Hot Flash-First Attack! They´ll Never Take Us Alive (1977)

Another band that came and went almost overnight was Boston's Hot Flash, who released only one album near the end of the seventies, right at the height of the AOR and melodic progressive rock movement, with albums like Boston's impressive debut, Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell", and Kansas "Point of Know Return," among many others. Their sole recording, "They'll Never Take Us Alive", was released in a limited run of only a few hundred copies, which is why it's now one of those highly sought-after LPs among fans of seventies American rock. The lineup consisted of keyboardists Joe Prima and Thom Stolar, guitarist Frederic Schwenk, drummer Steve Balsavage, and bassist John Ferrara. One of the band's great strengths was that virtually all the members were lead vocalists, a fact that broadened the group's musical range. Great melodic lines very close to art rock with progressive approaches are present in a brilliant repertoire composed of outstanding songs such as "King Kool", "Take Me", "Is Anybody Out There", "Uriah", "Star Warped" or "Diamond Wings".