November 15, 2024

Skylight Webzine

Online since 2000

Prog Legends FLASH Featuring Peter Banks “In The USA Live 1972-73” 3-CD Set Available Sept, 9, 2022

Available on Sept. 9th, restored live recordings from 1970ʼs classic prog rock group FLASH featuring ex-YES guitarist Peter Banks. Twenty-two tracks from seven shows across 3 discs; a majority of them previously unavailable. Best known thanks to their YES connections, the band nevertheless held their own across three Billboard charting albums, and the top 30 single hit “Small Beginnings.” Includes 32-page booklet with exclusive band interviews, unpublished photos and tour itinerary. A true time capsule back to the golden age of US rock concerts.

• Carefully restored and previously unreleased recordings

• For fans of progressive rock, guitar heroes & YES

• Previously unpublished photos & essay including detailed US tour history with exclusive band interviews and memorabilia

“Capturing the collective during seven of their American shows of 1972-1973, one of those preserved for posterity in its entirety, the digipack will allow the listener to savor most of the three LPs in rather different performances than those laid down in the studio and the uninitiated will have the opportunity to see how brilliant these musicians were. Colin and Ray worked for a while under the old name relatively recently, but it’s the old recordings their followers are after, so there’s something to look forward to.” – Dmitry Epstein https://dmme.net

Says Ray Bennett: “What ‘Think Like A Key Music’ set out to do here, on this multi-disc set, is to gather together whatever was left out there of live FLASH stuff regardless of quality and present it in the best possible way. Whatever improvements could be made to the audio were done. Quite a bit of it is rough sounding, but I found that even with the poor sound issues there was something coming across from the live experience. Some surprisingly good moments. A fair bit of this material was fan-recorded, probably on cassettes, some possibly from rough mixing board recordings; some is much better studio type quality, and some has been online for years on obscure websites, but in the worst possible form – awful sound, complete with extraneous noise and talking in the recordings. So all that has been cleaned up and the sound mastered as well as possible. Overall, I think this is a worthy project for the historical record at the very least. Other than the ‘In Public’ CD which is already available, this new set is it as far as we know. Pretty much all that there is of live FLASH performance.”

Watch the promotional video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqi8AVksm7c

FLASH “In The USA” Tracklist:

CD 1:

Roslyn, NY, August 1st, 1972:

1. Black And White

2. There No More

3. Monday Morning Eyes

4. Small Beginnings

5. Children Of The Universe

6. Lifetime

CD 2:

Hempstead, NY, July 18th, 1972:

7. Small Beginnings

8. There No More

9. Children Of The Universe

10. Dreams Of Heaven

Passaic, NJ, December 16th, 1972:

11. Small Beginnings

12. Black And White

13. Children Of The Universe

CD 3:

Indianapolis, IN, December 27th, 1972:

14. Small Beginnings

15. Black And White

16. Children Of The Universe

Burbank, CA, October 9, 1973:

17. Dead Ahead

18. Psychosync

Miami, FL, October 26th, 1973:

19. Children Of The Universe

20. Black And White

Cape Cod, MA, August 24th, 1973:

21. The Bishop

22. Manhattan Morning (Christmas ’72)

To purchase: https://flash.biglink.to/intheusa

For more information: https://www.thinklikeakey.com