East of Eden were a British progressive rock band, who had a Top 10 hit in the UK with the single "Jig-a-Jig" in 1970.
[2] Their professional career began back in 1967 when they were formed in Bristol as Pictures of Dorian Gray, by Dave Arbus (b. David Arbus, 8 October 1941, Leicester – violin, flute, saxophone, trumpet), Ron Caines (b. Ronald Arthur Caines, 13 December 1939, Bristol – alto saxophone), Geoff Nicholson (b. Geoffrey Nicholson, 27 June 1948, near Bristol – guitar, vocals), Mike Price (bass), and Stuart Rossiter (drums).
[3] Brace and Read left in September 1968; the band carried on with Nicholson as their main vocalist, with Ron Caines occasionally contributing.
In 1969, they released the Mercator Projected album, featuring the line-up of Dave Arbus, Ron Caines, Geoff Nicholson, Steve York and Dave Dufort (Dufort's surname was misspelled "Dufont" on the cover of the original LP release, and also on the CD re-release in 2008, which featured as part of its artwork a photo of the back cover of the original LP, complete with the misspelling).
This album was followed by Snafu (1970) featuring Nicholson, Britton, Arbus, Caines and Sneddon; and later by Jig-a-Jig, a European-only compilation, released in 1971.
The three core members (Arbus, Caines and Nicholson) reunited in 1996, and their album Kalipse was released the following year.