Publishing firm the Barrester Music Company made two ventures into the world of record issuing in the 1970s, of which the BMC label was the first. 'Record Retailer' of the 13th of March 1971 observed that Barrester, which was run by John Barratt and Robert Webster, had formed a recording wing, and that the profits from its first record would be donated to charities. The article gave the company's address as 10 Dryden Chambers, 119 Oxford Street, W1, and said that distribution would be handled by another of Barratt's firms - one which delivered carpets. 'RR' of the 3rd of April gave a release date of April 9th for the first single, Seventy-one BC's 'If You're Gonna Fall In Love' b/w 'My Pet'; both sides of the record were numbered separately, BMC-1001 and BMC-1002, but the report suggested that they were two separate singles. As can be seen from the scan, the label was quite an eye-catching one; and having the name of the group in mainly lower-case lettering is unusual. Later that same year the band recorded an EP offering the tracks 'When I See You Smile', 'Mister Sun', 'Funny Feeling' and 'Crazy Living'; it came out as BMC-1003 and was credited to '71 BC'.
The rarity of the both of BMC records suggest that they can't have shifted many copies, and Barrester soon turned its attention to a more lucrative product: the 'Genie' anti-static record cleaning and handling pad. A few years later, however, 'Music Week' of the 6th of December 1975 reported that the company had formed a new label, Genie (q.v.), and that it was interested in signing artists. In passing, John Barratt is reported as saying that Barrester had released "... Some records a few years ago", which raises the possibility of there being more BMCs out there. If you know of any I'd be glad to hear about them - thanks to Richard Newton for letting me know about the existence of the EP. The style of the matrix number in the run-off of the single suggests a British Homophone pressing, as does the three-pronged appearance of both records.
Copyright 2008 Robert Lyons.