Programming :: Basename With Command Substitutions And Xargs

I get this behavior on Slackware 13.37, which includes BASH 4.1.010. Yes, BASH is my shell. I have a file called a.flac and I'm in the directory that contains it.

The output of the ls command is expected:
Code:
ls *.flac
gives:
Code:
a.flac

Removing the extension with basename works as expected:
Code:
basename a.flac .flac
gives:
Code:
a

Putting the above command in a variable substitution works as expected:
Code:
echo `basename a.flac .flac`
gives:
Code:
a

Using xargs with ls and a variable substitution works as expected:
Code:
ls *.flac | xargs -i echo `echo {}`
gives:
Code:
a.flac

However, when I try to add the basename command to the above command, it stops working.
Code:
ls *.flac | xargs -i echo `basename {} .flac`
gives:
Code:
a.flac

Whereas the result I expect is:
Code:
a
Why is it not working, and how do I make it work?