posted: 2023-11-06 Out of Our Hands Flash

Like any Flash album, the comparisons to early Yes are invited and no doubt appreciated. There are plenty of moments here that’ll transport you to strange new places. Bennett and Peter Banks in particular connect on some passages that click as well as Chris Squire and Steve Howe. Almost every song on here has some redeeming moment of magic, from the opening of “The Bishop” (which prefigures Gang of Four by at least a few years) to the tripping guitar lines on “Dead Ahead”. The result is a style that produces some fine moments, including “Man of Honour”, “Shadows” and the delightful “Psychosync”. As busy as Bennett is with writing most of the material and playing bass, his keyboard contributions are cursory, which results in some missing music. If sections feel like they need to be fleshed out on occasion, it’s to be expected with Flash. Their purpose was never to replace Yes, but rather to build something different from the same foundation. Sadly, ‘Out of Our Hands’ was their last album. – daveconn, Prog Archives