The B&C Discography: 1968 to 1975

By Mark Jones

Updated and expanded second edition of this Award Nominated book (nominated for the 2014 ARSC Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research). B&C started life as a distribution company, which was set up as a sister company to Island. Island's early success led B&C's owner, Lee Gopthal, to start releasing records in his own right. However, B&C's main strategy was based on licensing records rather than signing artists in its own right and many of B&C's labels concentrated on singles and budget compilation albums – strategies that set the seeds of the company's own destruction. The end, when it came in 1975 was probably inevitable. Still, whilst B&C was about, some very good music got released, almost despite itself on occasion. This book includes comprehensive discographies covering the Action, Stable, B&C, Charisma, Pegasus, Peg, People, Mooncrest, Dragon, Sussex and Seven Sun labels.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Record Press
• Release date: Jul 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781909953772

Mark Jones

Mark Jones (PhD, Leiden Universiteit) serves as the pastor of Faith Vancouver Presbyterian Church (PCA) in British Columbia, Canada. He has authored many books, including Living for God and God Is, and speaks all over the world on Christology and the Christian life. Mark and his wife, Barbara, have four children.

Book preview

Legals

The B&C Discography: 1968 to 1975

Mark Jones

This updated digital edition published 2021 by The Record Press

The Record Press is an imprint of Bristol Folk Publications

www.bristol-folk.co.uk / www.bristol-folk.weebly.com

ISBN 13: 978-1-909953-77-2

Copyright © Mark Jones 2021

Digital jacket design copyright © The Record Press 2021

Digital layout and realisation by The Record Press

NOTICE OF RIGHTS

All rights reserved. The right of Mark Jones, to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, including the Internet, now known or hereafter invented, without permission in writing from the copyright holder.

Legals

Foreword to the digital version of the 2nd edition of this award-nominated discography

Introduction

B&C Records – a short history

Source information, etc.

Label designs

7" label designs

LP label designs

Pressing companies used by B&C

Sources used in lists

Release and deletion dates

Recommended retail price

Discography

Action

ACLP/ACLS sequence LPs

ACMP sequence LP

ACT 4500 sequence 7" singles

ACT 4600 sequence 7" singles

ACT 100 sequence 7" singles

Promotional 7" EP

Stable

SLP sequence LP

SLE sequence LPs

STA sequence 7" single

Promotional 7" EP

B&C and Charisma

CAS sequence LPs (B&C and Charisma)

BCB sequence LP (B&C)

BCM sequence LPs (B&C)

CS/DCS sequence LPs/double LPs (Charisma)

CLASS sequence LPs (Charisma)

CADS sequence double LP (Charisma)

TSS sequence double LP (Charisma)

CGS sequence double LPs (Charisma)

CB sequence 7" singles (B&C and Charisma)

Promotional 7" singles (B&C and Charisma)

Flexidiscs

Pegasus and Peg

PEG sequence LPs

PS sequence LPs

Tape versions of CAS sequence LPs

PGS sequence 7" singles

Promotional 7" records

Mooncrest

CREST sequence LPs

MOON sequence 7" singles

People

PLEO sequence LPs

PLED sequence double LP

PLE sequence tape-only release

PEO sequence 7" singles

Promotional 7" EP

Dragon

DRLS sequence LPs

DRA sequence 7" singles

Sussex

LPSX sequence LPs

LPDX sequence double LP

SSX sequence 7" singles

Seven Sun

SSUN sequence 7" singles

And finally, a last-ditch cross-label tape-only hits package

Foreword to the digital version of the 2nd edition of this award-nominated discography

First, some trumpet blowing. The first edition of this book was nominated for the 2014 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research (Rock Discographies).

It was not a winner but, there again, I had not expected it to be. I was slightly flabbergasted that it had even been nominated. It is sort of akin to being nominated for an Oscar when you have only recently taken up acting. You are not going to win – not first go at least – but you start to get a reputation. That is what goes with a nomination; it is the point at which you must seriously up the ante. Those that win do so because they do not stand still.

In the US, discographical studies are taken very seriously indeed. Academics get awarded exceptionally large grants to research into the country’s indigenous music and it was the fruits of these mostly funded labours that provided the extremely worthy award winners. I, on the other hand, pay my own way when it comes to researching and writing these books. I do the best I can, but time and funds are limited – and doing it on my own means that, occasionally, doors remain closed that might otherwise have opened. Basically, you get taken seriously if you have a large wad of money and the name of a prestigious academic institution or funding body to back you up.

Occasionally, my discographies make back their production costs, but mostly they do not. Forget the time taken in research and the cost of all those pre-Covid train trips to library collections up and down the country. That simply goes with the territory.

So why do I carry on? Well, habit mostly, but occasionally I get feedback and the sort of encouragement that makes it worthwhile. Occasionally, as in the case of the ARSC award nomination, it is visibly confirmed that I am getting something right and that people in positions of authority have spotted that there is someone out here quietly getting on with doing some good work. What would make things even better would be to get paid for my discographical research. There must be a place in UK academia for someone with my knowledge (and associated monomania) about the UK music industry way back when. But would I find it so interesting if it were a job?

One of the reasons I found it ironic that the B&C book had been nominated for an award was because it had been an afterthought, suggested by various people that had enjoyed my Famous Charisma Discography, and had been the fastest book from inception to publication – less than a year, all told. What came next, and which won the 2017 Award for Best Rock Discography, was a book that had taken, at publication in 2016, around 35-years to come to fruition – The Immediate Discography: the First 20 Years. What is that again, about all good things coming to those who wait?

Anyway, based on feedback from the ARSC Journal review, I have extended and updated the book to include all B&C-related Charisma releases as well as a few nuggets of updated knowledge that have come to light since – and because – the original book was published. I took the opportunity to zap a few embarrassing typos whilst I was at it too.

Oh, yes, whilst I am at it, the following two music history-related books have also been put up for nomination for ARSC awards, one on the 2021 list – this is The British Classical Music Industry, 1945 to 1959: Fidelity and Formats, and I will find out if it wins anything later this month – and Blues from the Avon Delta: the Matchbox Blues Story, is pencilled in for the 2022 awards.

Introduction

This book had its beginnings in a combination of The Famous Charisma Discography and a spin-off article for Record Collector magazine. Feedback from both was pleasantly positive, but what surprised me was the number of suggestions that I should follow up with a book on B&C. For a couple of years, I avoided the idea on the basis that what I knew about B&C was mostly to do with its relationship with Charisma. However, a trawl through unused research materials reminded me that I had gathered lots of information on Stable, Pegasus, Peg and Mooncrest so from point of view of discographical content there was more than enough to make a B&C discography viable. It did not take long to find out that Action, People, Sussex, and Seven Sun had also been members of the B&C stable. The decision was made – The B&C Discography would be the second book in the ‘Light Engine’ sub-series. (Ironically, what with adding in all the B&C-era Charisma material, it is now the longest and most ‘crammed’ book in the ‘Light Engine’ sub-series.)

For a short while a madness took hold and I considered including Trojan and all related labels – Ackee, Amalgamated, Ashanti, Attack, Big, Big Shot, Blue Cat, Bread, Clandisc, Coxsone, Down Town, Duke, Duke Reid, Dynamic, Explosion, Gayfeet, GG, Grape, Green Door, Harry J, High Note, Horse, Hot Rod, J-Dan, Jackpot, Joe, Moodisc, Pressure Beat, Randy's, Smash, Song Bird, Studio One, Summit, Tabernacle, Techniques, Treasure Isle and Upsetter. Thank goodness that common sense came to the rescue in time.

So, this book covers all of B&C’s non-reggae labels, as well as the reggae-focused Dragon label. Dragon is the exception that proves the rule and is included because it was a subsidiary of Mooncrest rather than Trojan. Charisma’s releases are included up to the point at which their association with B&C ended abruptly in July 1975. Those that want to know more specifically about Charisma’s operations and/or information on subsequent Charisma releases via Phonogram (1975-1983) and Virgin (1983-1988) are pointed toward The Famous Charisma Discography, available in paperback and eBook formats.

Meanwhile, one question that crops up again and again is why no pictures? Well, it is all down to copyright and cost. From experience, I know that negotiating to reproduce sleeves can add years to a project and incur silly costs – for example, EMI, which owns Charisma [or did at the point that the paperback was published], once tried to charge me £1,000 (plus VAT) to reproduce 15 Wurzels sleeves. Universal/Sanctuary, which owns much of the B&C catalogue, is a much happier company to deal with but the problem is that although they own the labels, they do not own much of the music nor much of the associated artwork because B&C’s policy was to license records in one-off deals.

If this book included those images to which permission could be given it would be a very ‘bitty’ selection of sleeves – and the book would be twice the price. Instead, for sleeves and labels try discogs.com and the exemplary 45cat.com. Think of it as an exercise in blended learning.

Digital edition update: To make this eBook compatible with as many devices as possible, a slightly clunky solution has been found for coping with what are endnotes in the paperback version. Instead of keeping these as is and inserting hyperlinks, the endnote is added at the relevant point in the text in square brackets [Like this] or otherwise incorporated into the narrative. This is because not all eReaders let you return to the original position once you have followed a link, short of manually hunting back through the book. Also, quotes of more than three lines (when viewed in MS Word, that is) are indented. However, just in case your eReader does not render the quotes with an indent, speech marks have also been added. Again, a bit of a clunky solution.

Thanks to: Charisma’s Gail Colson and Zigzag’s Pete Frame for their help with the original Charisma volume, Al Fenn for information on Decameron’s lost releases (not forgetting Johnny Coppin for putting me in touch), Record Collector’s Ian Shirley for encouragement; fellow Charisma sleuth hounds, Mike Clayton and Steve Trump for corrections to the Charisma volume, ARSC for the Award nomination (and subsequent win) and Colin Richardson, head of Charisma/B&C’s International Department, for some great stuff that I could not publish about his B&C opposite number’s persistent attempts to spend company money on unnecessary foreign jaunts. Well, what is an International Department for is what I say?

B&C Records – a short history

Michael de Koningh and Laurence Cane-Honeysett’s Young Gifted and Black (Sanctuary, 2003) is highly recommended for further information on Lee Gopthal and B&C. Although focused on the Trojan series of labels it provides a great deal of contextualisation of material in the organisational history below.

To say that the B&C group of companies is particularly difficult to research has more than a hint of understatement about it. B&C’s prime mover, Lee Gopthal, was, over the years, director of – or otherwise had one or more fingers in – a bewildering number of companies, including rivals, and the number of labels owned or marketed by B&C comes in at around fifty. B&C is mostly remembered on the record collecting scene for its affiliations with Trojan and Charisma, but the company was originally set up in association with Island, with which company it retained close links until 1972, when the jointly run Trojan label passed solely to B&C. Although this book is not concerned with Trojan and its myriad number of sublabels, the organisational history would be misleading, not to mention even more confusing, if it did not include Trojan’s operations to some extent. Indeed, at the end of the day, B&C and Trojan went down together and, retaining all assets but minus all liabilities, both companies were resurrected together. That is going a bit too far ahead, though – this book is concerned only with events prior to B&C’s liquidation in 1975, though subsequent events are covered briefly just to tie up some otherwise loose ends.

A convenient place to begin the story is on board the Ministry of Transport ship, Empire Windrush, in 1948. On 21 June of that year the Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury with the first group of Caribbean migrants to the UK on board. Amongst this group was Sikarum Gopthal, who was described as a Mechanic on the passenger inventory [Public Record Office Catalogue Reference PRO/BT26/1237/9410. Accessed from http://www.movinghere.org.uk/deliveryfiles/PRO/BT26_1237_9410/0/1.pdf (05/08/2012).]. His proposed address was ambiguously listed as East Croydon. Whether he found work as a mechanic is unknown, but by 1952 he was in business as a tailor, working from a shop at 108, Cambridge Road, Kilburn, NW6. In November 1952 Sikarum’s thirteen-year-old son, Leichman, or Lee, as he was known, left Jamaica for the UK, and moved into the flat above his father’s shop. Not much is known of subsequent years until, when age allowed, he joined a firm of certified accountants and studied toward professional qualifications.

In the early 1960s Sikarum returned to Jamaica by which time Lee had secured a mortgage on 108, Cambridge Road. He sought tenants to help with repayments and the first in was Sonny Roberts. Roberts built the UK’s first black-owned recording studio in the basement and released records on his own Planetone and Swan labels. This venture lasted until 1963 and Planetone records from that year included the Cambridge Road address on labels. The next set of tenants would expand the building’s musical operations. In May 1962, Island Records relocated from Jamaica to the UK. To begin with the company ran its UK operations from Chris Blackwell’s flat at 4, Rutland Gate Mews, SW7 but Island soon needed more space and moved into the ground floor shop at Cambridge Road late in 1962. Blackwell, along with new Island recruit, David Betteridge, was keen for Gopthal to become involved with Island, presumably because of the combination of his Jamaican origin and his knowledge of accountancy practices.

Initially, the trio considered setting up a purely mail-order sales channel. However, Gopthal suggested that door-to-door sales would be a better way to sell records to the now well-established West Indian community, so Gopthal and Island advertised for salesmen. By early 1963 Gopthal had put together the team that was to become the core of B&C and its related companies over the next twelve years – namely Jim Flynn, Barry Creasy, Alan Firth and Fred Parsons. In all, sixteen salesmen were run from Gopthal’s bedroom. Of the rest of 108, Cambridge Road, all the rooms were by now let, mostly to Island. The record selling business was formalised with the incorporation of Beat & Commercial Records Ltd. on 19 April 1963 [De Koningh, M. & Cane-Honeysett, L. (2003) Young Gifted and Black. Sanctuary, p. 29. This states that Beat and Commercial Records Ltd. was set up by Lee Gopthal and Tony Stratton Smith. This is perfectly possible but, if so, it is odd that Stratton Smith’s name does not crop up again in official documentation until 1969.]. However, Gopthal did not want to give up his accountancy career and considered Beat and Commercial and his involvement with Island to be part time