Search - The Flares, Flares :: Foot Stompin'

A One-Hit Wonder With A Qualifier

09/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Flares, under that name, are charter members of the one-hit wonder club with their only charter, Foot Stomping Part 1, reaching # 20 R&B and # 25 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in October 1961 b/w Part 2. But some of the members did enjoy considerable chart success under other guises.



Beginning as a quintet in Los Angeles in 1953 as The Flairs, the group originally consisted of Cornelius Gunter, Richard Berry, Thomas Fox, Obadiah Jessie, and Beverly Thompson. That year they cut a Leiber & Stoller composition for the Modern label, She Wants To Rock, which gained considerable regional attention but could not crack the national R&B or pop charts.



Berry would then move on to record with The Robins [Riot In Cell Block No. 9 - another Leiber & Stoller composition], provided the deep male voice on Etta James' immortal 1955 hit The Wallflower (Roll With Me Henry), did a bit of dramatic crying behind Donald Woods on Death Of An Angel, and in 1956 with his group The Pharaohs, wrote and cut the first version of Louie, Louie - later a 1963 smash hit by The Kingsmen.



Gunter would move on to join The Coasters [where he was part of many hits] and, with Thompson and Jessie dropped, they became a quartet with the addition of Tommy Miller and George Hollis, previously with a local group called The Ermines,



By 1961 the group had changed the spelling of the name to The Flares and, now with the Felsted label, the group consisted of Miller, Hollis, lead Aaron Collins and Willie Davis, the latter two having been part of the previous RPM/Modern hits Why Don't You Write Me? [# 3 R&B/# 82 pop in 1955 as The Jacks] and Stranded In The Jungle [# 4 R&B/# 15 pop as The Cadets].



After their one 1961 hit, however, nothing else worked, either for Felsted or the Press label, and by 1964 they had broken up, one more victim of the British Invasion. I just wish Ace had seen fit to include the B-side of their one hit even though it was a purely instrumental track credited to their back-up group The Ramrocks.



Even so, another fine compilation from the folks at Ace."

The Flares

Glenn And Linda Mccall | Alabama USA | 08/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To some, this may be an "obscure" group, but the use of "obscure" is sort of insulting to these artists. After all, who sets out to be "obscure", with all the work and the practice that is necessary to do a recording?



The Flares big hit was the feel-good hit "Foot Stompin", but this is not the song on this album that is my favorite. My top favorite on this great album is the long-overlooked gem called "Make It Be Me." This is a spirit-lifting, gospel-like masterpiece that appeared briefly on the charts in the fall of 1962. I was ten years old when I first heard it and I've been loving it ever since. The song is about love and the words just reach out and grab you:



"Someone's got to fill you with joy untold,

Someone's got to thrill your very soul!"



Here's hoping that we all find someone so special.

"