B&C Records (which stood for Beat & Commercial) was a British

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

run by

Trojan Records Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name ''Trojan'' comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck t ...

' owner,

Lee Gopthal Lehman Serikeesna Gopthal (1 March 1938 – 29 August 1997), known as Lee Gopthal, was a Jamaican-British record label owner and promoter, the co-founder of Trojan Records. Life and career He was born in Constant Spring, Jamaica, into a fam ...

. It existed primarily between May 1969 and September 1972. In 1971, the progressive and folk artists that were still signed to the label were moved over to B&C's new Pegasus Records imprint (which later became Peg), though singles continued to be issued on the B&C label until 1972. Pegasus Records released 14 albums before closing down in 1972, after which most of the artists moved over to Mooncrest Records label. Mooncrest had started out as

Charisma Records Charisma Records (also known as The Famous Charisma Label) was a British record label founded in 1969 by former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith. He had previously acted as manager for rock bands such as The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der ...

's publishing company, but had become a record label in its own right in 1973. It reissued some of the original Pegasus releases. The company continued after this point in its original format as a record manufacturing, distribution and marketing company, continuing to distribute records by Charisma and Mooncrest. Between 1971 and 1974, B&C and Charisma shared their CB-100 series for singles. In 1974 B&C got into financial trouble and was finally sold, along with Trojan and Mooncrest, to Marcel Rodd, head of Allied/Saga Records. Trojan and Mooncrest continued to issue records marketed by B&C, though Charisma moved its operations over to

Phonogram Inc. Phonogram Incorporated was started in 1970 as a successor to Philips Phonographic Industries, a unit of the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG), a joint venture of Philips N.V. of the Netherlands and Siemens A.G. of Germany. Phonogram was the name ...

in May 1975. The B&C label was resurrected as a label between 1977 and 1981, releasing just a few new singles and reissuing several classic tracks as singles or EPs. B&C was originally intended to reissue gospel/soul artists such as James Carr, but did branch out to other genres eventually. B&C released

Atomic Rooster Atomic Rooster are a British rock band originally formed by members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. Throughout their history, keyboardist Vincent Crane was the only constant member and wrote ...

's first two albums, ''

Atomic Roooster , also spelled ''Atomic Ro-o-oster'' on some later CD reissues, is the first album by British rock band Atomic Rooster, with keyboardist Vincent Crane, bassist and vocalist Nick Graham and drummer Carl Palmer. A few weeks after its release, ...

'' (1970) and ''

Death Walks Behind You ''Death Walks Behind You'' is the second studio album by British rock band Atomic Rooster, released on September 1970. It was their first album to receive US release, albeit in a different sleeve. It is commonly thought of as the archetypal At ...

'',

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...

's '' Please to See the King'' (1971),

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

's ''

Loud 'n' Proud ''Loud 'n' Proud'' is the fourth studio album by the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth, and their second to be released in 1973. It is the first of two albums the band released to reach #1 in the Austrian charts. Track listing 1996 Castle C ...

'' (1974), Andy Roberts' ''Home Grown'' (1971) and ''Everyone'' (1971), and one self-titled LP by the Newcastle-based band Ginhouse, Ginhouse (1971). The label was also prominent in the early "revival" period of 1950s rock and roll. The Wild Angels, one of the first of these groups had two albums released on B&C in 1970, ''Live At The Revolution'' and ''Red Hot N Rockin''. They both had "gatefold" sleeves. The company also released an album called ''Battle Of The Bands'', which featured an early recording by Shakin' Stevens, and also Gene Vincent, and acts such as

The Impalas The Impalas were an American doo-wop group in the late 1950s, best known for their hit, "Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)". The group formed in 1958 in Brooklyn, New York, and was composed of lead singer Joe "Speedo" Frazier (September 5, 1943 � ...

and

The Houseshakers The Houseshakers were a British rock and roll band that formed at the end of 1969, and were active in the early 1970s. They backed Gene Vincent on two of his European visits. They performed in their own right and acted as the backing for Bo Diddl ...

. There was also an album by The Rock N Roll Allstars entitled ''Red China Rocks''.

References

External links

The B&C Discography: 1968 to 1975
- all UK non-reggae releases on the B&C family of labels

B&C Discography on 45cat
{{DEFAULTSORT:BandC Records Record labels established in 1969 British record labels Rock record labels Pop record labels