The Greatest Show on Earth (Band)
The Greatest Show on Earth was a short-lived British pop / progressive rock band from the early 1970s .
Line up
The group was founded in 1968 by the brothers Garth (voc, g) and Norman Watt-Roy (b); Mick Deacon (keyb), Ron Prudence (dr) and the three wind players Dick Hanson (tr), Tex Phillpotts and Ian Aitchison (sax) also played in their initial formation . The lead singer was initially the African American Ozzie Lane , who returned to his hometown New Orleans in 1969 and was replaced by Colin Horton-Jennings (voc, fl, g).
Recordings and achievements
The band played mostly their own tracks, most of which were written by Horton-Jennings and Norman Watt-Roy. Their music was a mixture of rhythm and blues , soul , jazz and rock and was called progressive rock by the band. Around the turn of the year 1969/70, The Greatest Show On Earth got a recording contract with EMI's Harvest label and released their first single Real Cool World in February 1970 , which, although not very well received in Great Britain, was mainly on the European continent in the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany, where their concerts were well attended. At the same time, her debut LP Horizons came out, which attracted attention not only for musical reasons, but also because of the album cover designed artistically by Hipgnosis . They were then invited to perform live for the first time on Mike Harding's Radio One show .
After their second LP The Going's Easy , released in November 1970, was not a great commercial success despite recognition from music critics, the band members parted ways again in mid-1971. Horton-Jennings then sang with groups like Chaser and Taggett, Hanson worked as a session musician (including for the Blues Band , Dave Edmunds and Graham Parker ) and Deacon later played with Vinegar Joe , the Suzi Quatro Band and darts . Norman Watt-Roy was a co-founder of Glencoe and then a member of Ian Dury's backing band The Blockheads.
Discography
LPs
- 1970 Horizons (Harvest), re-released on CD in 1994 on Repertoire Records
- 1970 The Going's Easy (Harvest)
- 1975 Greatest Show on Earth (Harvest, compilation from the first two albums)
Singles
- 1970 Real Cool World / Again and Again
- 1970 Tell the Story / The Mountain Song