Apollo 100

Apollo 100 Master Pieces
Studio album by Apollo 100 featuring Tom Parker. Painting: "The Man in a Golden Helmet" attributed to a student of Rembrandt (altered for album cover).
Released	March 1972
Genre	Instrumental
Label	Young Blood, RCA
Producer	Miki Dallon

Apollo 100 was a short-lived British instrumental studio-based group that had a top 10 hit with the Johann Sebastian Bach-inspired single "Joy" in 1972.

The recording of "Joy" as performed by Apollo 100 is a nearly note-for-note remake of the arrangement of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (but with modern pop music flourishes like percussion, electric guitar and bass) recorded by the British band Jigsaw on their 1970 debut album Letherslade Farm.

Tom Parker was an accomplished arranger responsible for most of the successful arrangements from the Young Blood catalogue, such as the Top 20 American hit "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" and a number of Don Fardon's recordings. Parker is a multi-instrumentalist, having played keyboards, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and a number of other instruments from an early age. His first performances were in and around Newcastle upon Tyne, where he performed in a number of jazz clubs. Following this he was associated with a number of groups, including The Mark Leeman 5, Jimmy James and the Vagabonds, and Eric Burdon with the New Animals. He put together the band in 1972, with drummer Clem Cattini, guitarist Vic Flick, guitarist Zed Jenkins, percussionist Jim Lawless, and bassist Brian Odgers. Their first single, "Joy", based on Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", rose to number 6 on the pop singles chart in the US. None of their subsequent efforts were as successful, and they broke up in 1973.

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