The label of Cloud One Entertainments, a management / recording / publishing company formed by Steven Shane and Ian Walker. Cloud One's first mention in 'Music Week' came in the issue of the 27th of October 1973, which stated that Shane and Walker were looking for a distribution deal for Cloud One Records, and that the label was intended to be a 'diverse singles-orientated' one. 'MW' of the 23rd of March 1974 reported that after a five-month delay the company was putting out its first release; its managers had been acquiring American material and were producing British acts. In the event, no UK material can be found on Cloud One; it issued only four singles, all of which were licensed from American sources. The first three issues came from Babylon Records, of New York; Earthquake's version of 'Friday On My Mind' (HIT-4; 11/1974) completed the line-up and was licensed from Beserkley (q.v.). Catalogue numbers were in a HIT-0 series, which, as luck would have it, turned out to be over-optimistic. Music Master lists neither manufacturer nor distributor, but 'MW' of the 28th of September 1974 said that marketing and distribution of the label was being handled by B&C / Charisma. Manufacture of those records that I have seen was by EMI, as it was for the other B&C / Charisma labels at that time. The relationship with B&C / Charisma was to get closer: according to Billboard magazine of the 5th of October 1974, Shane and Walker had become joint managers of Mooncrest Music, which was jointly owned by those two companies. The article said that the men would continue to run their own Cloud One label, and HIT-3 and HIT-4 duly appeared, in November of that year. 'MW' of the 7th of December 1974 confirmed the Mooncrest appointments; it added that Cloud One had signed a distribution deal with President 'a little more than a year ago', so ending that deal and signing a new one with B&C / Mooncrest may account for the delay in the label's launch. The article finished with a quote that Cloud One's policy was 'releasing good commercial sounds', and that it was not a 'black music' label. Sadly, however, there were no more Cloud One releases. Unsurprisingly the label design remained the same throughout Cloud One's short life. Promo copies of all four singles were marked with a small black 'A' (2); they have the 'A' side on both sides of the record, a trait that seems to have been peculiar to records in the B&C / Charisma stable, as far as the UK is concerned.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.