Description

 Track listing
The Saga of Rodney Toady:

  1. Northmeadow (Peter Giles) - 2:29

   2. Newly-weds (Peter Giles) - 2:07

   3. One in a Million (Michael Giles)- 2:25

   4. Call Tomorrow (Peter Giles) - 2:31

   5. Digging My Lawn (Peter Giles) - 1:50

   6. Little Children (Robert Fripp) - 2:48

   7. The Crukster (Michael Giles) - 1:35

   8. Thursday Morning (Michael Giles) - 2:50
Just George:
   9. How Do They Know
(Michael Giles) - 2:14

   10. Elephant Song (Michael Giles) - 3:15

   11. The Sun is Shining (Michael Giles) -
3:06

   12. Suite No. 1 (Robert Fripp) - 5:33

   13. Erudite Eyes (Robert Fripp) - 5:05
Bonus Tracks:

   

   14. She is Loaded

   15. Thursday Morning [Stereo Single
Version]

   16. Under the Sky

   17. One in a Million [Mono Single Version]

   18. Newly-weds [Single Version]

   19. Thursday Morning [Mono Single Version]


Giles, Giles and Fripp were a quirky English late
sixties band featuring brothers Michael Giles on
drums and vocals, Peter Giles on bass guitar and
vocals, and rounded out by Robert Fripp on
guitar.
The group formed in their native
Bournemouth, Dorset area in 1967 when the Giles
brothers sought a singing keyboard player through
a newspaper advertisement. Fripp, a non-singing
guitarist responded but was hired anyway. Between
late 1967 and late 1968 the group lived in
Brondesbury Road, London. Throughout their time at
the house they made many demo recordings. The
early home demos soon led to a record contract
with UK Decca's newly formed Deram Records
division.
In April 1968 the group recorded an
album The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and
Fripp and two singles, all of which sold poorly.
In autumn 1968 the group added Ian McDonald on
saxophone, flute and clarinet, and former Fairport
Convention vocalist Judy Dyble. Ian McDonald's
clarinet overdubs were added to the single version
of Thursday Morning. Deram then rejected their
next studio sessions including "She Is
Loaded" and "Under the Sky". These
later recordings now appear as bonus tracks on the
CD reissue of the album. Judy Dyble did not
feature in any of the Deram recordings.
The
group continued to record at home; Dyble was only
with the group for a short time but did perform
with the group on a few songs including "Make
It Today" and demo versions of "Under The
Sky" and "I Talk to the Wind". One of
the melodies from "Passages of Time" was
later re-used for "Peace - An End" on the
second King Crimson album, In the Wake of
Poseidon. A collection of the home recordings were
eventually released in 2002 as The Brondesbury
Tapes. The demo recordings were made on a
professional 2 track Revox recorder which was
specially modified to allow for multiple overdubs.
Though the finished recordings are mono many have
excellent sound quality and are close to studio
sound for the period.
In late 1968 Peter
Giles left the group. Michael Giles, Robert Fripp
and Ian McDonald went on to form the first line-up
of King Crimson, rounded out by bassist/vocalist
Greg Lake and lyricist Peter Sinfield. Peter Giles
would go on to appear on the second Crimson album
In the Wake of Poseidon in 1970, and more recently
joined with 21st Century Schizoid Band. Judy Dyble
would go on to join the duo Trader Horne. In 1971,
Michael Giles and Ian McDonald released an album
together as McDonald and Giles.


The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp
was the first of only two albums from the
1960's psychedelic rock group Giles, Giles and
Fripp.
The album is divided into two parts,
"The Saga of Rodney Toady" and "Just
George". The names of the parts came from the
titles of spoken word pieces recited by members of
the band and spread out, so that they link the
musical works on the A and B sides. Though
two-thirds of the band would later form King
Crimson, the album, arguably, does not represent
the traditional progressive rock style. Rather, it
is a mix of various styles (folk, classical, pop,
psychedelic rock and sacred music).
The
original ultra-rare U.S. LP version released in
1968 has a completely different cover than the
U.K. version. The album has been released on CD at
least 4 times. First in Japan with no bonus
tracks, then on Deram in the U.S. and U.K. with
bonus tracks compiled from singles and previously
unreleased recordings. A later Japanese re-issue
in a paper sleeve contained the bonus tracks and
also a bonus paper sleeve reproduction of the rare
U.S. alternate cover. The most recent CD version
released by Eclectic Discs has the same bonus
tracks as the Deram CD.
According to Robert
Fripp the album sold only 500 copies. This
information came from his royalty statement, but
it is very unlikely that this was the total number
of original copies sold. Also during 1968 the
group recorded what would become The Brondesbury
Tapes at their home demo studio, which would not
be released until 2001. Peter Giles was replaced
on bass by Greg Lake soon after and the band
renamed themselves King Crimson, making The
Cheerful Insanity... the only album released by
the band during its existence.