The Greatest Show On Earth – Horizons(1970)

Biography
The Greatest Show on Earth were originally formed in 1968 by guitarist Garth Watt-Roy and his bass-playing brother Norman with organist Mick Deacon, drummer Ron Prudence and three horn players, Dick Hanson, Tex Phillpotts and Ian Aitcheson. The band’s first vocalist was black American Ozzie Lane but he returned to his native New Orleans a year later and was replaced by Colin Horton-Jennings, not only a strong gravel-voiced singer but also quite adept on the guitar, bongos and flute. The group’s mixture of R&B soul, jazz and prog-rock brought them to the attention of EMI’s progressive label Harvest Records, who signed the band. This London-based octet – Ozzie Lane (vocals), Garth Watt-Roy (guitar/vocals), Mick Deacon (keyboards), Ian Aitcheson (saxophone), Tex Philpotts (saxophone), Dick Hanson (trumpet), Norman Watt-Roy (bass) and Ron Prudence(drums) – was formed in 1968 as a soul band. New Orleans-born Lane later returned to America leaving his erstwhile colleagues to forge a more progressive direction with new singer Colin Horton-Jennings. The group completed two albums which displayed a strong compositional skill as well as an imaginative use of brass. They enjoyed a brief popularity in Europe following the success of the single, ‘Real Cool World’, but the Greatest Show On Earth found little favour at home and broke up in 1971. Norman Watt-Roy then formed Glencoe, and later became a member of Ian Dury’s Blockheads.  http://rockasteria.blogspot.ie/2011/01/greatest-show-on-earth-horizons-1970-uk.html

Album & Cover
In February 1970, the single, “Real Cool World”/”Again And Again” (HAR 5012) which, though not a hit in the UK, gave the band a medium-sized hit across Europe where they were also an in-demand live attraction. Both tracks featured on their March 1970 debut LP, “Horizons”, and coincided with a Radio One session for Mike Harding on which they played three new songs: “Border Line”, “Mountain Song” and “Time”. A second session for Harding, in November 1970, featured “The Leader” and “Check Me Into Your Life”, the latter of which has never officially been released. http://rockasteria.blogspot.ie/2011/01/greatest-show-on-earth-horizons-1970-uk.html

Hipgnosis were experimenting with fish eye lens and infra red film at this time. They thought it would be interesting if they photographed the band in the eyeball and as Po Powell says it is not very attractive in retrospect.

Cover Location:
Who Did What: Photography – A. Powell/ S. Thorgerson.
Label: Harvest SHVL 769(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell

Tracklist

Credits
Arranged By – The Greatest Show On Earth
Bass – Norman Watt-Roy
Drums – Ron Prudence
Engineer – Jeff Jarrett
Organ, Harpsichord – Mick Deacon
Producer – Jonathan Peel
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Percussion – Tex Phillpotts
Tenor Saxophone, Percussion – Ian Aitchison
Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Percussion – Dick Hanson
Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Garth Watt-Roy
Vocals, Flute, Acoustic Guitar – Colin Horton-Jennings