Empire Mk.1

[rick not wakeman]

A reissue on OneWay of this post-Flash, Banks-led band just turned up used at my local disc store, but i can't seem to find much information about it online. Does it sound like Flash? Yes? How's the female vocalist? Recommended?

[profusion]

If you like Flash, definitely grab this CD. It's not really a "reissue," however, since it was never released to begin with. They weren't able to get a deal back in the day, unfortunately.

Mk. I has a lot more variety than Flash and occasionally veers into decidedly non-prog territory. But it has lots of great songs and some of the best playing Peter did in the '70s (IMHO).

The singer, Sydney Foxx, is Peter's ex-wife (in fact, I think they split up around the time Mk. I was made, though I don't know the timing for sure). She's a good singer, but not so much in a prog style. She makes me think of what Dusty Springfield might have sounded like fronting Yes or Genesis. A little out there.

BTW, Phil Collins plays almost all the drums on the album.

I'd also recommend picking up Empire Mk. II, which was Peter and Sydney's next attempt to break through after they moved to Los Angeles in the mid-'70s. It has a couple of songs in common with Mk. I, but it's more focused into the style that Flash did. I think the first album is a bit more inspired, however. The Mk. III album is a series of 1979 demos that was Peter and Sydney's last attempt to keep Empire going. There some good stuff on there, too, though getting mostly away from prog material. There's a couple of YouTube clips of the Mk. III sessions (posted by the drummer, I think) that have material not on the album. I'd like to know what's up with that.

[TheMiz]

Sky At Night is on Pete MySpace site.