After many years of searching the last missing single has finally been added to the Flames collection. The elusive 45 is by Steve and the Flames. The A-side is entitled Maniac and the B-side is Modern Casanova. Both songs were written by Flames manager Bing Kinsey, who is seen here in the photo holding the record he composed.
The Flames released the following 45's in South Africa, during the 60's.
1963 Dixie / Mr Moto
1963 Maniac / Modern Casanova
1964 Is It You / Nobody Tells Me What To Do
1965 One Of These Days / Don't Play That Song
1966 Like A Baby / Glory Of Love
1966 He'll Only Hurt You / You Don't Have To Say You Love
Me (with Zane Adams)
1967 If You Need Me / You Better Move On
1967 Respect / Down In The valley
1968 Lost / Restless
1968 For Your Precious Love / A Place In The Sun
1968 Don't Make You Children Pay / Purple Haze
1968 Can't Help Myself / Purple Raindrops
1969 Tell It Like It Is / Don't Fight It
1970 See The Light / Get Your Mind Made Up
1974 If You Need Me / You Got It Made
All of these are now in the Flames collection.
On behalf of all the fans around the world.......PLEASE RELEASE THIS ON CD !!!!
When the Flames arrived in the United States in 1970 at the invitation of Al Jardine and Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys, they changed their name to the Flame and started writing songs of their own. The result of this intensely creative period is captured on the disc shown above. This record, simply entitled "The Flame" was remarkable for many reasons:
The Music: This LP is a near perfect album of powerful rockers, ballads, mood pieces, and symphonic masterpieces. New listeners are instantly converted, many finding similarities with the Beatles during the White Album period.
Quadraphonic: This LP is the first ever commercial rock album to be released in Quadraphonic sound. Steve Desper who was responsible for the album's awesome sound quality created it to sound best on the passive matrix surround systems that were just getting started in 1970. When played at ful tilt on four loudspeakers this album seriously rocks.
Brother Records: In the late 60's the Beach Boys founded their own Brother Records label. Through the years only ONE non-Beach Boys act was ever released on the Brother label and this is it! It is therefore unique!
The Beach Boys: The production on this magnificent album was in the hands of Carl Wilson, lead guitarist and often lead singer of the Beach Boys. Listen to how he helped mold a stunning interplay of mutliple guitars and multiple voices.
And now, a message to all those decision makers at Brother Records.....on behalf of literally hundreds of music lovers and fans who have emailed in the past few years.....Please deliver to us a high quality CD reissue of this truly wonderful album by the Flame and please include the second unreleased Flame album as bonus tracks!
On Friday the 14th of November 2008 guitarist John Scofield and his Piety Street Band gave a concert in the wonderful old Roma theatre of Antwerp. On his current tour John Scofield chose to concentrate on breathing new fire into old gospel music standards. For this he chose three superb musicians; George Porter Jr. on bass and vocals, Jon Cleary on piano, organ, guitar, vocals and not forgetting tambourine, plus Ricky Fataar on drums and vocals.
My good friend Hans Hoekstra who lives in Antwerp alerted me to the show and got tickets. Trish Campo of Brother records was kind enough to let Ricky know we would try to attend the show. The music was excellent and uncategorizable, crossing boundaries between rock, blues, jazz and gospel. Ricky Fataar provided a superb earthy drive underpinning some fine solo’s by John Scofield and Jon Cleary. Even technical issues and electrical shocks could not affect the power and fire in their playing.
After the show Ricky came to chat to Hans and myself. He was in a very relaxed and friendly mood, taking time for us, chatting about the John Scofield band, answering questions about his earlier days with the Flames and the Beach Boys, and signing record sleeves. Ricky also made some kind comments about the Flames website.
Shown below is the sleeve for the Flames album “Burning Soul” featuring the signatures of Blondie Chaplin, Steve Fataar and now also Ricky Fataar.Many thanks go to Trish Campo, Hans Hoekstra and of course Ricky Fataar.
The Flames Burning Soul album
autographed by Blondie Chaplin, Steve Fataar and Ricky Fataar.
Thanks also to Tertius Louw who arranged for the autographs of Blondie and
Steve!
This website is dedicated to the band Avatar featuring Tara Fataar and her father Steve Fataar. Please visit them here!
Earlier in September Blondie Chaplin called me at my
home to make sure I knew about the concert in Apeldoorn. On the night, we
arrived early and were fortunate to bump into Pauline Stroosnijder, a member
of the organising team for this concert. She ensured that my wife Cinzia and
I were introduced to Blondie Chaplin briefly before the show.
The show started promptly at 2100 with Rolling Stones
tribute band Undercover who played to a small but friendly crowd for about
40 minutes. Then without any fuss Blondie Chaplin took the stage, with just
an amplified acoustic guitar, no band. He played a range of songs, many from
the new album “Between Us” but also from the as yet unreleased
“Fragile Thread”. He even
did a couple of Otis Redding tunes.
During the first song Blondie Chaplin broke the high
E-string of his guitar. While this affected the sound of what we were
hearing, he took it in his stride and confidently played on. After the first
three songs he looked around patting his pockets as if looking for something
and I heard him muttering off-mike to someone in the team “I am looking
for a plectrum”. As luck would have it I had my spare red Dunlop nylon
plectrum in my shirt pocket and offered it to him. He played the rest of the
show with my plectum and he still has it. That’s cool because if you look elsewhere
on the website you will see I have a plectrum of his! Now we’re even.
After a 45 minute solo set the band Undercover returned
with more Rolling Stones songs. After the first couple of songs Blondie
Chaplin joined them on stage on guitar and vocals. He knows all the songs as
he has been in the Rollling Stones backing band for years now. The chords of
Start Me Up seemed to cause a giggle from time to time. A long and rousing
Can You Hear Me Knocking was also featured, with all the guitars and a sax
competing for attention.
After the show, Blondie Chaplin wandered around the
room, getting himself a drink at the bar. He spotted me and came to chat,
although only briefly because his attention was being demanded from many
other enthusiastic fans. He signed my CD-booklets of his three solo albums
“Blondie Chaplin”, “Ostrich Man” and “Between Us”. He also
suggested he might phone again.
Thanks again to Pauline Stroosnijder and of course to Blondie Chaplin for
the music.
Bas Möllenkramer
Soest
September 2007
This photo of Mitchell (Baby) Duval was taken when he was just 17 years old
and dates from around the time he was a member of the Flames.
We are deeply indebted to Mitchell's brother Victor Duval and to Bing Kinsey
for locating this rare photo.
This is the Flames second album That's Enough which features Mitchell Duval on guitar and vocals.
On behalf of a collector based in the USA we are offering an opportunity to own your very own copy of The Beach Boys Holland LP, first German pressing with the deleted studio version of We Got Love. This is the complete set, on the brown Reprise label including the EP in a coloured sleeve and the lyric sheet. The whole set is in EX condition.
Just to jog your memory.......The Beach Boys delivered the Holland album to their record company, with a different running order of the songs. Sail On Sailor wasn't yet on the record and instead the Chaplin-Fataar composition We Got Love was included.
The German record company failed to implement the changes ordered by the record company and a very small number of mis-pressings were accidentally released. So don't hesitate. Get in touch with us now and we will put you in touch with the seller. The rarity of this offering cannot be over-stressed. None ever seem to come up for sale, so take this opportunity with both hands.
Dear Mr. Beggs,
Many Flames fans around the world still enjoy the recordings you made with them back in the sixties. Your superb engineering and production skills helped to make records which sound as if they were recorded yesterday. Here at the Flames website we would love to get in touch with you. Please send us an email by clicking here. Of course your email address will be treated in the strictest confidence.
We would love to ask you a few questions about the Flames
records. And perhaps you would be kind enough to share a few memories with
us. Thank you for thinking about it.
Best wishes
Bas Möllenkramer
Soest
The Netherlands
webmaster www.the-flames.com
telephone +31-35-6020837
During late 2006 and early 2007, discussions with the Flames' first manager Bing Kinsey and their first lead singer Edries Fredericks revealed that the Flames' earliest recording sessions sometimes produced songs which although of a high standard and fully finished, were nevertheless shelved and have remained in the vaults to this day. The Flames second recording session in early 1964 yielded four tunes in total, two of which have been presumed lost. That is until Gallo boss Rob Allingham searched the archives and found the tapes! Thanks Rob!
The first of the two lost songs is Boys, written by Dixon and Farrell and best known in a version by the Beatles. The second tune is Claudette written by Roy Orbison and made famous by the Everly Brothers. The songs are superbly performed and well recorded. The mix is identical to the other two tunes from this session Is It You and Nobody Tells Me (What To Do).
Many record producers in the sixties had a habit of getting two different bands to record covers of profitable foreign releases so that the most commercial version could be chosen for local release. Both these songs Boys and Claudette were also recorded by another South African band signed to the same label, the Meteors. This turned out to be the version chosen for release, much to the disappointment of the Flames who craftily took revenge on their stable-mates by winning all the pop-band contests way ahead of their rivals.
Expected in 2007: here at the Flames website we are involved in behind-the-scenes efforts to get these wonderful Flames recordings released sometime in 2007. So please visit the website often to check progress.
Here at the Flames collection we owe a debt of gratitude to legendary recording engineer Stephen W. (Steve) Desper, who was the man at the desk during the recording of the Carl Wilson produced 1970 self-titled album by The Flame. Recently Steve very kindly donated two exclusive collectors items to the Flames collection.
When the Flame album on Brother Records BR2500 first went into production, Steve apparently received a number of copies from the first batch of 100 records. These discs were sealed as was customary at the time. Two of these sealed proof copies have been donated to the Flames collection, in Steve's own words "play one disc, keep the other for history". One disc was chosen at random and opened. The sound is wonderful. The other will be kept for history according to Steve's instructions.
Steve.....thank you!
Edries Fredericks was a founder member of the Flames way back in 1962-63. On Saturday 7 October 2006 Edries Fredericks got in touch and we talked for about an hour. Here are some of the things we learnt from Edries.
The Fredericks and Fataar families were neighbours in Durban. Edries and the Fataar brothers grew up together in an apartment block. When the Flames formed Edries was about 13 years old. He was influenced by Cliff Richard, the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly. Interestingly Edries mentioned he was NOT influenced by Elvis!
He played guitar and sang on much of the Flames very early material. The Flames first album was entiteld "Ummm! Ummm! Oh Yeah!!!" and probably released in 1964 although Edries concedes it may have been 1965. According to Edries it should have gotten the slightly more simple title of "Um Yeah" like the Buddy Holly song. Apparently the record company didn't always do things the way the Flames themselves wanted it. His guitar playing is all over the record and he can be heard singing lead vocal on "Eight Days A Week". The band wanted a raw, distorted sound for their first album and even played a Rolling Stones record for the producer to drive their point home. Instead its was decided that against the band's wishes a cleaner sound should be achieved. In the band's later incarnation Grahame Beggs did much to correct this.
Here is a list of 45's on which Edries Fredericks sings and plays: Dixie/Mr. Moto; Maniac/Modern Casanova; Is It You/Nobody Tells Me What To Do; One Of These Days/Dont Play That Song. The last of these tunes was in fact the very last time that Edries recorded with the Flames in the studio.
When the Flames recorded their first album, all the playing was done on Fender guitars. The instruments proudly shown on the sleeve photo were purchased after the album was recorded. Steve Fataar got a Gretsch Country Gentleman and Brother Fataar a Hofner violin bass. Edries had wanted a luxurious Gibson but since this remained out of reach for budgetary reasons he settled for an Epiphone. Ricky Fataar was probably about 11 years old when the sleeve photo was taken.
Edries left the Flames after One Of These Days/Dont Play That Song, having sung lead on both these tunes. In 1967 he recorded a solo 45 entitled Look Away/Stand By Me but sadly this record didn't sell. He does not look back on this 45 as representative of his preferred direction. After leaving the Flames he concentrated on establishing a solid foundation for family life with his wife Sally and turned to construction engineering as a source of steady income. He is still in this business to this day. Edries entered what he calls his "silent years" with almost no time to either play, buy or listen to music. He feels he missed out on the contemporary impact of artists like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Bob Marley.
In the late 80's Edries' wife Sally had become an excellent organiser and fund raiser. The school where she worked and ran the drum majorettes celebrated its centenary in 1987 so a band was needed for the party. Edries teamed up with his old band-mate Steve Fataar for what was initially a one-off concert. Steve's younger brother Issy was assigend to bass. Although Edries had literally not touched a guitar for 24 years, he needed only 8 days rehearsal to put down an excellent show which Sally recorded for posterity. Ricky Pillay from the Cheyennes was on drums. When it was decided this band should go on the road for a time, new drummers came and went and as a result the bands tentative name "In Formation" stuck for about a year.
In 2006, Edries is now 57 years old and still active, working abroad, under difficult conditions in the mining constuction industry. He has a son and two daughters and is a proud grandfather five times over. He gets back home to Durban as often as work allows.
Edries....a big personal "thank you" for taking time to tell us a bit more about yourself, and helping to illuminate the early years of The Flames.
Old Flames vinyl restored to 24-bit 96 kHz audio format
and archived on DVD-Audio for superior sound
Read the story here
This album was recorded by the Flame in 1970 with the Beach Boys's Carl Wilson producing and Stephen W. Desper taking care of the surround sound mix. Do you want this album reissued on a high quality Deluxe Edition featuring lots of bonus tracks?
Whoever you are, wherever you are in the world, please send
an email right now. Please tell us
your name and your country, and include your email address. We will forward
your response to the people at Brother Records trying to get this album
properly released in high quality sound.
The intention is to include the entire unreleased second Flame album as bonus tracks. So if you want to hear those songs, email now! And please tell your friends too!
Recently many internet based CD suppliers have advertised a new CD of the Flame's self-titled 1970 album they recorded with Carl Wilson for the Beach Boys Brother label. The engineer on these sessions was Stephen W. Desper, whose interview appears elsewhere on this website. He has helped us become aware that the new Flame CD is NOT transferred from original master tapes.
Groove Noise
Here at the Flames collection we have a lot of experience transferring and restoring rare vinyl to CD. This experience enables us to clearly identify groove noise. The new CD by the Flame has groove noise, clearly demonstrating that it has been created by playing a vinyl LP record, instead of using original master tapes. Our recommendation to all fans of the Flames and the Flame is therefore to avoid this CD and find a good condition vinyl instead. If you already have this CD and require proof, use headphones and listen to the quiet tunes like Highs and Lows, and Dove.
Interview with Stephen W. Desper, June, 2005
Background: The Flames website www.the-flames.com had earlier published a very brief opinion about the quadraphonic sound of the album “The Flame” recorded in late 1970. This album was produced by the Beach Boys’ Carl Wilson and engineered by Stephen W. Desper. At the request of Steve, the note about quadraphonic sound was taken down off the website, with the suggestion to review those opinions later. In June 2005 the time came to phone Steve. Below is a transcription of a 45-minute interview with a genuine legend and a true gentleman. Read and enjoy!
SWD: Hello?
BMO: I run the Flames website…
SWD: I know it’s a wonderful resource; I’ve referred many people to it.
SWD: My only knowledge, I guess, of their music is the two albums that we did, that Carl (Wilson, ed.) produced. Really I don’t know anything more about them, after they left the Brother Records fold. I know they went on to be quite successful. Some of the members helped (the Beach Boys, ed.) out as singing members.
BMO: When did you first meet them?
SWD: I first met them at Brian’s home studio in California, but I do remember being on tour in England and dining with Carl one night when Alan Jardine came to the table raving about a group he had heard in town called “The Flame.” He was very impressed with their talent and music and urged Carl to go see them.
BMO: You mean it was Al that discovered The Flame and not Carl?
SWD:
Yes it was Alan who made the initial contact. That next evening Carl
did go to see their act and from that point on his focus was on signing them
to Brother Records, seeing that they got to the States with work visas,
getting them a home in Los Angeles, and arranging for all the recording he
wanted to do.
BMO: What was your impression of The Flame when they first came to the studio?
SWD: (Chuckles) When the Flame came into the studio they were initially overwhelmed and in awe of everything. That went on for a little while then they got used to the idea and they began to understand things and utilise all this talent and technology that they had at their disposal. First it was I think a bit of a culture shock for them. Carl had rented them a lovely home on a hill overlooking Sunset Boulevard. They had a good lifestyle (laughs). Then they went to the studio and they had all the toys, whatever they wished. For the most part the first album was pretty organised. They had definite ideas. Carl firmed it all and focussed them. But they definitely had their own ideas. They needed a producer but only because they weren’t familiar with recording techniques and production styles. They certainly didn’t need a producer to push them or get music out of them.
BMO: Would you say the songs were ready when they came in (to the studio, ed.)?
SWD: Pretty much, yeah. Pretty much ready. But they had the luxury of being able to experiment and try different things. The studio time didn’t cost them any money. A lot of bands are very constrained when it comes to that. The Flame had a lot more time to lay music down, listen to it, argue about it (chuckles), decide what they’re going to do, change it around, try something else. But they definitely had a good idea about how they wanted things to go. Some of the stuff was serendipity for them. When that happened it was fun and they weren’t expecting it. All of a sudden some unplanned thing happened that was an improvement over what had been planned!
BMO: When you say serendipity, is there one moment that sticks in your mind?
SWD: It’s been so long…(hesitates)….not really with any of the major parts of any songs, more with embellishments or added parts.
BMO: What about the Quadraphonic aspects of the album?
SWD: I asked you to take down what was on your webpage until we could put an explanation up that was more correct. I appreciate your cooperation.
BMO: I found some information about a unit called a Dynaco Quadaptor QD-1. (http://home.indy.net/~gregdunn/dynaco/components/QD1/index.html)
SWD: That’s about right, the Quadaptor. I think it came out after the album. You see the little circuit that’s on your website, that insert (with the Flame LP, ed.) was developed by David Hafler and I think that he went on to Dynaco and designed the Dynaco QD-1 matrix which is pretty much the same basic circuit with some added switches and control. (Link to diagram >> http://home.worldonline.nl/~mollyb/docs/quad.htm )
BMO: So the Dynaco Quadaptor is the correct way to listen to the Flame album?
SWD: That would be a good way although we didn’t mix it that way. We mixed it on the simple 3 dB matrix circuit that was diagrammed and enclosed with the album. Now I’d have to go and look up the Dynaco Quadaptor. It’s all passive isn’t it?
BMO: Yes it is.
SWD: I think it’s probably safe to say that if you have one of those units you could do it. It’s going to give you only 3 dB of isolation, but 3 dB of isolation is all that is required for the human ear to discern direction.
BMO: The unit you devised more recently called 360Surround™…….
SWD: That’s an entirely different matrix. In fact the Dynaco unit is a quadraphonic matrix and the “360..” is psychoacoustic and has nothing to do with four channels. It just underscores that I’ve always been interested in these matrices as pyschoacoustic phantom generators of images. You see what happened was, in the very early days of Quad, most of the adaptors didn’t have a lot of separation. The only discrete one was the RCA (CD4, ed.). The rear channels were encoded and shifted in frequency up to 35 kHz and you needed to demodulate it. That’s an entirely different animal. Most of the SQ and QS systems, the Columbia system and the Dynaco were all basically the same. The idea was that there was a left-front, right-front, left-rear and right-rear. That was the math. That was all based on the (Peter Schreiber, ed.) patent.
SWD: As far as the Flame album was concerned, knowing that all these matrices were all pretty much the same, I said why don’t we just enclose a little diagram so anybody could do this, and we’ll mix the record not in four tracks, but just two tracks and we’ll listen to it over the matrix, so we will get our blend right.
BMO: Ahh, so it’s pre-mixed to sound exactly right on
a system such as you enclosed in your diagram or is used in the Dynaco
Quadaptor?
SWD: Yes sir! Yeah we set up speakers in the back and connected them just like that little diagram and we sat in the sweet spot and we mixed it that way. Now we weren’t expecting to put things exactly in the back, it’s just to get a big full sound. That kind of scheme is really compatible with stereo, because all that happens when you don’t connect the back speakers is that the sound falls back in the front speakers, that is, you hear everything in stereo if you only use front speakers, or you hear a fuller dimension and some direction if you use four speakers connected like in the diagram. It’s the student’s quad scheme.
SWD: Capitol had not decided what they were going to do quadraphonically, what system they were going with. So they would not endorse the album if it had any mention of quadraphonic on it. But Starday-King, the eventual distributor, didn’t mind. We put “quadraphonic” on the disc because it was! (laughs). It had only 3 dB of separation but that was plenty. As much as anybody else. I should point out that Starday-King was not selected as the distributor of the album for this reason. Rather, they were willing to spend more money for advertisement and promotion of the album than the bigger label.
SWD: Actually if you look back at it from a historical point of view The Flame album was the first commercially released quadraphonic record in the United States. It was the first quad record out before all the majors. Anyway we released it and we enclosed the diagram, thinking that it might help sales….well it didn’t. Maybe hurt them even I don’t know but I don’t think so.
SWD: OK so then as you know the quad phenomenon went on, and there were so many systems that nobody could agree. The public was confused and the whole thing was a commercial flop. So Dolby Laboratories came along and purchased Schreiber’s patent for the matrix and then mathematically turned the matrix 45 degrees. Electronically they turned it clockwise 45 degrees so that the left speaker became the center speaker, and so forth. There’re still four channels, but now instead of left-front, right-front, left-rear, right-rear, you get left, center, right and surround. Establishing a dedicated center channel was the key to this matrix being accepted by the movie industry because it gave a solid dialog sound. The surround information was in a single fourth channel. You know everyone has amplifiers saying left rear and right rear but they are the same signal. The surround is mono. It wasn’t until we got Dolby Prologic 5.1 that we got discrete left and right rear-channel surround. So that’s kind of a history of what happened. Dolby just bought the patent rights and turned everything 45 degrees and then …
BMO: Is that called Dolby Surround?
SWD: Yes, Dolby Surround. I’m just giving you a little background. It got shifted (laughs). Then it kinda gelled until everybody could hang their hat on a common hook and it went on and it’s going on, even today. So the 360Surround device is from the Dolby family and the one with The Flame is from the pre-Dolby time or the quad family.
BMO: That’s a clear explanation…thank you
SWD: Put that in your article, maybe other people will understand it too! (chuckles) The main point is that the 360Surround device is just too powerful for what we did on The Flame album. It sounds best if the listener uses that little diagram using four speakers connected as it shows.
BMO: I have some question about the album itself. I’m curious who played the synthesizer on Another Day Like Heaven?
SWD: It would probably have been Steve. I’d have to listen to it. Most of the time what would happen is that I would adjust the Moog (synthesizer, ed.). You know we had one of the first Moog units which used patch cords connecting its many devices to generate sounds. It wasn’t one of the modern digital synthesizers of today. It had three cases with jacks and plugs and knobs all over. It stood four feet high, twelve feet wide, and used a zillion patch chords. A big keyboard sat on a separate table. So I would adjust all of that and they would tell me what kind of sound they wanted and we’d kind of zero it in. Then one of the musicians would step up and play it. Most of the time that was Steven because he was the keyboardist.
BMO: Steve Fataar?
SWD: Yes Steve Fataar.
BMO: My next question is about the album. The opening tune is of course “See The Light”, one of the best known tunes on the album. The album also closes with the tune. It’s a reprise version of it. Now it’s my contention, and I’d love to hear your take on this, that the reprise is actually a different vocal take over the same backing track and then slowed down.
SWD: The backing track was slowed down and different vocals added in normal speed. We made a copy of the background, because amongst the Flame members themselves and Carl, there was a discussion. I don’t want to say argument. You know how art is. There’s no right or wrong. It’s just a matter of taste. They liked the first version, but they also liked to hear it slowed down because it had a swing kind of feel to it. But of course when you slowed it down all the voices sounded like old men and so we made a copy….we took the multitrack and played it at a speed which they liked. Then re-recorded all the vocals and that became the “reprise” version.
BMO: For my own enjoyment, I took that reprise sped it
back up and married it to the original at a suitable point, to prove it
could be done. It actually merges flawlessly.
BMO: Is there a song missing on
the album? They playing times on the two sides are quite different…
SWD: In the running order the group wanted, no matter where you break from side-one to side-two, one side will be about four minutes longer than the other. Then you must add, the reprise which was an afterthought. Add the times up without the reprise and see how it looks. Actually the reprise pushes the modulation of the record into what would normally not be allowed by the RIAA standard. That may be why the high frequencies are a little compromised near the end of side two. Otherwise, the length of each side is about standard for an LP of that time.
BMO: OK… My next question is more general. What is the standout moment during the recording? The highlight? What sticks in your mind most?
SWD: One outstanding moment occurs not on the first album but on the second one, produced by Carl, which hasn’t been released yet.
BMO: Does that album have a title?
SWD: No, but it’s all mixed and ready to go and
I’ve tried three times to….I’ve tried with three different companies
to get it released and now I’m working with Alan Boyd, or rather Alan Boyd
is really doing it. He produced a couple of TV specials of the Beach Boys
like “Endless Harmony”. He is currently their historian and he’s
getting their tape vault all organised. He has a production company and may
be able to get it released.
BMO: So we may yet see a release….
SWD: We’re working toward getting the first album
that you and I are talking about along with the second album that’s still
in the can, all released as one new package, of all the songs Carl produced.
There’s a whole album out there just waiting to be released.
BMO: Yes..
SWD: On the second album they incorporated strings sessions and horns and an orchestra.
BMO: Wow!
SWD: So it’s really beautiful and lush and good material. It’s every bit as good, if not better than the first album. The second album has one remembered time I recall, concerning some kind of deadline they had to meet (chuckles). I don’t remember what the circumstances were. We had to get this piano track recorded. It was Blondie’s song and Steve was playing the piano. It was basic piano and anyway, Blondie had to finish the song while we were recording it. Blondie had finished the song but he hadn’t written it down. You know what I mean?
BMO: yeah…..
SWD: So, Blondie is madly writing the song down and handing the pages to Steve who is playing them. He is a good sight player and he’s just playing the notes as it’s being recorded. After that I think they were going to go away for three weeks or something, so they needed that done. Blondie was just writing the notes down, putting them on the piano and Steve was playing them as the tape was rolling.
BMO: Marvelous, which tune is that?
SWD: It was the first one on the second album…let me get it out here and look.
BMO: While you look…some Internet friends told me they heard the second album..
SWD: Oh yeah probably. I took it up north to a Beach Boy convention in Connecticut for one thing. Of course (chuckles) my copy is on a cassette. It’s a copy from the master tape that I made onto a cassette just to have for my own edification.
BMO: Sure
SWD: That was twenty-five years ago, but the only copy I had. When starting to become interested in a push to get the second album released I got involved in mastering it as best I could using a computer and CD burner. I made a couple of copies and then I started shopping it around and I got a couple of places interested. And I’ll tell you that every time I’ve shopped it around, I’ve told these people that part of the deal is that we have you write the liner notes! I think you would be the most qualified person to do that.
BMO: Thank you very much! I would love to do that….
SWD: If that ever comes…we’re working with Brother Records now, and it’s the same thing. We’ve already talked about it. If we ever get the lawyers to get the contracts done, that you should be the one to at least submit some liner notes. I suspect your liner notes would be the ones to go with.
BMO: Thank you very much for thinking about me. I appreciate that a lot
SWD: Ah here it is….”Mother of the Century”. That’s the song where the piano was being played. You don’t have that?
BMO: That’s right
SWD: That’s the first cut of the second album
BMO: What are the titles on the second album?
1.
Mother of the Century
2.
Sigh Baby Sigh
3.
High Overhead
4. Sunny Skies
5.
Thank Someone
6. Seven
Sisters
7. Have
You Ever Been
8. Henry's
Son
9. Sweet
Jane
Reported
outtakes second album
10.
I’m A Man
11. Hello
12. Everybody
SWD:
I doubt the outtakes would be released since Carl did not release
them, but primarily because there would not be room on the CD.
All the finished songs run over an hour.
BMO: May I ask you a personal question, how old are you?
SWD: 63
BMO: I’m done with the questions; it’s been wonderful to listen to you. Is there anything else that I’ve missed?
SWD: About that period and all? Would you like to hear a funny story?
BMO: Sure…
SWD: I don’t think that they’d mind me telling you this story on ‘em. You know back then hairstyles and a lot of things were different. There was free love and lots of experimenting with drugs. So it was a different period of time. We’re all in the car. The Flame are in the car, I’m driving the car. Carl was not with us. We were going to lunch driving down in Hollywood. A joint was being passed around in the back seat. That’s no big deal to you because you live in Holland (laughs).
BMO: (Laughs) editor’s note: never smoked one in my life..sorry
SWD: Pretty soon I see red lights in the rear-view mirror. And a little siren goes “wooo”. I said put that joint out and roll the windows down. And Steve had a big afro (hairstyle, ed.). And I think Brother -- I don’t know -- somebody stuck it up in Steve’s afro. He spit on it and stuck it in his hair. Now the cops at that time were mostly white guys and we knew they were reluctant to stick their fingers up in some black guy’s afro. So they’re not going to search him up there. We knew that. We know we’re going to get out of the car and they’re going to search us. And they probably know…they can smell the pot but they’ve got to find it. OK so that’s all going on for about ten minutes. They search everybody, they can’t find anything, and I’m talking to one of the cops and telling him we’re recording -- and this and that. And I can see there’s a little commotion going on behind the cop. I can see there’s smoke coming out of Steve’s hair. He had a big, big afro, it was twice the size of his head. Anyway I can see there’s smoke coming out. I’m trying to get through the conversation. Brother and Blondie are trying to get Steve back in the car, so that nobody can…(laughs) …so they can attend to it. There was a little tense moment there. So we did, we got rid of the cops and got in the car and threw some Coca Cola on his hair and put it out.
BMO: Excellent, that’s the story. The Flame on fire.
SWD: Exactly…the Flame. That’s what everybody was saying back then…true to their name. Of course that was almost three decades ago. We have all grown out of that phase long ago and matured into responsible and sensible and – I dare say --- senior adults. However, it is fun to recall those memories. I hold them fondly . . . and have always valued the times when I got to work with, learned to respect and lovingly called as my friends those four guys who referred to themselves as “The Flame.”