Reissues: The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles & Fripp (1968)

I've always had great love for this 1968 psychedelic pop gem, essentially the first King Crimson record. Young guitarist Robert Fripp joined up with brothers Peter & Michael Giles for this one-off, and while it bears little similarity to the stunning prog beast that would emerge barely a year later on In The Court Of The Crimson King, it's still worth checking out. Most falls into the sort of whimsical British pop-psych championed by acts like Chad & Jeremy or Nirvana (the UK one, not the Cobain one), genteel and quaint and quirky, with some offbeat jazz touches that sometimes veer into early Frank Zappa territory.

Maybe not top tier psychedelia, but there are some stand-out tracks nonetheless. "One In A Million" is sweet and fun, the one that most reminds me of Chad & Jeremy; "Newly Weds" is catchy and offbeat with some fun guitar effects; "Thursday Morning" is quite pretty, maybe the closest to capturing that side of Crimson; and "She Is Loaded" is probably the most colorful and fully-realized, strange and surreal with some cool horn section embellishments.

Already a little lost in time, the original Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles & Fripp was further dated by the addition of spoken-word interludes, fun the first time but an annoyance after that. I've made my own music-only versions of other 60s albums where the narration got in the way of the music (i.e. Harry Nilsson's The Point; the Small Faces' Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake); but Fripp has now done us the same service, reissuing the Cheerful Insanity record with the narrations removed.

[BTW, Giles, Giles & Fripp went on to record some further demos, subsequently released as The Brondesbury Tapes. They were joined on some of the tracks by Ian McDonald, including an early version of "I Talk To The Wind" (which would be reworked for Crimson King) and "Drop In" (which would become of part of the early Crimson's live set). Fripp, McDonald, and Michael Giles would then pick up vocalist Greg Lake and form the original King Crimson; and after a single record from that iteration of the band, McDonald and Giles departed and released a lone album, 1971's fine McDonald and Giles (aided by brother Peter).]

"She Is Loaded":

"One In A Million":

Not on the record, but here's Giles, Giles & Fripp's original version of Crimson's "I Talk To The Wind" (with Fairport Convention vocalist Judy Dyble):