IN THE CAN

With its rather suggestive cover, Flash´s second album was my first taste of this english combo led by ex Yes founder guitarist Peter Banks. Compared to their first full length early that year, this is almost a complete departure. If Flash (the album) sounded a lot like early Yes, this one is very different. Ok, guitar and bass still sound a lot like Banks former group, but vocalist Colin Carter stopped emulating Jon Anderson, which is great. The music here is much more jazzier and rockier than Yes. The backing vocals are also one of the highlights of the band, with excellent harmonies that developed very much since their debut. It´s a pity that they didn´t use them as much.

They decided not to replace Tony Kaye when he left to form his own Badger band, and, to me, that was a fatal mistake. A great part of the album almost screams for keyboards (especially the 3 long tracks, all above the 10 minute mark which are the best). Banks handles well with only guitars (and a few ARP synthesizer lines, very few) but it´s clear that with a killer keyboards-man they could explore the songs structures much more and be a premier league band. As they were, the music is nice, but unmemorable. Technically very good, sounding pleasant but not really exciting. The production is also good for the time. The overall sensation is always that something´s missing. Small wonder the record made such little impact on me when I first heard them in the 70´s.

If you guitar-led prog is your thing, with some inventive jazz influences, you might like this album very much. For me it´s the classic example of a promising band that never reached their full potential, even if they were excellent musicians.

Rating: something between 2.5 and 3 stars