''The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp'' is a 1968 album from the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

group

Giles, Giles and Fripp Giles, Giles and Fripp were an English rock group, formed in Bournemouth, Dorset in August 1967. It featured brothers Michael Giles on drums and vocals and Peter Giles on bass guitar and vocals, and Robert Fripp on guitar. The band's music sho ...

. The music shows a varied mix of pop,

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and classical influences. The songs on each LP side are connected with comedic

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

pieces, "The Saga of Rodney Toady" and "Just George", which tell stories. The album had little recognition on first release, but has gained more attention through multiple reissues. According to Robert Fripp the album sold only 500 copies. This information came from his royalty statement, but it seems unlikely that this was the total number sold on initial release. Most copies are stereo, but a rare mono LP was also released in the UK. The original United States and Canadian editions had a different cover from that of the UK version. There are at least 4 CD editions: the first was in Japan with no bonus tracks, followed by US and UK releases with bonus tracks compiled from singles and previously unreleased recordings. A later Japanese re-issue in a paper sleeve contained the bonus tracks as well as a bonus paper sleeve reproduction of the US cover. The most recent CD released, by Eclectic Discs, also contains the bonus tracks. Also during 1968 the group recorded a series of demos at home, which would be released as ''The Brondesbury Tapes'' in 2001. Following this album Peter Giles was replaced on bass by

Greg Lake Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). Born and b ...

. Soon after that the band changed their repertoire and renamed themselves

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

Track listing

Personnel

Giles, Giles & Fripp

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

– guitars, mellotron,

* Peter Giles – bass, lead and backing vocals *

Michael Giles Michael Rex Giles (born 1 March 1942) is an English drummer, percussionist, and vocalist, best known as one of the co-founders of King Crimson in 1969. Prior to the formation of King Crimson, he was part of the eccentric pop trio Giles, Giles a ...

– drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals, spoken word

Additional personnel

* Ted Barker, Cliff Hardy –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

Raymond Cohen Raymond HyamHis middle name has alternately been given as 'Hyam' (''Telegraph'' obituary) or 'Hyman' (''Independent'' obituary). Cohen (27 July 1919 – London, 28 January 2011) was an English classical violinist. Biography Early life and ed ...

, Gerry Fields, Kelly Isaccs, Boris Pecker, William Reid, G. Salisbury – violin * John Coulling, Rebecca Patten –

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

* Alan Ford, Charles Tunnell –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

Ivor Raymonde Ivor Raymonde (born Ivor Pomerance; 22 October 1926 – 4 June 1990) was a British musician, songwriter, arranger and actor, best known for his distinctive rock-orchestral arrangements for Dusty Springfield and others in the 1960s. Life and care ...

– string arrangements * "

The Breakaways The Breakaways were an English female vocal trio, formed in 1962. Britain's premier session vocalists throughout the 1960s, The Breakaways also recorded a handful of little-known girl group singles. Career The original members were Vicki Has ...

" – backing vocals * Mike Hill,

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

– keyboards

Production

* Produced by

Wayne Bickerton Wayne Bickerton (born Arthur Ronald Bickerton; 11 July 1941 – 29 November 2015) was a British record producer, songwriter and music business executive. He became well known, with Tony Waddington, as writer and producer of a series of UK chart ...

* Engineers: Terry Johnson, Bill Price, Martin Smith * Re-mastering: Anthony Hawkins

References

External links

Elephant Talk Wiki entry

Ground and Sky review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp, The Giles, Giles and Fripp albums 1968 albums Robert Fripp albums Michael Giles albums Deram Records albums