After auditioning the Klubs at a nightclub called the Pink Flamingo, Vic Smith signed them to a management deal with Don Arden’s company Aquarius.  As a result, in early 1968, the Klubs again sort of followed in the Beatles’ footsteps and arrived at Decca Records – actually, Decca had famously decided against signing the Fab Four – where four tracks were laid down according to company records.  Two were covers of the Beatles’ “Drive My Car” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” – the latter song (apparently recorded at a later time) is the only cover song on the Midnight Love Cycle CD – plus their own songs “Midnight Love Cycle” and “Ever Needed Someone”.  “Midnight Love Cycle” also became the title of their retrospective albums. 

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)