Cleveland Rocks (Never Reissued)

CIRCUS - CIRCUS (1973)

 

Circus was a Cleveland area band (Cyrus Erie, Raspberries, Blue Ash, Left End, Infidels....) whose members were Mick Sabol, Phil Alexander, Craig Balzer, Tom Dobeck, Bruce Balzer, Frank Salle). In 1972, an ordinary bar band called Circus put out a rather un-ordinary pure pop single called "Stop Wait and Listen" wrtitten by the group's guitarist, Dan Hrdlicka. The band was only a stock bar band, spruced up and packaged to sell in the bars. But The single attracted collectors' attention. When the collectors actually took a look at the band, they found Hrdlicka replaced by a pair of adorable brother guitar players named Craig and Bruce Balzer. The band was even more slickly packaged and hyping itself 'til it frothed at the mouth. Perhaps the Balzers were over-reacting; they had just climbed out the jam-band stage when they left their previous band Ambleside, which specialized in Allman Brothers tunes. But their two singles and this one locally-released album still rates as excellent powerpop. Dan Hrdlicka left Circus to join Magic. Later Magic members (so Dan Hrdlicka) would become the backing band of Eric Carmen after Carmen left the Raspberries. The Balzer brothers later formed American Noise with Tommy Rich releasing one LP in 1980.

 

WU (199 mb)