FEATURING RAY BENNETT & COLIN CARTER

Exactly 40 years after their previous album comes this new release from Flash! My first impression inevitably focused on the terribly unimaginative album title ("Featuring Ray Bennett & Colin Carter") and the equally unimaginative sleeve picture which just features two simple, black-and-white photographs of Ray Bennett and Colin Carter in the recording studio on a plain black background with white logo. With such a long time in the making one would have expected something more exciting (though, admittedly the first two Flash albums also feature awful sleeve pictures with half-naked body parts).

Still, it is the music that should count, not the title and cover art. But even here there were early warning signs. Out of the nine tracks one is a cover of a song by Nine Inch Nails (!) and another is a re-make of the band's own Manhattan Morning (originally from Out Of Our Hands). After such a long time in the making, it is a bit lame to do covers and re-makes.

Yet, knowing all of this, I still wanted to give this new album a chance. And with low initial expectations, I can't say I'm disappointed. But I'm certainly not very impressed either. It's rather okey, but not much more than that. The sound is instantly recognisable as Flash and surprisingly little has happened to the band's sound in 40 years! Fans of the bands 70's albums will probably be able to enjoy this one as well, as indeed do I to a moderate degree. The material is far from being up to par with the very good self-titled debut from 1972, but it is up to par with the weaker follow-up In The Can.

Recommended for fans of Flash and for those who feel they need to have everything even remotely related to Yes, but the average Prog fan need not bother.

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