I am a Yes fanatic. I don't ever try to deny that They've been my favorite band for close to half a century now. So, that's how I initially got interested in Flash. Original Yes guitarist Peter Banks formed the band after exiting Yes. They only ever released three studio albums, and they were quite interesting. This new three CD set captures a number of live recordings of the band from 1972 to 1973. I find it to be an intriguing release for a number of reasons.

One of the things I find so fascinating about this has to do with the performances themselves. Let me set that up by saying that Banks played only on the first two Yes albums, both of which I like a lot. Recently, though, I heard a live recording from that period that I'd never heard before, and I was blown away. The band really rocked like crazy sometimes, standing so much taller than the studio recordings. That aspect can be heard with Flash, too. There is a hard-edged unleashed craziness here that really elevates this music. It also makes me wonder what Yes would have sounded like if Banks had continued playing with them. This is well worth having for that aspect alone.

This digipack also includes an extensive and informative booklet that's essential, too. It should be noted that a lot of these recordings are bootlegs. They've been cleaned up for release, but are not the kind of live album quality one expects. Still, they are all pretty good, but some are better than others. However you slice this, though, I heartily recommend this set for all fans of Banks and Flash. Very few of us got to actually see them live, and obviously the live performances were on a completely different level than the studio ones. That makes it great to have these recordings.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2022  Volume 5. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2022.

Coming in hard rocking, the bass really stands up tall in the mix. Peter Banks' guitar paints lines of sound over the top as this moves forward, but that bass really dominates the mix. That's largely because of the recording quality, I think. I love the little jazz elements as the number evolves. The song features some particularly adept twists and turns, and the bass really shines at times. As many weaknesses as this recording has, this live performance outshines its studio counterpart. It also really showcases how this band was the natural successor to the Yes sound of the first couple songs. It's easy to see the straight line from one to another. At almost 13-minutes long, this is an epic, and they really use that space to stretch out and explore a lot of varying territory.

Crazed jamming leads things off on this second tune. The drums gets a showcase from there. After that drum solo section, they work out into more crazed Flash prog as this numbers drives forward. This thing gets every bit as crazed as later Yes ever did in its twists and turns. It turns rather heavy and almost psychotic in its rocking sounds at times, yet it also drops to mellower sections. Things like this really make me wonder what kind of cool stuff Yes might have done if they had continued with Banks as their guitarist.

As this gets underway with its powerhouse opening jam, it is apparent that the sound quality of this recording is a little better. They put in an incendiary live performance of this classic and it sounds pretty good.

Here the sound quality is again an issue. This one is obviously an audience recording, but the performance is on fire, making up for that issue to a large degree.

The recording quality on this is sort of middle of the road for the set. The performance is what you would expect of the song.

After a unique introduction the band work their way into a cool jam that feels rather playful as it gets going. This works out into the song proper from there, a driving proggy jam that has some cool twists and turns.

While the recording quality doesn't do it a lot of favors, this performance is solid.

I dig the echoey building on this number as it gets going. We get some cool jamming that ensues from there. This is another strong live performance.