The band, the road crew and their families all lived together in a Norfolk (UK) commune, and undertook numerous benefit concerts and free festivals, playing extended free-form jams, making them a well known UK live act. The band shunned record companies, but played on the Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall benefit album at Dingwalls in 1973, and in November 1974 they recorded an eponymous album at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth, Wales.

In 1973 the BBC made a documentary about Global Village Trucking Company, their communal living and their aim to make it without a record company. The BBC updated the documentary for the What Happened Next series, shown in May 2008, which included their first gig in 30 years. This re-union led to other Global Village gigs at Glastonbury 2008 and other festivals.