Flash is the fourth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in July 1985 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 39 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart as well as reaching the top 60 in four other countries. Two singles also charted, the first being a reunion with singer Rod Stewart for a cover of "People Get Ready" by Curtis Mayfield/The Impressions, which reached No. 5 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock and No. 48 on the Hot 100, as well as the top 40 in four other countries. The second single, "Gets Us All in the End", reached No. 20 on Mainstream Rock. The instrumental "Escape" went on to win the award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 1986 Grammys, which was to be Beck's first of many such awards.
Overview
The album is unique for Beck in that it is composed mainly of songs with vocals, save for two instrumentals in the form of "Escape" and "You Know, We Know", written by his longtime collaborators Jan Hammer and Tony Hymas respectively. Designed to be a foray into pop music in order to capitalise on that sound at the time, Flash was produced by Nile Rodgers for that reason. Such was the desire by the record company to score a hit album, Beck uncharacteristically found himself singing on "Get Workin'" and "Night After Night", at the insistence of Rodgers. "Ambitious" and "People Get Ready" feature a rare instance of Beck playing a Jackson Soloist rather than his usual Fender Stratocaster. Despite its success, he has since expressed his disdain for the album, calling it a "record company goof" and "a very sad sort of time" for him. The CD edition of Flash included two bonus tracks, "Nighthawks" and "Back on the Streets", which were originally released as B-sides. Another track from the album's recording sessions, "Wild Thing", was released only as a promo single and never on the album, but would later be featured on Beck's 1991 compilation albumBeckology.
Critical reception
Flash has received mixed reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic gave it three stars out of five and described "People Get Ready" as "a fine performance". David Fricke at Rolling Stone called the album "one of Beck's best ever" and praised it as having "awesome guitar prowess and startling commercial daring", but remarked that the collaborations with Rodgers and Baker "almost don't work". Robert Christgau at The Village Voice gave it a 'B' grade, labelling it as "funk-metal fusion" and "the best LP of pathologically spotty career"; the latter due to Rodgers' production.
