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

. The music shows a varied mix of

psychedelic pop Psychedelic pop (or acid pop) is a genre of pop music that contains musical characteristics associated with psychedelic music. Developing in the mid-to-late 1960s, elements included " trippy" features such as fuzz guitars, tape manipulation, ...

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

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

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

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

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 four 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. Subsequent editions on Esoteric (UK) and Deram (Japan) followed this format. In 2025, Fripp reissued the album on LP and CD on Discipline Global Mobile, remastered by David Singleton, with the "somewhat dated" spoken word sections removed (but still containing the bonus tracks) as ''The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp (The Songs)''. Also during 1968 the group recorded a series of demos at home, which would be released as ''The Brondesbury Tapes'' in 2001. Discipline would also reissue this in 2025 as a 21 song CD, and a 13-song LP entitled ''A Selection from The Brondesbury Tapes''. 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 were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

Track listing

Personnel

Giles, Giles & Fripp

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is an English musician, composer, 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 mu ...

– guitars, mellotron,

(''The Saga of Rodney Toady'') * Peter Giles – bass, lead (2, 4, 5, 12, 14) and backing vocals * Michael Giles – drums, percussion, lead (1-3, 6-14) and backing vocals, spoken word (''Just George'') * Ian McDonald – guitar, sax, piano, lead vocals (14) guitar, lead vocals (15)

Additional personnel

* Ted Barker, Cliff Hardy –

trombone The trombone (, 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 lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

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

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

* Alan Ford, Charles Tunnell –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

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 ca ...

– 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 H ...

– backing vocals * Mike Hill,

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

– 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

Notes

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