Folk, Funk & Beyond - The Arrangements Of John Cameron

John Cameron is truly one of the greatest and most recognisable British arrangers of the 60s and 70s. He came out of the British jazz scene, playing live as a teenager with the likes of Dick Heckstall-Smith. Moving to London, his first arrangement job was Donovan’s ‘Sunshine Superman’ – Cameron came up with a unique jazz-folk single with proto-psychedelic leanings that went to #1 in America and made him an in-demand arranger overnight. The Donovan connection (Cameron arranged virtually all of his 60s recordings) led to work based around woodwinds for Françoise Hardy and Julie Felix, but he was happier working with a full, funky brass section – in the 70s this led to classic hits with CCS, Hot Chocolate and Heatwave, as well as some of the most influential and heavily sampled KPM library recordings.

In cinemas, you might have heard Cameron’s bucolic, dreamy score for Kes; on TV there was the brassy blast of ‘Avenues And Alleyways’, the theme from The Protectors. Turning on the radio, you couldn’t have missed the Flirtations and CCS’s soulful hits, Errol Brown’s Hot Chocolate (we’ve gone for the atmospheric title track from their “Cicero Park” album) or Heatwave’s classic ‘Always And Forever’. More recently, Hopscotch’s ‘Look At The Lights Go Up’ has become a £300, in-demand mod dancer, while 50 Cent, Common and Cee-Lo Green have sampled the hazy groove of ‘Half Forgotten Daydreams’.

This is the first ever compilation of John Cameron’s arrangements. It has been compiled by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley, following his hugely successful CDs of arrangements by Thom Bell (Ready Or Not) and Norman Whitfield (Psychedelic Soul). It has thorough sleeve notes, unseen photos, and an interview with Cameron himself.

It’s a folky, funky, beautiful collection.

1. KES (FRONT TITLES) - John Cameron
2. THE OBSERVATION - Donovan
3. HOW COULD YOU SAY YOU'RE LEAVING ME? – The Piccadilly Line
4. DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD - Julie Felix
5. LOOK AT THE LIGHTS GO UP - Hopscotch
6. BOAT TRIP - Gordon Haskell
7. WILLOW'S HARP - World Of Oz
8. LA MER, LES ÉTOILES ET LE VENT - Françoise Hardy
9. IF I THOUGHT YOU'D EVER CHANGE YOUR MIND - Edwards Hand
10. ISN'T THIS WHERE WE CAME IN - Lionel Bart
11. PRIMROSE HILL - Kathe Green
12. BARNES BRIDGE - Harold McNair
13. MOVE ME - Flamma Sherman
14. EVERYBODY NEEDS SOMEBODY
(TO LOVE IN THE END) - The Flirtations
15. AVENUES AND ALLEYWAYS - Tony Christie
16. HALF FORGOTTEN DAYDREAMS - John Cameron
17. OPEN YOUR WINDOW - Ella Fitzgerald
18. A ROAD TO NOWHERE - Lesley Duncan
19. BROTHER - CCS
20. CICERO PARK - Hot Chocolate
21. HEAT HAZE - John Cameron
22. CLEOPATRA JONES - Bobby Harrison
23. I'VE GOT JUST WHAT YOU NEED - Cheryl Lynn
24. ALWAYS AND FOREVER – Heatwave