LOST TREASURES

THE FLAME

“THE FLAME”

By Peter Marston

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I first came across The Flame in 2006 when Tower Records closed their retail stores. As the closing date approached, prices were slashed, more and more by every week, from 25% off to 50% off to 75% off to even 90% off. Every week I went and spent a couple hours scouring through the bins, scoring lots of great albums on each visit. I think I got The Flame CD at the 75% markdown. I had never heard of the group or the album, but when I saw on the tray card that Carl Wilson produced and that Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin were both in the band, I had to have it. So glad I did—it’s a great late-’60s/early ’70s pop album.

Originally, The Flame were The Flames, consisting of three brothers (Ricky, Steve and Edries—also known as “Brother”—Fataar) and guitarist Edries Champion. They were essentially a cover band, although a very popular one in their native city of Durban, South Africa. Their first LP, with the terrific title Ummm! Ummm! Oh Yeah! was released in 1965 and included covers such as “Pretty Woman,” “No Reply” and “You Better Move On.” In 1967, Blondie Chaplin replaced Champion on guitar and the band released Burning Soul! (OK, enough with the exclamation marks). The album was sufficiently successful (and well-received) that the band decided to relocate to London and try to break a more prominent market. The label Page One picked up the Burning Soul! LP, re-releasing it in England in 1968, and the band hit the London club scene. In 1969, Al Jardine caught the band at Blaise’s and was so impressed that he returned the very next evening, this time with Carl Wilson in tow. Carl was similarly impressed and agreed to record the band at Brian’s home studio in Los Angeles and, if the resulting tracks turned out well, release them on the Beach Boys’ Brother label.

Well, that’s tough offer to pass up and, indeed, the Flames flew out to California in the summer of 1969. Sessions commenced in the fall and the album completed some eight months later. As the release date neared, however, there would be the aforementioned name change. Carl (or perhaps the distribution team at Reprise) thought there might be some confusion between The Flames and James Brown’s backing band—The Famous Flames—and so, The Flames became singular: The Flame. The album hit the streets in October, 1970.

The album is very solid, energetic pop-rock, showing a strong Beatles influence and an appreciation for American soul music. The opening cut, “See the Light” is one of highlights, a rocking bluesy number with a great hook and, were it not for a few psychedelic touches, an arrangement that would have fit right in on the White Album. “Make It Easy” follows in the same mold, but adds some funky lead guitar and an extended jam over repeats of the chorus during the tag. “Lady” is a folky ballad that presages the early pub-rock scene, sounding quite a built like the first Brinsleys record. “Don’t Worry, Bill” combines some psychedelic guitar flourishes over a chord progression that lies somewhere between Badfinger and good ol’ doo-wop. “Get Your Mind Made Up” is another highlight, again offering solid hooks and a tough, pulsing arrangement, including some great guitar leads that alternate between double-tracking and trading fours. “Highs and Lows” starts out as a very mellow and very meditative ballad, but then hits a “Here Comes the Sun”-style riff and a double-time chorus that sounds like Mungo Jerry sitting in on Abbey Road. “I’m So Happy” is kind of a cross between Traffic and the late ’60s/early ’70s Beach Boys, both rootsy and quite experimental. “Another Day Like Heaven” brings together all of the main influences on the album―Beatles, Beach Boys, Badfinger—and is the most ambitious and one of the most successful tracks on the album.

One single was released from The Flame: “See the Light” b/w “Get Your Mind Made Up.” Neither the album nor the single was a hit. Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin were absorbed into the Beach Boys for the Carl and the Passions and Holland LPs (that’s Chaplin singing “Sail On, Sailor”) and were also members of the Beach Boys touring band at the time. Ricky Fataar, of course, also went on to be one of the pre-fab four—in other words, a Rutle. Steve and Edries Fataar returned to South Africa and continued playing music there. Edries, sadly, passed away in 1978.

As noted above, The Flame was reissued on CD (by Fallout in 2006). It’s a needledrop rather than a proper remastering, but is certainly quite listenable. It’s currently out-of-print, and while copies are easy to find, they tend to be fairly expensive, the original LP even more so. Amazon offers a CD-R on demand version of the album (I am not one to pay $15.99 for a CD-R, though), along with mp3s to download. It is also often posted on various blogs and file-sharing sites, so it’s definitely easy to catch a listen. Have at it!

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Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.”  Peter has a new project in 2015 under the name MARSTON.   They will have a track on the upcoming “Power Pop Planet – Volume 5” compilation due in June, 2015.

You check it out at this link:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang

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LINKS:

WIKIPEDIA:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flames

CD on AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Flame/dp/B000GCF8ZE

FACEBOOK(not active):  https://www.facebook.com/pages/THE-FLAMES/176559827462

VIDEOS:

SEE THE LIGHT:

I’M SO HAPPY:

HIGHS AND LOWS: