Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Flash and the Pan
Flash and the Pan were an Australian new wave musical group (essentially a studio project). Also described as "a kind of post-disco, pre-house percussive dance music". It was formed in 1976 by Harry Vanda and George Young, both former members of the Easybeats, who formed a production and songwriting team known as Vanda & Young. The group's first chart success was their 1976 debut single, "Hey, St. Peter", which reached number five in the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. The next single, "Down Among the Dead Men", peaked at number four in Australia in 1978. For international release, it was re-titled "And the Band Played On".
The eponymous debut album followed in December 1978, featuring the track "Walking in the Rain", originally the B-side to "Hey St. Peter". The song was later covered by Grace Jones, and released as the last single from her 1981 album Nightclubbing. Her version was most successful in New Zealand, reaching number 34. Flash and the Pan's second album, Lights in the Night, released in early 1980, peaked at No. 1 on the Swedish Albums Chart. "Waiting for a Train", the lead single from their third album, Headlines, reached number seven on the UK singles chart in 1983.
Flash and the Pan was formed by Harry Vanda and George Young in mid-1976 in Sydney, Australia. It was initially a studio-only pop rock band, with both members on guitar, keyboards and vocals. The duo had been the key creative members of the Easybeats, and subsequently worked, both in Australia and in the United Kingdom (UK), as the songwriting and producing team, Vanda & Young. From mid-1973, they were A&R agents for Albert Productions, and its in-house producers at Albert Studios in Sydney.
It all began with an unfinished Easybeats London demo. Ted Albert was keen for them to use it but it did not suit any of the artists they were working with, namely Stevie Wright, John Paul Young or William Shakespeare. So they ended up doing it themselves. The name came from an off-the-cuff remark of Harry's that this would just be a flash in the pan thing.
Flash and the Pan's debut single, "Hey, St. Peter", which they had co-written and co-produced, was issued in September 1976 on Albert Productions "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 February 1977. Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane felt "[t]he 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), speaking 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).
"Hey, St. Peter" was released in July 1977 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, peaking at No.76 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August of that year. Their second single, "Down Among the Dead Men", was issued in Australia in July 1978, and peaked at No.4 on the Kent Music Report. On the UK Singles Chart, re-titled "And the Band Played On", it reached No.54. In November, they followed with their third single, "The African Shuffle".
The group's debut album, Flash and the Pan, was issued in Australia on Albert Productions in December 1978, and internationally in the following year on Mercury, Ensign and Epic. It was recorded at Albert Studios in Sydney, co-produced by the duo, who co-wrote nine of its ten tracks. The only song not written by them was "California" credited to M. James. Songwriters would often register songs under false names due to contractual issues. Vanda confirms that the author of this song was actually George's brother Alex Young, "I really liked Alex. He was very much his own man. He wrote 'California' and I thought that song was perfect for Flash and the Pan."
Hub AI
Flash and the Pan AI simulator
(@Flash and the Pan_simulator)
Flash and the Pan
Flash and the Pan were an Australian new wave musical group (essentially a studio project). Also described as "a kind of post-disco, pre-house percussive dance music". It was formed in 1976 by Harry Vanda and George Young, both former members of the Easybeats, who formed a production and songwriting team known as Vanda & Young. The group's first chart success was their 1976 debut single, "Hey, St. Peter", which reached number five in the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. The next single, "Down Among the Dead Men", peaked at number four in Australia in 1978. For international release, it was re-titled "And the Band Played On".
The eponymous debut album followed in December 1978, featuring the track "Walking in the Rain", originally the B-side to "Hey St. Peter". The song was later covered by Grace Jones, and released as the last single from her 1981 album Nightclubbing. Her version was most successful in New Zealand, reaching number 34. Flash and the Pan's second album, Lights in the Night, released in early 1980, peaked at No. 1 on the Swedish Albums Chart. "Waiting for a Train", the lead single from their third album, Headlines, reached number seven on the UK singles chart in 1983.
Flash and the Pan was formed by Harry Vanda and George Young in mid-1976 in Sydney, Australia. It was initially a studio-only pop rock band, with both members on guitar, keyboards and vocals. The duo had been the key creative members of the Easybeats, and subsequently worked, both in Australia and in the United Kingdom (UK), as the songwriting and producing team, Vanda & Young. From mid-1973, they were A&R agents for Albert Productions, and its in-house producers at Albert Studios in Sydney.
It all began with an unfinished Easybeats London demo. Ted Albert was keen for them to use it but it did not suit any of the artists they were working with, namely Stevie Wright, John Paul Young or William Shakespeare. So they ended up doing it themselves. The name came from an off-the-cuff remark of Harry's that this would just be a flash in the pan thing.
Flash and the Pan's debut single, "Hey, St. Peter", which they had co-written and co-produced, was issued in September 1976 on Albert Productions "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 February 1977. Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane felt "[t]he 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), speaking 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).
"Hey, St. Peter" was released in July 1977 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, peaking at No.76 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August of that year. Their second single, "Down Among the Dead Men", was issued in Australia in July 1978, and peaked at No.4 on the Kent Music Report. On the UK Singles Chart, re-titled "And the Band Played On", it reached No.54. In November, they followed with their third single, "The African Shuffle".
The group's debut album, Flash and the Pan, was issued in Australia on Albert Productions in December 1978, and internationally in the following year on Mercury, Ensign and Epic. It was recorded at Albert Studios in Sydney, co-produced by the duo, who co-wrote nine of its ten tracks. The only song not written by them was "California" credited to M. James. Songwriters would often register songs under false names due to contractual issues. Vanda confirms that the author of this song was actually George's brother Alex Young, "I really liked Alex. He was very much his own man. He wrote 'California' and I thought that song was perfect for Flash and the Pan."