''Flash'' is the self-titled debut studio album by British band

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...

, released in February 1972 by Sovereign Records.

Background

Guitarist

Peter Banks Peter William Brockbanks (15 July 1947 – 7 March 2013), known professionally as Peter Banks, was an English guitarist. He was the original guitarist in the rock bands Yes (band), Yes, Flash (band), Flash, and Empire; he was also a guitarist f ...

played with several bands before forming Flash, including The Nighthawks in 1963, The Devil's Disciples in 1964, The Syndicats in 1965 and then

The Syn The Syn are an England, English band that were active from 1965 to 1967, and then reunited as a progressive rock band in 2004. The band was founded by Steve Nardelli, Chris Squire, Andrew Pryce Jackman, Martyn Adelman and John Painter. Chris We ...

with

Chris Squire Christopher Russell Edward Squire (4March 1948 – 27June 2015) was an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Yes. He was the longest-serving original member, having r ...

on bass in 1965. He then joined

Mabel Greer's Toyshop Mabel Greer's Toyshop are an English psychedelic and progressive rock band formed in London in 1966 by guitarist/vocalist Clive Bayley, drummer Robert Hagger, and bassist Paul Rutledge. The band has two distinct phases in its history; the firs ...

which would be the basis of

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

in 1966, again with Chris Squire, but briefly left to join a band called Neat Change and recorded a single, "I Lied to Aunty May"/"Sandman", with

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English-American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands the Herd and Humble Pie. Later in his career, Frampton found significant success as a s ...

playing guitar on side A while Banks played on side B. He then rejoined Mabel Greer's Toyshop, who became Yes. He left them after their second album, ''

Time and a Word ''Time and a Word'' is the second studio album by English rock band Yes, first released in the UK on 24 July 1970 and later in the US on 2 November 1970 by Atlantic Records. It was put together several months after the release of the band's 19 ...

'' in 1970 to form Flash. Their bassist Ray Bennett played with another band prior to Flash called The Breed which included

Bill Bruford William Scott Bruford (born 17 May 1949) is an English drummer and percussionist who first gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock band Yes. After leaving Yes in 1972, Bruford spent the rest of the 1970s recording and tou ...

on drums.

Reissue

A remastered version was issued in the US in 2003. Curiously, it was coupled with their third album "Out Of Our Hands". There appears to be no CD release to date of the band's second album, ''In the Can''.

Track listing

Personnel

Flash * Colin Carter –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

–

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

, acoustic and Spanish guitars,

ARP synthesizer ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan R. Pearlman, Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

* Ray Bennett –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

;

and

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

on "Morning Haze" * Mike Hough –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

cymbals A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound produ ...

Additional personnel * Tony Kaye – ARP synthesizer,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Production

Derek Lawrence Derek John Lawrence (16 November 1941 – 13 May 2020) was an English record producer, famous for his work for Joe Meek's Outlaws, Deep Purple, Flash, Machiavel, Wishbone Ash, and the Randy Rhoads era of Quiet Riot. Lawrence came in con ...

– producer *

Martin Birch Martin Phillip Birch (27 December 19489 August 2020) was a British music producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock and metal bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow ...

– engineer *

– arrangements * Maurice Tate – artwork * Barry Wentzell – photography *

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group, based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, Def Leppard, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black S ...

– design, photography

References

* Peter Banks - Bands Archives : http://www.peterbanks.net/archive/bands/

External links

Flash - ''Flash'' (1972) album to be listened
as stream at Spotify.com * Peter Banks Official Site : http://www.peterbanks.net/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Flash (Flash Album) 1972 debut albums Progressive rock albums by English artists