Review Summary: An insane album of the end of the 60’s. A remarkable historical document of that era.
“The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles & Fripp” is the first and only studio album of Giles, Giles & Fripp and was released in 1968. The line up on the album is Robert Fripp, Peter Giles and Michael Giles. The album has also the participation of Nicky Hopkins, Mike Hill, R. Cohen, W. Reid, K. Isaacs, G. Salisbury, B. Pecker, G. Fields, John Coulling, Rebecca Patten, Charles Tunnell, Alan Ford, Cliff Hardie, Ted Barker, The Breakaways and Mor Raymonde.
Giles Giles and Fripp was an English rock group, formed in Bournemouth, Dorset, England, in 1967. It featured brothers Michael Giles and Peter Giles and Robert Fripp. The band’s music showed an eclectic mix of pop, psychedelic rock, folk, jazz, and classical influences. The group eventually evolved into the pioneering and famous prog rock band King Crimson. They released in 1969 what is known as the first prog rock album ever, “In The Court Of The Crimson King”.
But, Giles Giles & Fripp only existed for a little more than fifteen months. They never got to play a single live performance under their own name, never charted a single anywhere, and they were so obscure in their own time and country that the only album they recorded, “The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles & Fripp”, sold fewer than 1000 copies. “The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles and Fripp” was reissued and received more attention than it ever did in 1968.
Brothers Giles were veterans in Bournemouth, having played in several bands in the beginning of their careers. By with lots of gigs, the two brothers decided to form their own band. In that year, they hooked up with Robert Fripp, who was then playing guitar in a hotel orchestra. The trio began rehearsing in earnest and the result was “The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles & Fripp”, recorded in 1968. The album reflected the times and the members’ respective tastes, a strange mixture of light jazz, psychedelia, droll humor, Goon Show and Monty Python style comedy, and a very offbeat balladry.
The style of “The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles & Fripp” is all over the place. There’s plenty of late 60’s psychedelic pop. There are a few serious moments, and there are whacky Monty Python-esque vocal interludes that speak to the album’s title. There are hints of Syd Barrett, there are moments that recall The Beach Boys, and there are dozens of The Beatles references. Giles Giles and Fripp were trying to be funny. They were trying to be pop. They were trying to be experimental. But, in fact, it seems that they were trying to find themselves. That musical identity would finally settle on them two years later when they grew up into King Crimson, and they launched “In The Court Of The Crimson King”.
“The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles & Fripp” can be divided into two parts. The songs on the first part are tied together thematically by a narrative called “The Saga Of Rodney Toady”, a series of between-song vignettes about a fat kid with no friends and dim prospects for a future love life. Trust me. “North Meadow”, is one of the strongest tracks on the album and features some nifty fretwork from Fripp, restrained but tasty drumming and some beautiful vocal harmonies. “Call Tomorrow”, which is rather light airy, and yes cheerful. The rest of the songs on the first part of the album are pleasant, but not necessarily remarkable. Still, there’s an undeniable charm to them and they managed to grow on me. A foreshadowing of King Crimson can be heard on “The Crukster”, a brief but dark interlude. Side two is held together by the narrative concept “Just George”, which is basically a gag where one sentence is repeated in between songs, with the words rearranged each time. The cheeky nature of the album gives way for the final two songs, “Suite No. 1” and “Erudite Eyes”. The former of the two is an instrumental piece with some superb guitar work of Fripp.
Unless you actually get a vinyl copy of the album, you’ll also find six more new bonus tracks. Four of them are simply stereo or mono single versions of previous album tracks, with two originals. The first of these two, “She Is Loaded”, is easily the better. It probably most closely resembles Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd with even more odd lyrics. The opening vocal harmony is pretty stunning to boot. But, this six bonus tracks don’t add anything remarkable to the album, really.
Conclusion: Just one year before the prog rock titans King Crimson released their first album, two thirds of that band released their first and only studio album as the erstwhile trio of Giles Giles & Fripp. Released during the height of the psychedelic era, “The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles & Fripp” promptly sank into oblivion. But, believe me. It’s worth revisiting it. If I had to surmise a reason why this album tanked, I’d say its oddly eclectic songs are a contributing factor. The album has a generous dose of cheeky Pythonesque humor, but most of the acts at the time were practicing a much darker and substantive form of psychedelic. It’s not progressive enough to be prog rock, and a bit too jokey for its own good. If this doesn’t sounds like a glowing recommendation, it’s interesting and insane enough to be checked. It perhaps won’t make any Desert Island Disc list, but it’s unique and a must have for any Fripp or King Crimson’s fan.
