Flash and the Pan

History

Flash and the Pan were formed in Sydney in mid-1976, initially as a studio-only pop rock band, by Harry Vanda and George Young both on guitar, keyboards and vocals. The duo had been members of the Easybeats and subsequently worked as songwriters and producers, Vanda & Young, both in Australia and in the United Kingdom. They were A&R agents for Albert Productions and its in-house producers at Albert Studios in Sydney from mid-1973.

Flash and the Pan's debut single, "Hey, St. Peter" was issued in September 1976 on Albert Productions, which they had co-written and co-produced "as an engaging diversion from the real job of record production for other artists." It peaked at No. 5 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart in November. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt "The music was based around an accessible, yet inventive synthesiser-based pop rock sound with an emphasis on George's spoken-word vocals and shouted chorus."

John Paul Young (no relation), who spoke to Kathy McCabe of News Corp Australia, remembered the story of the song, "George was in New York chatting to the hotel doorman about the weather and the African American guy says 'Oh well, man, when my time comes, I am going to say to St Peter "You can't send me to hell, I have done my time in hell in New York!"' George just picked up things you and I would say and turn them into songs." John Paul Young had hit singles written and produced by Vanda & Young including "Yesterday's Hero" (1975) and "Love Is in the Air" (1977).

In July 1977 "Hey, St. Peter" was released internationally on Mercury Records for continental Europe, where it reached No. 6 on the Belgian Ultratop 50 Singles chart and No. 7 on the Netherlands' Dutch Top 40. In the United Kingdom it appeared on the Ensign Records label and, for the North American market, it was issued in July 1979 on Epic Records – it peaked at No. 76 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August of that year. "Down Among the Dead Men", their second single, was issued in Australia in July 1978, which peaked at No. 4 on the Kent Music Report. On the UK Singles Chart it reached No. 54 (re-titled "And the Band Played On"). In November they followed with their third single, "The African Shuffle".

The group's debut album, Flash and the Pan, was issued in Australia in December 1978 on Albert Productions and internationally in the following year on Mercury, Ensign and Epic. It was recorded at the Albert Studios in Sydney by the duo co-producing; they co-wrote nine of its ten tracks. Aside from Vanda and Young the studio musicians included Ray Arnott on drums, Les Karski on bass guitar and Warren Morgan on piano. Arnott was signed by Vanda & Young to Alberts for a recording contract, Karski produced Arnott's solo debut album, Rude Dudes (1979), as well as providing bass guitar. The Ray Arnott Band, which included both Karski and Morgan, toured to support the album.

Although Flash and the Pan appeared on various national charts – including reaching No. 14 on Sweden's Sverigetopplistan and No. 80 on the US Billboard 200 – the duo did not support its release with a tour: "[they] preferred the sanctity of their 24-track Albert Studio enclave." AllMusic's Steven McDonald rated the album as four-and-a-half stars out of five and explained, that it had "some seriously deranged songwriting, with quirky but attention-grabbing music peppered with pointy, strange lyrics. A soundtrack for the dark side of the moon that's well worth searching out."

For the group's second studio album, Lights in the Night (early 1980), Vanda and Young again used Arnott, Karski and Morgan. All eight tracks were co-written by Vanda and Young, who also co-produced it. The album reached the top 100 in Australian and peaked at No. 1 on the Sverigetopplistan in June. It provided two singles, "Welcome to the Universe" (July 1980) and "Media Man" (December 1980).

In October 1981 UK-based artist, Grace Jones, released her cover version of Flash and the Pan's "Walking in the Rain", the B-side of "Hey, St. Peter", as a single, which peaked at No. 34 in New Zealand. Dmetri Kakmi provided Stereo Stories with his recollection on first hearing it, "I was transported. Vanda and Young's lyrics and Jones's detached delivery captured the restlessness, alienation and pent-up emotions of a stifled adolescence... By the end of the track I was liberated, lifted out of a traditional Greek upbringing and pointed toward a future filled with wide horizons."

Headlines, their third studio album, appeared in August 1982. Joining Vanda and Young in the studio were Arnott, Alan Dansow, Lindsay Hammond on backing and lead vocals (on loan from Cheetah), Ian Miller on guitar, Ralph White on brass instruments and keyboards, and Stevie Wright on backing vocals – as well as lead vocals for two tracks, "Where Were You?" (July 1982) and "Waiting for a Train" (December 1982), both were issued as singles. McFarlane felt that Headlines "featured a more basic rock approach, but with no loss of power or originality." Headlines reached No. 13 on the Sverigetopplistan.

Hammond's group, Cheetah, had been signed by Vanda & Young to Alberts in 1978. Arnott, Karski and Miller were all members of Cheetah during 1982, alongside Hammond and her sister, Chrissie. Wright was the duo's band mate from the Easybeats, and they had written and produced material for his solo career, including his number-one hit, "Evie" (April 1974).

"Waiting for a Train" reached the top 100 in Australia, but had greater chart success in Europe, when issued there in April 1983: it peaked at No. 7 in the UK, No. 15 in Belgium and No. 26 in the Netherlands. According to Duncan Kimball of MilesAgo, it is "a song with definite drug overtones that could well have been written about Stevie's predicament."

Late in 1984, they issued their fourth studio album, Early Morning Wake Up Call, which Neil Lade of The Canberra Times opined showed that the duo were "content to rest on their laurels... they have lapsed into the world of 'gimmick' songs... [and] an exercise of the bland and boring... Trite lyrics are made even more limp by droning vocal work." Their next studio album, Nights in France, appeared in October 1987 via Epic Records. It provided the singles, "Ayla" in September and "Money Don't Lie" in April 1988. Their final studio album, Burning up the Night, was issued in October 1992 with two further singles, "Burning up the Night" (October) and "Living on Dreams" (March 1993). Thereafter the duo concentrated on their song writing and production work for other artists.

Doc Neeson (ex-The Angels) recorded his cover version of "Walking in the Rain" (August 2014) in November 2013. He reflected that, "The strength of the song written by George & Harry is dreamlike or trancelike in mood. The lyrics are a stream of consciousness which so masterfully creates a subconscious state of mind. One of the biggest challenges was to get in that state of mind to sing the song." It was Neeson's last recording, he died in June 2014. His producer Brendan Gallagher described how "The song is so elegantly, deceptively simple. The motif moves through three chromatically rising and falling notes underpinned by three book-ended chords, then a classic 7, 5 chord turnaround for the chorus. The bass holds the song together. From there it's all about the vocal. That's where Doc comes in. Doc has gravitas the equal of the song's majesty."

Albums

Compilations

Singles