Search - Flash & The Pan :: Flash & The Pan: Lights in the Night

Easybeats From Mars

El Kabong | 08/26/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Flash and the Pan was the brainchild/alter ego of Harry Vanda & George Young, who, besides having been the Easybeats, achieved great success as a producing team specializing in no-nonsense hard rock, like for instance on the records George's kid brothers released as AC/DC. But certainly nobody could've anticipated this outfit, with a sound that embodies the term 'quirky'. A synth-driven outfit specializing in bizarre and even disturbing 'pop' songs that sorta shotgun-marries Van Der Graaf Generator, Electric Light Orchestra, synthpop & disco in a ceremony that equally soils all the attendants, these boys scratch an itch you may not know you have. Vanda's bizarre and compelling vocals are all lisped through filters - wait, I KNOW it's 2001 and that 'filtered-vocal' bit has been done to death, but this is one of its earliest, cleverest uses...and it works. Behind Vanda, the band (besides Young, Les Karski & Ray Arnott) create melodic soundscapes that run the gamut from sunny to surging to sinister, with the synth & keyboard work firmly upfront. This reissue twofer features the first two Flash releases. The first has shorter, punchier tunes like 'African Shuffle' & 'Man in the Middle', but it's the moments of odd, sleepy menace that shine here, such as 'California' & 'Walking in the Rain'. Fortunately, the album's darker patches proved irresistable to the band, so the followup LIGHTS IN THE NIGHT is packed with similar atmospheric swirl patterns: 'Atlantis Calling', 'Restless', 'Captain Beware' and the strange and wonderful title track. A recommended purchase to those of you in the mood for something dark, different & accessible - although the third album, HEADLINES, is better still but currently unavailable."

Strange Stuff...

Rodney Meek | Austin, TX | 04/08/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I stumbled across Flash and the Pan only because my older brother had bought their albums. Though I immediately loved the music, I used to think we were the only people in the nation that ever listened to this group. It's definitely not for your mainstream crowd.Basically, at the first pass, the group sounds like a jumped-up garage band with artistic delusions and mid-range production values. If you're looking for churning guitar solos or showy instrumental virtuousity, you won't find it here. And you may be dismayed by the vocals, which are more spoken then sung and which seem to be filtered through a third-rate microphone.But if you stop long enough to listen to the lyrics and to absorb the total experience, it somehow all comes together wonderfully. You'll find that the group, far from being sloppy and inept, has undertaken a very deliberate stylistic approach that's very unlike the vast majority of rock music today. Their themes may seem weird or esoteric (an ode to the Titanic--a couple of decades before the hit movie--and a strange meditation on Atlantis), but the music succeeds brilliantly in creating a somewhat dark and unsettled mood. And for variety, some of the pieces even ramp up to a rollicking finish, like "Welcome to the Universe".By no means will this work for everyone. But if you want to experiment a bit or are looking for a challenge, check it out."

Unusual Indeed

Zapatero | California | 08/28/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Flash and the Pan mixed the electronica of Kraftwerk, or even The ORB, with the sounds of 80s British Pop/Dance. But they produced this sound a good ten years before it 'went to the mall'. And worht noting is their late 70s/early 80s avant-gaurde sound isn't dated, like say The Psychedellic Furs.



Even today, it's still unusual in production, lyrics, and sound, but certainly no longer head-turning.



And like a previous reviewer stated; back in the day I didn't think anybody else knew of this group. One of my favorite memories was when a group of us sampled too much canabis in a van parked somewhere around the bottom of Mt. Diablo and just spaced out to the sounds of Lights in the Night."