''Standing on the Shoulders of Giants'' is the third full-length album by

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

-based

Latin rock Latin rock is a term to describe a subgenre blending traditional sounds and elements of Latin American and Hispanic Caribbean folk with rock music. However, it is widely used in the English-language media to refer any kind of rock music featurin ...

band

Tribe of Gypsies Tribe of Gypsies are a San Fernando Valley, California-based Latin rock group, best known for band leader/guitarist Roy Z who has produced, written for, and played with such well-known artists as Judas Priest, Rob Halford, Sepultura and Bruc ...

. It marks the

swan song The swan song ( grc, κύκνειον ᾆσμα; la, carmen cygni) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful so ...

for percussionist Mario Aguilar and bassist Eddie Casillas, who was replaced by Juan Perez (ex-Civil Defiance) for the final three songs the band recorded for the album. The title refers to a saying first attributed to

Bernard of Chartres Bernard of Chartres ( la, Bernardus Carnotensis; died after 1124) was a twelfth-century French Neo-Platonist philosopher, scholar, and administrator. Life The date and place of his birth are unknown. He was believed to have been the elder broth ...

. It was most famously used by the 17th-century scientist

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

and is also inscribed on the edge of the

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. The album was re-titled ''Tribe of Gypsies III'' for the European market and released by

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage ...

's Air Raid label. The album contains a cover of "Parisienne Walkways" (dedicated to Philomena Lynott in the liner notes), co-written by

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and

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...

for Moore's 1979 '' Back On The Streets'' album. The track also appears on ''The Spirit of the Black Rose - A Tribute to Philip Parris Lynott'', released by Swedish label Record Heaven in 2001. Another song, "Over All", written with

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's Rey Oropeza, is uncredited and plays at roughly the ten-minute mark of "Parisienne Walkways". "The Flower" was co-written by

Roy Z Roy Z (born February 1968) is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer, best known for his work with Bruce Dickinson (from Iron Maiden), Halford, and Judas Priest. He also is the founder of Tribe of Gypsies, a Latin-influenced har ...

and Bruce Dickinson of

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

. Sian Llewellyn of

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magazine called the album "a summer stunner".

Track listing

#The Flower #Rays Of The Sun #Admit It #It Don't Bother Me #Puro Party #What Cha Want #Angel #Up #Better Days #Dreams #Puro Party (Reprise) #Parisienne Walkways onus track#Over All ncredited bonus track

Notes

Musicians *Roy Z : guitar, vocals and percussion *Gregg Analla : vocals *David Ingraham : drums and percussion *Elvis Balladares : percussion *Juan Perez : bass Contributions *Mario Aguilar : additional percussion *Eddie Casillas : bass on "Better Days", "Puro Party", "What Cha Want", "Up" and "Parisienne Walkways" *Juan Perez : bass on "Rays Of The Sun", "Admit It" and "It Don't Bother Me" *Roy Z : bass on "The Flower", "Angel" and "Dreams" Production credits
All tracks produced, mixed and engineered by Roy Z and Joe Floyd
except tracks 2, 3 and 4, produced by Richard Polodor, mixed by Richard Polodor and Bill Cooper, and engineered by Bill Cooper
Recorded at Silver Cloud (Burbank, California) American (Woodland Hills, California) and Rumba House (Sylmar, California)

References

Sources

TribeOfGypsies.com discography
{{Authority control 2000 albums Tribe of Gypsies albums Victor Entertainment albums