The band was formed in Budapest on April 6, 1971. The founders were already well-known musicians – Gábor Presser (songwriter, keyboardist, singer) had been member of the famous band Omega, just like the drummer József Laux. Károly Frenreisz bass guitarist was formerly a member of the band Metro, while the solo guitarist Tamás Bartha came from the band Hungária. Laux’s wife, lyrics writer Anna Adamis was the “unofficial fifth member” of the band, often collaborating with Presser when writing the songs. Their first concert was held on the Park Stage in Buda in July. It was followed by the first single, with the songs Boldog vagyok (“I’m Happy”) and Ha volna szíved (“If You Had A Heart”) in August. In October they opened a club together with the Tolcsvay Trió. In November they were invited to the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo because of their success with Ezüst nyár (also recorded in English with the title “Silver Summer”). At the festival they performed an English version of their song Érints meg (“Touch Me”) under the title “Touch Me, Love Me, Rock Me”. A new single was released with the two English language songs. In December 1971 they released their self-titled debut, but in the Hungarian music scene its style still counted as experimental, and they didn’t have as much success as they did abroad. In Western countries they were more popular, especially after an article that mentioned them in New Musical Express (“The new rock sensation could come from the East!”). In May 1972 they were invited to the Great Western Express Festival in Lincoln, England, where they performed alongside bands and artists like Genesis, The Beach Boys, Joe Cocker and the Faces. In Autumn 1972 they released their second album, Ringasd el magad (“Rock Yourself”), which was recorded in London. They also released a single Szeress nagyon (“Love Me Much”) (with the B-side Csak egy szóra – “Just For A Word”). They also produced an album (titled Álmodj velem – “Dream with Me”) and three singles for singer Zalatnay Sarolta. The group was asked to write a musical based on Tibor Déry’s An Imaginary Report on an American Pop Festival. Frenreisz, who didn’t want to work on the musical, left the group and founded his own band, the Skorpió. He was replaced in LGT by Tamás Somló, formerly a member of Omega. The musical was a great success, it was performed in five countries. |
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