An obscure but collectable label from the very late '60s and early '70s, Carnaby was set up by promoter Mervyn Conn, who went on to become a very prominent figure on the British Country music scene. The company's first record, 'Angelina' b/w 'So Happy' by The Wake, came out on Pye in August 1969 (7N-17873) with a production credit to Carnaby, but 'Record Retailer' of the 23rd of that month revealed that a pressing and distribution deal had been signed with Pye and that Carnaby would soon be making its debut as a label. The first record on the Carnaby label, The Portobello Explosion's 'We Can Fly' b/w 'Hot Smoke And Sassafras', came out in September 1969, with a catalogue number of CNS-4001 and a patriotic label design (1). Over the course of the next year a steady stream of other singles followed it, covering Rock, Pop - sometimes of a psychedelic variety - and MOR. Sadly none of them threatened to touch the Charts, and things came to a halt in the autumn of 1970, after twenty-one releases. For a while Carnaby had a sister-label for Country music, Nashville (q.v.), which was handled by Philips rather than by Pye; that too failed to last into 1971.
For a while it looked as though Conn had shelved Carnaby permanently. 'RR' of the 13th of March 1971 announced that he was going to launch a new 'progressive' label through Pye, and that two bands - Sweet Slagg and The Spirit Of John Morgan - had been signed up. Nothing tangible happened, however, and some eight months later 'RR' of the 20th of November reported that Carnaby was to be revived in the New Year, this time via Philips. In addition two new budget-priced offshoots were planned: Carnaby Gold, for reissues, and Carnaby Country. By that point, curiously, the first Carnaby single through Philips had already been released, with a new label design (2) and numbering in a 6151-000 series; two more followed before the end of the year. Nevertheless, as the report had stated, Carnaby's relaunch appears to have officially taken place in January 1972; it was dealt with in 'RR' of the 22nd of that month. The article stated that 6151-004, 'Build The Ladder High' b/w 'Last night' by Libby Morris was to be the first release under the new deal - which invites the question of what deal the first three singles came out under - and that Jack Heath, who had linked up with Conn to run his Mervyn and MC publishing companies, was to be the label manager. Unfortunately the reborn Carnaby didn't last long, and its final single came out a mere three months later. 'Carnaby Gold' seems to have run to just one release, a reissue of the 'Spirit Of John Morgan' album, while 'Carnaby Country' doesn't appear to have got off the ground at all. 'Billboard' of the 22nd of April 1972 stated that Conn intended to set up an office in Nashville, a development which may have prompted him to put Carnaby on the back burner, and in November of that year he moved back into his favoured Country field with the launch of his Nashville International label (q.v.).
As has been stated Carnaby had two label designs: one with a United Kingdom flag, during the company's time with Pye (1), and a comparatively short-lived Roger-Dean-designed one when it was with Philips (2). The yellow promo labels (3) were used during the stint at Pye; there were no special promo labels or markings in the Philips era, but a company sleeve was introduced (4). The logo on the second type of label - a crab - doesn't seem to have any obvious connection with the 'Carnaby' name, which leads me to wonder if the proposed 'progressive' label from the summer of 1971 was going to be called 'Cancer' and the artwork was retained for the new incarnation of Carnaby. Whatever its astrological meaning, Cancer's associations with the disease make it a doubtful choice for a brand name - though there was in fact a record label of that name in the '70s (q.v.).
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.