Banks was of course the original guitarist with prog-rock band Yes and he appeared on their eponymous first album though most of his guitar parts for the follow up, 'Time And A Word' were buried under the strings that were added later. This led to his departure from the group in April 1970.
He subsequently formed Flash who were often dubbed by the music press as the 'poor man's Yes'. While the style of music was somewhat similar, I always thought that the tag was rather unkind as Flash were a very good band in their own right. In the two years from 1972 to 1973, Flash released three excellent albums - 'Flash', 'In The Can' and 'Out Of Our Hands'.
After the band broke up, Banks went on to work with a number of musicians and he continued to record in bands or on solo projects. While I am not familiar with his later work, I will always have a soft spot for his versatile guitar playing on the first Yes LP and for all of his work with Flash.
Banks died at his home of heart failure. He was 65 years old.
Check out a couple of pieces of his work on the following YouTube links:-
Yes - 'Every Little Thing'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfsbF2yYpi4
Flash - 'Lifetime'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omq2TMQFK5s
&txt=&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13686058065396)
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