SOLD OUT
2LP - BGP
2021

SOLD OUT
2LP - BGP
2003

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
2LP - BGP
2019

SOLD OUT
2LP - BGP
1999

BIS => 2025 09 05
1LP - BGP
1976 => 2016

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
2LP - BGP
2002

SOLD OUT
7 INCH - BGP
2016

BIS => 2025 09 05
2LP - BGP
2025

BIS => 2025 09 05
1LP - BGP
1971 => 2025

TRACKLIST
Side 1
1. IF I SING MY SONG
2. THE SEA & SHE
3. I AM THE BLACK GOLD OF THE SUN
4. HANGING ROUND THE BEE TREE
5. HEY, LOVE
Side 2
1. LOVE HAS FALLEN ON ME
2. SONG FOR EVERYMAN
3. LOVE IS
4. VINE OF HAPPINESS

DESCRIPTION
When Marshall Chess decided to combine a rock group with some of the best voices he could get his hands on he invented a stream of psychedelic rock that was quite different from the one that emerged in Detroit with the help of George Clinton and Norman Whitfield.
Partly this was Marshall’s hippy sensibility, but it was one that fused perfectly with vocalist Minnie Riperton’s own word-view and the musical genius – “no other word for it”: Marshall Chess − of Charles Stepney.
Working across a cleverly arranged mix of originals and cover versions, the recordings featured some of the finest musicians that you could find in Chicago including drummer Morris Jennings, bass players Louis Satterfield and Phil Upchurch, and revolutionary guitarist Pete Cosey, who would later join Miles Davis’ group. Cosey’s guitar playing on their fourth album “Songs”, released in 1969, is incendiary and unparalleled. The vocals were arranged as a perfect choir with a series of leads most notably Minnie, Sidney Barnes and Mitch Aliota.
True success − rather than doing well enough − eluded them, with some bad decisions being made and bad luck also dogging them. When Chess left the company and Barnes the group it looked as if the writing was on the wall for Rotary Connection, but Charles Stepney wanted one more go. The New Rotary Connection came together with a refreshed vocal line up featuring Minnie, Kitty Haywood and Shirley Wahls and songs by Stepney, Minnie’s husband Richard Rudolph and Terry Callier.
“Hey Love” was the album that appeared and it is a gem, that features the astounding ‘I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun’ - later a UK hit in 1997 for Nuyorican Soul, ‘Love Has Fallen On Me’ - later recorded as a tribute to Stepney by Chaka Khan, the beautiful title track and Callier’s stunning ’Song For Everyman’. However the album failed to sell and there was no more records.
As time passed the late 60s and early 70ws productions of Charles Stepney became some of the best loved and most influential of the ear, influencing UK groups such as 4 Hero, Radiohead and more recently Jessie Ware, and “Hey, Love” has been considered one of the peaks of his work.

BIS => 2025 09 05
1LP - BGP
1968 => 2025

TRACKLIST
Side 1
1. O'BABY (I BELIEVE I'M LOSING YOU)
2. DROWN IN MY OWN TEARS
3. WHIP IT ON ME
4. WHAT MORE CAN I DO?
5. HEAVY SOUL
Side 2
1. YOU'VE BEEN A BAD GIRL
2. I'LL BE BACK
3. I CAN MAKE IT
4. THAT'S YOUR BAG

DESCRIPTION
As part of Ace 50 BGP has hooked up with our old friends at Concord Music to reissue one of the most important albums in our story. In 1987 as the dance jazz scene morphed into acid jazz Billy Hawks ‘Oh Baby (I Believe I’m Losing You)’ was filling the dance floors where either Gilles Peterson or Baz Fe Jazz were playing.
The Prestige Records album that featured the track ‘Heavy Soul!’ was impossible to find, and frustrated DJs were desperately trying to find a copy. BGP - the Ace label that the two DJs helmed - reissued the album and put the in-demand track onto a 12 inch single. With supply sufficient it became a club smash, crossing over to become a mod classic and one of the most important cuts from our scene.
In the ensuing years the tracks status has remained undimmed and the album has never turned up in significant numbers, and yet it has never been reissued since. With an attention to detail that has always been the Ace way, we have carefully mastered the record to be as close to the sound of the original Van Gelder mastering of 1967, and created and accurate representation of the album and label cover art.
Hawks never lived to be rediscovered, but through our musical detective work we tracked down his brother and found out as much of his story as possible, and also unearthed a couple of pictures. The Virginian born organist with the amazing voice was a fixture on the North Eastern lounge bar circuit, which was the entertainment backbone off Black American music at the time, and his full story is told on the illustrated inner sleeve that comes with this release.