B&C RECORDS: THE COMPLETE UK VINYL DISCOGRAPHY

Details of every UK release on the B&C label from 1969 to 1972 with full colour, high quality photography throughout of labels, sleeves and inserts along with detailed analysis and identification of the crucial 1st pressing details of every album and single. Essential reading for collectors of B&C records. B&C launched in 1969 with an odd mix of artists, including Bob & Earl, ‘Freddie Pride at the Piano’ and Merrill Moore’s ‘Tree Top Tall’ – respectively a funk/soul duo, a jazz pianist and a swing/boogie woogie/ rockabilly/country singer – along with two 1950s rock’n’roll revival LPs by The Wild Angels. Founder Lee Gopthal formed a commercial partnership with another newly-formed record label, Charisma, founded by former journalist and progressive rock band manager, Tony Stratton Smith. They shared manufacturing, marketing and even the same system of catalogue numbering (CAS prefix for albums and CB for singles). Perhaps due to Stratton Smith’s influences, B&C soon began to sign a similar roster to Charisma, mostly prog and folk rock, including Atomic Rooster, Hannibal, Steamhammer, Keith Christmas, Harold McNair and Shelagh McDonald amongst others. This book concentrates on the ‘CAS’ albums series and ‘CB’ singles from 1969 to 1972 but obviously includes the initial albums that featured BCB/BCM catalogue numbers to show the transition of B&C from 1969 into 1970.