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.