The Rotary Connection Burns The Midnight Lamp For You
The Rotary Connection were a psychedelic-soul outfit headed up by Marshall Chess, the son of Chess Records scion Leonard Chess. They recruited Riperton right from their own offices. She was the receptionist. Lucky find! I got this collection a while back, and I love it, though I understand why the band never made it big. There are tons of covers on here; they had a particularly odd obsession with Cream, covering multiple versions of their songs. It’s easy to see why they were thought of as a cover band, even though their originals are pretty fantastic. You might recognize the sitar lick at the beginning of “Memory Band”:
Beyond that, a lot of the Rotary Connection stuff leans heavily on the “Psych” in Psychedelic Soul. Check out this minor-keyed version of “Respect” (no R-E-S-P-E-C-T here):
“I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun” is another fave:
Riperton went on to bigger things before succumbing to cancer in 1979 at the age of 31.