Launched the same year as the C.A.M. MAG 10.000-series, the C.A.M. SAG 9000-series was by far the longest living soundtrack-series issued of the C.A.M.-label. With its first release issued in 1967, the C.A.M. SAG 9000-series lasted as long as the LP-format itself: well into the 80ies. The amount of scores issued far outnumbers the ones issued in the Cms.-series and well exceeds 100 recordings. As with the MAG-series, C.A.M. had majored in counting and no catalogue #s in this series was left void (only "Concerto per una pistola solista" was not commercially released, but copies with the plain standard C.A.M.-cover were manufactured and received a VERY limited distribution!). Except this one, all issues were commercially available and - in its very first years - they had the price printed on the cover itself, which was "Lit. 1900 + tasse", which meant 1900 Lire + tax (app. 12 to 15 $/E). By the way, the same is true for a couple of LPs from the MAG-series (and also some from RCA Italiana, which were already much more expensive in the early 1960ies: Lit. 2900 + tax!)!
As far as pressing quality and artwork are concerned, they feature the usual to-be-expected TOP quality, only on a few occasions there are some shifts in loudness and regarding the speaker the music comes from in the very first stereo-pressings, but they are not very noticeable and do not detract from the listening pleasure unless one commonly listens with earphones and full concentration (that´s how I "fell" over these little imperfections - one is in the EMANUELLE LP by Ferrio, for example). Regarding artwork it has to be mentioned that C.A.M. went back to its more simplicistic style of the earlier Cms.-series and that the elaborate cover "compositions" became past, unfortunately. Nevertheless, the striking colours and matter-of-fact artworks nevertheless served its purpose to attract attention from potential buyers and are great to look at (especially today, were visual artwork on CD-covers is in fact a matter of impossibility ...).
All these recordings are highly collectible, especially the many Italo-western waxings and the funky stuff composed by the two Giannis (Ferrio & Marchetti), which are fetching high prices on the collector´s market. Therefore, the most sought-after LPs are the Italo-western recordings (of which "Corri, uomo, corri" seems to have had a re-print, since I once had a copy with another release month!) and the funk & scat (wordless female voices) LPs, which are, aside from the already mentioned ones, e.g. "Operazione San Pietro", "The penthouse", "Top Sensation/L´altra faccia del Peccato", "Lesbo", "Femina ridens", "Gli angeli del 2.000" and "Candy". Also worth noting is the nearly complete absence of Ennio Morricone-compositions among the early releases in this series. Only two of the first app. 50 LPs do feature Ennio Morricone-scores, of which the later one, "Quando le donne avevano la coda", is definitly the (much) more difficult one to find (don´t ask me why).
Again, enjoy and let the covers attract your immagination! And if you have any questions, that have been left unanswered (and I am sure there are some ...), please do not hesitate to drop me a line e-mail! I answer all questions as fast as possible, plan to collect them and want to put them into a FAQ-section (which is planned for 2003!). The same goes of course, if you have any info or items for sale or trade available!!
AVAILABLE items (visually graded: cover/record; play-graded upon request):
SAG 9005: Rainbow (aka Spara Gringo Spara), (Sante Maria Romitelli), M-/MT SAG 9009: VIP - mio fratello superuomo, (Franco Godi), M-/NM SAG 9016: Les vielles lunes (Oswald Russell), M/M SAG 9030: Waterloo (Nino Rota), EX+/M-Please note: of all the listed items I have only one spare copy available; wants-lists welcomed (trade preferred!). WANTED: SAG 9032: Quando le donne avevano la coda (Ennio Morricone), MT cover!