The album is unique for Beck in that it is mainly composed of vocal songs, save for two instrumentals in the form of "Escape" and "You Know, We Know" (each 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, it was produced by Nile Rodgers for that reason. Such was the desire to score a hit album, Beck uncharacteristically found himself singing on "Get Workin'" and "Night After Night", at the insistence of Rodgers.[4] "Ambitious" and "People Get Ready" feature a rare instance of Beck playing a Jackson Soloist rather than his usual Fender Stratocaster.[5] 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.[4][6]
The CD edition of Flash included two bonus tracks, "Nighthawks" and "Back On The Streets" (the latter being a B-side from "People Get Ready"), but omitted a third single, "Wild Thing", which was released in 1986; the latter would later be featured on Beck's 1991 compilation album, Beckology.
