Cam Records

CAM RECORDS

One intrepid soul, John Reed stumbled upon an intriguing ad in the December 1968 edition of New Musical Express that had a photograph of a five-piece band called the Klubs that had just put out a single on Cam Records. (Ironically, one of the bandmembers turned out to be a man named John Reid).

* * *

Local nightclub owner Jim McCullough was about to start a new label called Cam Records (with the name apparently taken from spelling his nickname backwards). Under his direction, the Klubs cut several tracks in the summer of 1968. One of these is my favorite song on the retrospective album, “Can’t Ebenezer See My Mind?”; there are two studio versions of the song (the second from 1969) plus a live version from 2000. The full chorus line in the song is: “Can’t Ebenezer see my mind / Instead of looking through me all the time? / Why can’t Ebenezer see my mind?”. With lyrics like that, you don’t even have to hear the song to know that you are dealing with a true psychedelic band.

Other songs that were recorded by the Klubs in that session are another psych killer “Indian Dreams” – three very different versions of this song are also included on the Midnight Love Cycle CD – and an R&B song called “Oh Baby”. The “A” side of the first single, “I Found the Sun” is a bit tamer but has the same wyld guitar work, soaring harmony vocals and fine songwriting that mark all of the band’s work. This song is backed on the 45 with “Ever Needed Someone”, a re-recording of one of their earlier Decca tracks, which has more of an old-school Merseybeat feel. Despite the aforementioned ad in New Musical Express, the fledgling Cam Records label could only place the single at local record stores in Liverpool, where sales were minimal.

(July 2013)