The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
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ROYAL SCOTS DRAGOON GUARDS
AMAZING GRACE
(John Newton)
RCA Victor 12304
No. 11 July 1, 1972
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After 300 years of togetherness, the Royal Scots Greys Band dissolved in July, 1971. Shortly after,
though, members of the Greys joined the Prince of Wales Dragoon Guards, the 3rd Carabineers.
Together, this new formation became the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, a bagpipes-and-drums
military band. Within months of this new alliance, they made a series of recordings; Rev. John
Newton’s 1779 classic, “Amazing Grace,’ was one of more than 30 tunes that were taped. When the
album, Farewell to the Greys, received some BBC late night airplay and a positive response, RCA
issued the timeless tune as a single.
Record sales were truly phenomenal-at its peak, the Royal Scots record was selling 70,000 copies a
day. Pipe Major Tony Crease and company became the first group to ever sell a million copies of a
record with the bagpipe as the predominant instrument. More accurately, 20 pipes were piping,
and 10 drums were drumming; eventually, more than 7 million copies were spinning. With that
kind of success, “The Day Is Done”–the Guards’ follow-up 45–couldn’t help but be a royal
disappointment.