McDonald and Giles "McDonald and Giles" 1971****

This is a curiously underrated album, seeing as it is a sort of sequel to one of Rock's great masterpieces, In The Court Of The Crimson King. While early King Crimson had no single leader, Ian McDonald probably had the most significant input in their debut, having written the eponymous song and "I Talk To The Wind", co-written the other 3 tracks together with the other band members, and played wind instruments, mellotron and other keyboards. But after a lengthy US tour, he and drummer Micheal Giles quit the band to start something different. Reasons cited at various times include the pressure of touring, artistic differences with guitarist Robert Fripp, and dissatisfaction with the dark ("evil" was one of the words used) tone of the ...Court album, especially its lyrical content. So after the tour, McDonald started working on the finalization of half-written tracks that he initially intended to contribute to King Crimson, while the Giles brothers (Michael and bassist Peter) recorded In The Wake Of Poseidon together with the rest of K.C. If ...Poseidon ended up sounding like ...Court's poor cousin (still quite rich compared to other albums of the era, of course), then McDonald and Giles is its younger sister: lighter, prettier, with less gravitas, yet still sharing some of its DNA. Just compare the two covers: the loving couples and pinkish colors of this one to the toothy scream of ...Court. Which doesn't mean this is easy listening or pop in any way. It's still a proggish album with many-layered compositions and complex playing. 11-minute opener "Suite In C" is a patchwork of mini-songs: a 3-minute Syd Barrett-like ballad part is followed by another featuring flute solos, complex improvisations by the rhythm section and jazzy piano and organ courtesy of Mr. Steve Winwood. ("Turnham Green"). Then there's a part with dreamy vocals ("Here I am") followed by a sax solo, emotive strings, and a bluesy ending. Follower "Flight of the Ibis" is based on McDonald's original melody that evolved into KC's "Cadence And Cascade". This version has other, more romantic, lyrics, Beatlesque harmonies and airy zither playing. Different from the KC version but equally gorgeous. "Is She Waiting?" is another beautiful folky ballad, and the good vibes continue with "Tomorrow's People-The Children of Today", written by drummer Michael Giles and dedicated to his children. The drums throughout the album are fantastic, complex and melodic rather than just rhythmic or hard-hitting, but here they are especially dominant. The song has often been raided for drum samples, most notably by The Beastie Boys on "Body Movin'". All of this comprised Side 1 of the vinyl album with a long song-suite called "Birdman" taking up all of Side 2. On CD this is broken down in 6 parts. It's the only song where they used KC lyricist Peter Sinfield, and the text here is a cut above their usual, rather naive, style. Part I "The Inventor's Dream" is introduced with some multi-tracked harmonies and continues with washes of zither and whimsical singing. This part sounds already a bit outdated for 1971, which isn't too strange seeing as work on this song started in 1968 - basically all the tracks were written 1967-1970, and the recorded May-July 1970. Part II "The Workshop" features jazzy sax and funky drumming, with Giles also using different household objects for percussion to give a literal meaning to the "workshop" of the title. "Wishbone Ascension" and "Birdman Flies!" are a couple of rather melodic song snippets, and "Wings in the Sunset" a short choral piece seguing into the transcendental instrumental "Birdman-The Reflection". Starting with a bit of piano, the song keeps building up with the addition of more choral vocals, then strings, woodwind, drums and horns, finishing with a soaring crescendo. There is definitely something Floydian about it, though a better comparison would be with a much more recent work, Spiritualized's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space LP. While not quite on the same level with the majestic In The Court Of The Crimson King, I'd wholeheartedly recommended this album to anyone who enjoyed that album, or melodic jazzy prog like that of the Canterbury scene.

***** for Flight of the Ibis

**** for Suite In C including Turnham Green Here I am And Others, Is She Waiting?, Tomorrow's People-The Children of Today, Birdman Flies!, Birdman-The Reflection

*** for Birdman/The Inventor's Dream (O.U.A.T.), The Workshop, Wishbone Ascension, Wings in the Sunset