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

[gopr]

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 Includes 32-page booklet with exclusive band interviews, unpublished photos and tour itinerary.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• Previously unpublished photos & essay including detailed US tour history with exclusive band interviews and memorabilia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

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 1-828-350-8158 (US), glassonyonpr@gmail.com

[Koreabruce]

This certainly looks tempting... No video footage is mentioned as being included in this set despite the fact that some obviously exists based on the promotional video linked above. The sound isn't great, but it's tolerable, and there's undeniable magic about both this band and that particular era that overrides any aural deficiencies. Color me interested!

[soundsweird]

The label releasing this is a "boutique" label out of Florida that is apparently legit. I knew about them because they're also releasing a 3CD set of Shawn Phillips live material from the 70's. Expect a mix of soundboards and audience tapes that they cleaned up. Somebody on the Hoffman forum said that at least some of the recordings have been floating around for years and are good quality, and all are stereo. I'll report back when I get the Shawn Phillips at the end of the month (current release date is July 29th).

[mozo-pg]

Interested.

[Dan Roth]

The label releasing this is a "boutique" label out of Florida that is apparently legit. I knew about them because they're also releasing a 3CD set of Shawn Phillips live material from the 70's. Expect a mix of soundboards and audience tapes that they cleaned up. Somebody on the Hoffman forum said that at least some of the recordings have been floating around for years and are good quality, and all are stereo. I'll report back when I get the Shawn Phillips at the end of the month (current release date is July 29th).

They also released the "Sounds like Swiss" live Nektar album that was pretty good quality imho, though I believe that one used a soundboard audio recording as the source.

[yodathedog]

Pre-Ordered.

[rickawakeman]

Love me some Flash but they lost me at "regardless of quality." Time is too short and I have so much music to listen to without spending time with audience recordings.

[roylayer]

I am enjoying my copy of this wonderful collection. Great performances (although with varying sound quality)! I already had a couple of the audience recordings plus their live album, "Psychosync." A few comments:

1) The booklet alone makes it worthwhile. Lots of information and thoughts from the musicians.

2) 1972-08-01 Roslyn, NY (My Father's Place). Sound quality is rough (b or b-), but it is a great performance. It sounds marginally better than my other copy, but it is much shorter - 55:10 vs. 74:26. It has the same songs from the same source, but some appear edited here. For example, Children of the Universe is 22:26 on the other copy but only 10:44 here. There is some nice Peter Banks "noodling" that is missing.

Also, Small Beginnings is song #5 here but is #1 on the other recording. It seems to be #1 for a number of other shows, but I'm not sure of the correct order. (Sidebar: I find it interesting that the other recording has a time of 74 minutes - the original maximum capacity of CDs. It makes me wonder if there was more to the original recording than is available.)

3) 1972-07-18 Hempstead, NY (Ultrasonic Studios). These are the same 4 tracks that are available on "Psychosync" they sound a bit better here. (I'd give them an A-.) The liner notes say that it is "slightly edited." There is a small time difference - 43:50 here vs. 46:07 on "Psychosync". This release should render "Psychosync" obsolete. (The Midnight Special tracks from there are also included here.)

4) 1972-12-16 Passaic, NJ (Capitol Theatre). This is about the same length as my other copy, but the sound quality is much improved. (Still not great.)

This is a wonderful collection for the true fan. Many thanks to those who assembled and released it!

Here are some online places worldwide where it can be purchased: https://flash.biglink.to/intheusa. I got mine for $30 from Amazon - a bargain IMO.

flash.jpg

[malgeo]

A nice Flash performance has been uploaded to the Midnight Special Youtube channel:

https://youtu.be/gz_yMb1YKco?si=P6kawJwvVMJ2ysHh

[Eddie Y]

They also released the "Sounds like Swiss" live Nektar album that was pretty good quality imho, though I believe that one used a soundboard audio recording as the source.

There are two shows on Swiss, a TV broadcast from February 73, as well a soundboard from later that year in May, both are included on the CDs

[mozo-pg]

The link is not working 😕. Any other link?