Una Valli & The Flames – Burning Hot (1968) Album Edit (Take 1)

We’re back with the second and last Flames fan album. This is a pretty simple one. Most of the bonus tracks on the group’s first album, Ummm! Ummm! Oh Yeah!!!, were used on my first fan album. Six weren’t, as they were recorded after Ummm! Ummm! was released. Those cuts are from 1966-1967. In 1968, six songs were recorded with a pop singer named Una Valli for one of her albums and in a similar time frame, one for a Flames single. That song, “Streamliner”, would be the last Flames single to not be on a studio album. Seeing as Una was on six of these thirteen songs, it made sense to emphasize this album as a collaboration, but unfortunately she’s absent from seven, so pulling this off will be tricky. An obvious option was to start and end the album with her. Now there’s eleven middling placements with only four featuring Una. This album mostly goes from one Una song to one sung by Steve Fataar (Steve sounds like his brothers, so they may have gotten a song to sing). The two points where there had to be two Steves feature the four shortest songs, so Una hopefully won’t ever be gone too long.

This album is pretty good, though there are some complaints. Some of the songs seem like they could’ve used a second take. There should’ve been much less or much more Una, so the album comes off like one concept. Blondie Chaplin, a member of The Flames who joined in 1967, has the best voice of the bunch, but is absent vocally here as he was probably absent for the ‘66 and ‘67 songs and was instrumental only on the Unas. He probably played guitar on “Streamliner” and the Una songs. Overall, the album is a good experience, though a little shaky. The cover of this album is a cropped version of the original album that featured the six Una songs and Una being backed by a different band for six more. The title seemed fun and appropriate.

UNA VALLI & THE FLAMES – BURNING HOT

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Satisfaction” (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards)
2. “Like A Baby” (John Madara, David White, Len Barry)
3. “Tell Mama” (Clarence Carter, Marcus Daniel, Wilbur Terrell)
4. “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” (Vicki Wickham, Simon Napier-Bell, Pino Donaggio, Vito Pallavicini)
   
5. “Stop Thief” (Hayes, Porter, Shamwell)
6. “He’ll Only Hurt You” (Dion DiMucci, Matt Maurer, Noel Sherman, Wes Farrell)

SIDE B

1. “Streamliner” (Colin Scott)
2. “Reach Out I’ll Be There” (Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland)
3. “Glory Of Love” (Billy Hill)
4. “Take Me For A Little While” (Trade Martin)
5. “Respect” (Otis Redding)
6. “Down In The Valley” (Solomon Burke)
7. “You Are My Sunshine” (Jimmie Davis, Charles Mitchell)

PERSONNEL

• Steve Fataar – lead guitar (tracks 1-13), lead vocals (apparently tracks 2, 4, 6-7, 9, 11-12)
• Edries “Brother” Fataar – bass guitar (tracks 1-13), possible vocals
• Ricky Fataar – drums (tracks 1-13), possible vocals
• Blondie Chaplin – rhythm guitar (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7-8, 10, 13 and possibly 2, 4, 6, 9, 11-12), possible backing vocals
• Una Valli – lead vocals (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 13)
• Edries Fredericks – possible rhythm guitar (tracks 2, 4, 6, 9, 11-12), possible vocals
• Baby Duval – possible rhythm guitar (tracks 2, 4, 6, 9, 11-12), possible vocals

Burning Hot (1968) – YouTube, Archive.org

and for the next albums…

Soulfire!! (1968) – YouTube, Spotify

The Flame (1970) – YouTube, Spotify

The Beach Boys & The Flames at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go (1970) – Archive.org (Bootleg)

The Flames – Hot Stuff! (1965) Album Edit (Take 1)

Probably the first band I wanted to do album edits for is The Beach Boys. The Beach Boys have so much material that it seems Herculean to even attempt, so much so that I need to wait on it. A much simpler effort is a band correlated to them, The Flames. In the late 60’s, The Beach Boys found The Flames and wanted them in their fold. Before that point, The Flames prolifically toured and recorded. Despite being teenagers, they were incredibly good. Most of their music made it on one of five albums. The only ones that aren’t are songs that are sadly lost and twenty-three that aren’t. I’ll be taking those twenty-three and creating two albums.

Eight songs were recorded before the group’s first album. Two were recorded either during the sessions or shortly after, but they’ll still be counted anyways as otherwise the first album would be too short and the second too long. The ten songs were listened to in chronological order, as it seemed like the most appropriate way to listen. I was unfamiliar with these ten except for the first song by the band ever, the absurdly excellent, Dixie. Dixie is one of my all time favorite instrumentals. The order I listened to the songs in was mostly pretty good. Here it is:

1. Dixie (1963 single)
2. Mr. Moto (1963 single; b-side of ‘Dixie’)
3. Maniac (1963 single)
4. Modern Casanova (1963 single; b-side of ‘Maniac’)
5. Is it You? (1964 or 65 single)
6. Nobody (Tells Me What to Do) (1964 or 65 single; b-side of ‘Is it You?’)
7. Boys (Recorded during the ‘Nobody’/’Is It You?’ sessions)
8. Claudette (Recorded during the ‘Nobody’/’Is It You?’ sessions)
9. One of These Days (July 1965 single)
10. Don’t Play That Song (July 1965 single; b-side of ‘One of These Days’)

The main problem with the tracklisting was that it started with two instrumentals; ‘Dixie’ and ‘Mr. Moto’. That’s not a good placement for them. I would move them both, but ‘Dixie’ is such a strong opener, it should stay at the beginning. ‘Nobody’, now the fifth song, fits well as the end of side-a. ‘Boys’ and ‘One of These Days’ seemed like the only two that could start side-b. ‘Boys’ seemed like the apparent choice because… ‘One of These Days’ and ‘Don’t Play That Song’ are noticeably more complex and intricate than the rest. It’s clear that they were recorded later than the rest. They make sense as part of the grand finale. ‘Mr. Moto’ works as a good transition between the less complex and more complex. Starting either side with the last two tracks could lead to disappointment as most of the material is distinct from it. ‘Mr. Moto’ isn’t a great side opener, so it makes sense where it is.

Two songs, “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Misery” were recorded by The Flames, then lost. It’d be nice to have these back. They’d make “Hot Stuff!” a more appropriate twelve-track album. The album cover was one I cooked up as there aren’t many singles or abstract album covers to choose from that are good. The title, “Hot Stuff!”, doesn’t refer to or mean anything. It popped into my head and seemed appropriate, like the kind of thing someone might’ve thought of.

THE FLAMES – HOT STUFF!

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Dixie” (traditional, arr. Restell)
2. “Maniac” (B. Kinsey)
3. “Modern Casanova”(B. Kinsey)
4. “Is it You?” (Steve Fataar)
5. “Nobody (Tells Me What to Do)” (Gene Rockwell)

SIDE B

1. “Boys” (Luther Dixon-Wes Farrell)
   
2. “Claudette” (Boudleaux Bryant)
   
3. “Mr. Moto” (R. Dilvi)
4. “One of These Days” (W. M. Stevenson)
5. “Don’t Play That Song” (Ahmet Ertegun-Benjamin Nelson)

PERSONNEL

• Steve Fataar – lead guitar, lead vocals
• Edries “Brother” Fataar – bass guitar, possible vocals
• Ricky Fataar – drums, possible vocals (present on all recordings or 1964-65 recordings)
• Edries Fredericks – rhythm guitar, possible vocals (present on 1964-65 recordings)
• Eugene Champion – rhythm guitar, possible vocals (present on 1963 recordings)
• George Faber – drums (present on 1963 recordings or no recordings)

Hot Stuff! (1965) on Spotify

Hot Stuff! (1965) on YouTube

And following, all the albums following this one, but are before the second one:

Ummm! Ummm! Oh Yeah!!! (1965) on Spotify

Ummm! Ummm! Oh Yeah!!! (1965) on YouTube

That’s Enough (1967) on Spotify

That’s Enough (1967) on YouTube

Burning Soul! (1967) on Spotify

Burning Soul! (1967) on YouTube