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As King Crimson splintered in 1970, Ian McDonald who
wrote most of the first King Crimson album in collaboration
with lyricist Peter Sinfield and drummer Michael Giles flew
off in their own direction as a duo producing this album.
After the band split McDonald and Robert Fripp divided up
the music they had written and been performing with Crimson
on tour (or had been working on either together or individually)
and each made their own albums. Fripp’s “In the Wake of Poseidon”
is the mirror image of “McDonald & Giles”. Listening to the
two albums b ack to back one could imagine a great second
album from King Crimson if McDonald and Giles had stayed with
the band. As it stands we have two really good albums that
don’t quite live up to the potential of the band’s debut.
McDonald and Giles handle most of the instruments themselves
(with the bulk being played by McDonald). Giles distinctive
drumming is a definite highlight of this album. He would also
play drums as a session player on the second Crimson album
(and interestingly his brother Peter would play bass basically
returning the band back to its original incarnation of Giles,
Giles & Fripp some of the bonus tracks of which were composed
by newcomer Ian McDonald).
*** First a warning about “McDonald & Giles” and changes
to the album. Neither Ian McDonald nor Michael Giles were
involved in earlier CD releases of this album and they took
the opportunity here to not only remaster it but to tweak
the music. McDonald has always expressed regret on not having
the time to go back and tweak the edits, clean up some of
the sonic mistakes. He and Giles have done so here. While
this doesn’t effect the overall quality of the album in an
adverse way it does mean this is a slightly different album
than the vinyl and previous CD releases. The album runs slightly
shorter as a result and while many of the changes won’t be
noticeable to fans of the album there will be those hardcore
fans who will want th e original unaltered album. While the
sound here is terrific (it is HDCD encoded which means the
sound is even better than previous editions) it is a slightly
DIFFERENT album than the original release. Some fans will
says its been improved (that would be me) while others may
feel it has been diminished. ***
Kicking off with “Suite in C including Turnham Green”
this rambling prog rock track would have fit well on “Wake”.
The song offers McDonald to stretch out on acoustic guitar,
flute and keyboards while the Giles brothers provide a solid
backbeat for the 11 minute epic. While McDonald’s vocals are
good the song would have been better served with a stronger
vocalist such as Greg Lake. I personally feel that this would
have been a more interesting track than “In the Wake of Poseidon”
on Crimson’s album of the same name. ***
The second track “Flight of the Ibis” began life as “Cadence
and Cascade”. When the band split Fripp composed a new song
to Peter Sinfield’s existing words which is why the two songs
bear some melodic resemblance to each other. Both are strong
songs and McDonald’s vocals actually work quite well here
as they aren’t overwhelmed by the music. Again, a stronger
vocalist would have been desirable but McDonald does more
than a serviceable job. *** “Is She Waiting?” was written
during Crimson’s tour of the U.S. and there’s a melancholy
to the mournful melody but as the song expands to include
both acoustic guitar and piano the shift from a minor to a
major key gives it a hopeful, fulfilled quality only hinted
at in the beginning of the song. There’s lovely piano playing
on the track by McDonald. ***
“Tomorrow’s People” is a hippy anthem that still has
resonance. Written by Michael Giles and performed by Crimson
during their early days the show has an unusual melody complimented
by some syncopated drumming by Giles and horns played by McDonald.
It’s highlight by a melodic flute solo by McDonald. ***
“Birdman” is a suite that McDonald has composed for Crimson’s
second album. He brought the 6 part piece with him when he
left the band. While the song is still very good it seems
unfocused and unfinished. Possibly with input from Lake and
Fripp the material might have matched its potential. The subject
of the song (with lyrics by Sinfield) is inspired by the myth
of Icarus. The song meanders quite a bit and could have used
Fripp’s biting guitar (although honestly bassist Peter Giles
expert playing throughout couldn’t have been matched by Lake).
It’s highlighted by an extended flute solo by McDonald during
the third part of the piece “Birdman Flies!”. I could easily
see this track with a bit of editing, some of Fripp’s marvelous
guitar playing and better lyrics as replacing the meandering
indulgent “The Devil’s Triangle” possibly the worst early
Crimson track (which quotes from Holst’s “Mars-Bringer of
War” (the material was still protected by copyright at the
time and Fripp was denied permission to perform “Mars” on
the album if memory serves which was a concert favorite performed
by Crimson in their earliest incarnation). It’s a fitting
and tuneful close to the album with a mesmerizing coda in
the form of the beautiful “The Reflection” closing out the
album. By the way unlike previous editions of this album on
CD “Birdman” is banded so that each part can be played separately.
***
Everything that McDonald and Giles recorded of consequence
was included on the original album so there aren’t any bonus
tracks. There are, however, extensive notes from McDonald
with input from Giles about the creation of the album. Both
share their memories of a difficult time just after the split
of Crimson and their subsequent decision not to tour and regroup
to record a follow up album. This is a lost chapter in the
Crimson saga and definitely worth checking out by long time
fans of the band. Combining these the best tracks from this
album on my iPod with the best tracks on “In the Wake of Poseidon”
hints at the terrific follow up album to Crimson’s debut if
the band had stayed intact. For those that are interested
here’s how I programmed the two CDs on my iPod:
“Peace-A Beginning”
“Pictures of a City”
“Suite in C”
“Flight of the Ibis”
“Cat Food”
“Is She Waiting?”
“Tomorrow’s People” (edited to 3 minutes)
“Groon”
“Cadence and Cascade”
“Peace-A Theme”
“Birdman”
“Peace-An End”
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