar to those of Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago.
Prokop's ambitions were made clear from the outset when the first line up of Lighthouse had no less than 11 members. The were quickly picked up by RCA Victor, who release the bands self titled debut in 1969. Further albums followed quickly, but the punningly titled "Peacing it all together", their third release, would see the end of their relationship with RCA…

Lighthouse put out three excellent albums on RCA between 1969 and 1970. They were in the same vein of B.S.&T., Chicago, Ides of March, Chase, and Tower of Power. What set them apart was that they even contained a mini string section within the band. There were eleven musicians that could jam, play awesome ballads, and jazz it up when needed. They perfected some excellent pop tunes that were very radio friendly but their peak moment was their American breakthrough hit, "One Fine Morning",(Billboard #24). It was quite progressive for the fall of 1971, but it climbed the charts in the U.S. and finally gave them due justice and their highest charting hit! (They were already pretty successful in their native Canada) Ironically the song was released on the Evolution label which was extremely small. This album reached #80 on Billboard's album charts and ended up being their most successful album.

Drummer Skip Prokop formed Lighthouse in 1968 and began adding members soon after: guitarist Ralph Cole (whom Prokop had played with in the Paupers), Grant Fullerton, Pinky Dauvin, saxophonist Howard Shore, cellist Dick Armin, violinist Don DiNovo, keyboard player Paul Hoffert, saxophonist Keith Jollimore, vocalist Bob McBride, trumpeter Peter Pantaluk, trombonist Larry Smith, and bassist Louis Yackniw…