Giles Brothers - The Giles Brothers 1962 > 1967

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 7 / 1 / 2010

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Review

Peter and Michael Giles are surely the most underrated siblings in music. By the time they contributed to the early King Crimson (Michael founded the group with Robert Fripp) they had been in various bands for the previous seven years at least. In 1968 the brothers joined with Fripp and cut the marvellous ‘The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles and Fripp’ album for the Deram label. As happened a lot way back then I felt I was the only person who bought the album. The cover didn’t help with the three musicians smiling insanely; they might have felt it was an appropriate cover shot but it put many of my friends off from even giving the album a listen. But it was their loss as over the thirteen songs, which although were very much of their time actually stand up well today. Thanks to an excellent reissue on Eclectic Discs in 2005 the album found new fans that latched onto the talents of the trio they first discovered in King Crimson. In 1970 after the Giles brothers were well-known for their work with King Crimson Michael Giles released, along with Ian McDonald, the well-received ‘McDonald and Giles’ album which again has been thoughtfully and respectfully released on CD. So with their ongoing work which has been varied yet widely available and their back-catalogue for once re-issued with care it would seem that fans of the Giles Brothers were well catered for. The good folks at Voiceprint Records have done more than most to keep interest in the brother’s earlier work. The Giles, Giles and Fripp album ‘The Brondesbury Road Tapes’ is a fascinating collection of previously unreleased material which remained for some thirty-odd years in a private collection before Voiceprint issued the album. Now Voiceprint have released the work that the Giles Brothers recorded between 1962 and 1967 and it’s going to be something of an eye-opener even for those who have always expected the unexpected from this most extraordinary drummer and bassist. Of course in some ways coming from that period it’s obvious what we should expect but these twenty four songs are so far away musically from anything we have heard from the talented brothers that it’s a bit of a shock to begin with. The songs are thankfully placed chronologically which not only shows the progression of the Giles Brothers' musical career but also the progression of music in general during those five years when things were changing almost on a daily basis. Having said that, and it seems mean to nit-pick a collection of songs that has been lovingly complied and packaged and which even features notes by Michael Giles and a superb discography, but if your copy is like mine (and it could well have been corrected by now) then you will have to actually program the songs so they are in the order they appear in the notes and the running order on the cover. But at least with the information supplied we know which order the songs on the miss-pressed discs should be in. It’s only a couple of songs that don’t match the CD to the running order on the sleeve but as most people will be reading the information on the tracks and bands as they play the CD, initially anyway, it does throw you a little to begin with and it throws out the rest of the information. The first two bands that the brothers were involved in, Johnny King and the Raiders and Dave Anthony and the Rebels never made any recordings so the first sounds on this CD come from The Dowland Brothers and were recorded in 1962 and 1963. It’s something of a shock to hear the Giles Brothers being part of a band who sound not unlike the Everly Brothers but as I said earlier what can we really expect from recordings made in the early sixties. From there on we hear R ‘n’ B, pop, a lot of the early sixties beat sound and even an early version of ‘One In A Million’ which was later a highlight of the ‘The Cheerful Insanity Of…’ album. This is a fascinating collection of songs that even if they weren’t connected by The Giles Brothers would put to shame many of those sixties compilations of rare recordings that appear frequently. All these recordings have come from the personal archives of Peter and Michael Giles and apart from the odd pop and crackle are presented in fantastic sound for their age and origin. Although this release will obviously appeal to followers of The Giles Brothers there is so much here that anyone who has even the slightest interest in British pop music before and just after those four guys from Liverpool changed the face of music forever will simply love.

Track Listing:-

1 The Dowland Brothers & The Soundtracks- Little Sue
2 The Dowland Brothers & The Soundtracks- Julie
3 The Dowland Brothers & The Soundtracks- Big Big Fella
4 The Dowland Brothers & The Soundtracks- Don't Ever Change
5 The Dowland Brothers & The Soundtracks- Breakups
6 The Dowland Brothers & The Soundtracks- A Love Like Ours
7 Trendsetters Ltd.- In A Big Way
8 Trendsetters Ltd.- Lucky Date
9 Trendsetters Ltd.- Go Away
10 Trendsetters Ltd.- Lollipops & Roses
11 Trendsetters- You've Sure Got A Funny Way...
12 Trendsetters- I'm Coming Home
13 The Trend - Boyfriends & Girlfriends
14 The Trend- Shot On Sight
15 The Brain- Nightmare In Red
16 The Brain- Nobody Knows The Game
17 The Brain- One In A Million
18 The Brain- Most Likely You Go Your Way...
19 The Brain-Murder
20 The Brain- Kick The Donkey
21 Trendsetters Ltd.- Hello Josephine
22 Trendsetters Ltd.- Move On Over
23 Trendsetters Ltd.- Sarah Darling
24 Trendsetters Ltd.- It's Not As Easy