I’m grateful to nogoodboyo for sending me this five star review of the recently reissued GG&F album in the latest edition of Record Collector magazine.
*****
If you buy two albums this month, this is the other one…
You’d probably have to line Robert Fripp up for a job interbiew to get him to discuss anything from the past on his stellar musical CV. 1968’s The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles & Fripp was the first long-player to lay the foundation stone of his reputation. Although the sleeve depicts Fripp and the Giles brothers looking like Monty Python competitors rather than musicians, this album is superb. Some tracks bear a startling parallel – whimsically and in sheer invention – to what Syd’s Pink Floyd were exploring. She Is Loaded is just as good and melodically catchy as See Emily Play; with organ and piano, Call Tomorrow is a gem. Both remain so fresh and contemporary that if you told someone it was late Beta Band they’d believe you. With massed horns and an almost reggae lilt Elephant Song is amazing and One In A Million even has faint Small Faces echoes. With spoken word sections, mouth-watering arrangements (the stellar Newly-Weds received repeat plays upon review) and bonus tracks aplenty this is an essential reissue. Special mention to Mark Powell’s excellent sleevenotes which reveal that the album sold 600 copies upon release…
Ian Shirley
