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At this point, Flash may be remembered more for their sexy album covers than for their music.

If true, that’s a shame. Formed in England in 1971, Flash didn’t last long, flaming out after three LPs released on Capitol Records: Flash (1971), In the Can (1972) and Out of Our Hands (1973). The suggestive covers (with the first one created by famed British album cover designers Hipgnosis) featured women in various states of undress, but the music burned brightly.

Flash were (perhaps unfairly) labeled a Yes knockoff, because the band featured founding Yes guitarist Peter Banks, along with vocalist Colin Carter, bassist Ray Bennett and drummer Mike Hough. Original Yes keyboardist Tony Banks guested on the first album, furthering the Yes connection. There were other similarities: Carter sang in a high range approaching that of Yes vocalist Jon Anderson, Bennett played a butterscotch Rickenbacker bass like Chris Squire, and Hough played in a jazzy style not unlike original Yes drummer Bill Bruford. But Flash had their own sound, best heard on standout songs like “Children of the Universe” and “Small Beginnings” from the debut album.

Whereas Yes were highly orchestrated and carefully arranged, Flash were looser. Arranged to showcase Banks’ versatile lead guitar playing, Flash could go on tangents, or veer from loud and fast to quiet and slowed-down at the drop of a hat. Yes went on journeys, but Flash went on adventures.

The band didn’t hit it big like Yes, but did enjoy some success. “Small Beginnings” got to No. 29 on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100 chart, and all three albums by the original lineup made it to the U.S. Top 200 chart. But by 1973, Flash were no more.

[A personal note: One of my first-ever Goldmine assignments was a story on Flash. I spoke to Bennett in 2011. At the time, he and Carter had regrouped (with Bennett assuming lead guitar duties) to reboot Flash. You can read the full article here.]

The Flash catalog isn’t vast: In addition to the three original studio albums, a live album recorded in the 1970s, Psychosync, came out in 1997. There were no further additions to the Flash catalog until 2013, when the new Flash lineup released the first new Flash album in 40 years, Flash Featuring Ray Bennett & Colin Carter, on the Purple Pyramid label. That same year, another archival live disc, In Public: Udder Chaos/Live at Cowtown Ballroom came out on AdequacEsounds. Banks died in 2013, and the Bennett/Carter lineup disbanded a few years later.

That seemed to be the final word on Flash, until now. A three-CD set, In The USA Live 1972-73, released in September 2022 by Think Like A Key Music, collects rare live recordings of Flash captured at shows from 1972 to 1973.

Bennett spoke of the set’s at-times rough sound quality in a press release accompanying the album, saying “Whatever improvements could be made to the audio were done. … 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.”

The first disc is just under an hour from the band’s Aug. 1, 1972 show at Roslyn, N.Y., and it’s certainly on the rough side. It seems to be one of the cassette recordings Bennett mentioned, but it finds the band in good form playing-wise. Instrumentation and vocal harmonies are tight.

The sound quality improves on disc 2, recorded about a month earlier on July 18 in Hempstead, N.Y. There is a separation of instruments indicating it may be from at least a soundboard source. As on the first disc, the band was road-seasoned, a tight unit.

The set’s third CD combines songs recorded at shows in Indianapolis (12/27/72), Burbank, Calif. (10/9/73), and Cape Cod, Mass. (8/24/73). The Indianapolis songs sound like they were recorded on a cassette machine under someone’s coat. The two Burbank tracks appear to be from a TV or radio show and the sound quality’s good, although the dubbed-in audience applause can be distracting. The Miami tracks are a bit muffled, and the Cape Cod show suffers a bit from room echo.

I’m not complaining; you get what you get with sets of this kind, and for archival value alone, this set will be invaluable to devoted Flash fans. As is typical with sets of this nature, some songs are repeated. For example, there are five versions of “Children of the Universe” on this set, and four of “Small Beginnings.” For the true Flash fan, each take on such standout songs will be revelations, as the jams and improvisations the band does (particularly Banks at the height of his skills) take the songs in adventurous directions.

And unlike Yes, the original Flash lineup never toured with a keyboardist, giving these tracks an interesting empty space between guitar, bass and drums that would’ve been otherwise filled by Hammond organ, piano and Moog synthesizer—and bringing the interplay between Banks, Bennett and Hough to the forefront.

Is this set the best introduction to Flash? Probably not. I’d check out the studio albums first (Friday Music released a great CD reissue of the first and third albums on one CD that’s worth tracking down). For fans of Yes and early 1970s British prog-rock, Flash is a chapter that may be unknown to some, but will be a very enjoyable discovery to those who seek the band’s music out.

This set is for the true Flash fans. They will love it. The packaging is gorgeous, there’s a beautiful 32-page booklet with lots of good information and rare photos, and the discs are a treasure trove of seldom-heard live recordings. Some of them may be bootleg-level, but clearly every effort has been made to improve the sound as much as possible. There are very few live recordings of Flash in its prime, and if this is the last word on the band, it’s a good one.

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When Howard Whitman’s not writing about music (specializing in his favorite genre, progressive rock), he’s playing it in three Philadelphia-area tribute bands and as a solo artist. He released a CD of his original songs, However, in 2021.