Customer Reviews

Progress

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The imprint Michael Giles has left on music is vastly underrated. From the earliest work under the guise of Giles, Giles and Fripp (both "Cheerful Insanity of" and "The Brondesbury Tapes" are essential to any collection) to the original King Crimson and on to the also underrated McDonald and Giles self-titled album, Michael Giles was and is one of the most unique and distinct writers and drummers in rock.

"Progress" is finally available to us, thanks to the people of Voiceprint. It exhibits none of the dark calamity of the first 2 King Crimson albums. Instead, the music is much closer to the bright, crisp and airy textures of the McDonald and Giles album that precedes it. Listening to the well-defined punch of the bass and drums, the slightly distant vocals and rounded horns the listener can only conclude that Mr. Giles is one of those musicians with truly golden ears. In fact, if you have had the chance to hear "The Brondesbury Tapes" you cannot help but be amazed by the engineering the Giles brothers deliver by bouncing tracks on a 2 channel Revox.

So, aside from hearing some wonderfully written and performed music (think of "I Talk to the Wind", "Suite in C" and even "Tomorrow's People" as markers) you also experience what can only be described as an amazing job of recording and mixing. At moments it can make you sad that it was Fripp who wrested control of Crimson. We might have all been spared some unforgivably pretentious episodes (amid some admittedly brilliant work, too) had the original vision of King Crimson remained in the hands of Giles and McDonald. Who knows? What matters is that we can finally hear this music. "Progress" is a completely engaging and rewarding record.

2009 Update: No, you can't have my copy for $150.00 and more importantly, why is this "unavailable"?

As Hendrix was to Guitarists, Michael Giles filled the same role for many classical rock drummers, including Neil Pert. Michael's legendary drum designs as heard on "21'st Century Schizoid" man and his powerful vocals on I Talk To The Wind" are just a few examples of this man's dynamic range.

Fripp was right on, when he once said in an interview "In all my years of playing with Michael, I NEVER heard him make a mistake". So true with PROGRESS,it's pure GILES for the GILES PURIST.

Mike Giles was one of a trio of great drummers (including Bill Bruford and Ian Wallace) who were at one time or another involved with the progressive rock band King Crimson.

Giles is the most "European" of the three in his drumming sensibilities, and the most poorly represented on cds. In the liner notes to "Progress", Giles says that he made this album with his children in mind while he lived in a cottage in rural England. The album could be described as "program music", depicting the stages of a train journey from inner England to a resort town on the coast. The segment which gives the album its title is rambunctious music depicting the initial stage of the journey. Later, the music becomes calm, pastoral, and rather moving.

This album compares favorably with the 1971 Giles collaboration with Ian McDonald, simply titled "McDonald and Giles". On "Progress", as on that earlier album, Giles is joined by his brother Peter, who plays bass guitar. Most of the other musicians are veterans of the "Canterbury School" of progressive rock.

"Progress" highlights Michael Giles as a drummer, percussionist, composer and arranger. The pastel tones and simplicity of the album's theme should appeal to both children and adults. Pity that Michael's cv isn't chock full of more cds like this one. Pick it up if you get the chance.

It's hard to believe that such a superb album sat in a vault for nearly 25 years before finally seeing the light of day. Here is everything that was wonderful about progressive rock, without any of the bombast or empty pretension that saddled the worst examples of the genre. Built around the concept of a daylong train journey, the music is subtle & complex, melodic & jazzy, always transporting (pun intended). And the album concept itself can easily be read as allegorical, for the journey of life, or the journey towards enlightenment; yet this level of meaning is always understated, never heavy-handed. Michael, please give us more music like this! Highly recommended!

To my mind, Michael Giles is one of the best rock drummers too few people know about.

It did not have to be that way. Back in 1969, Giles was in King Crimson and played on their first, In the Court of the Crimson King. For a few months, it looked as though the band was truly going to take over the world. You saw this album, with a cover that still scares, in mainstream record shops. In the window. In The Court got rave reviews, became a huge FM radio standby and campus album, and had distribution by Atlantic, a heavy hitter in 1969. The album was on inner sleeves, which did not happen to cult bands in those days.

All this never bore the expected fruit. Giles, with sax player Ian McDonald, left in 1969, sighting the music has too heavy--(frankly, my guess was working with Robert Fripp was too heavy.) The two turncoats put out one album, McDonald & Giles, a fantastic album--light to Crimson dark-- that went absolutely no place in 1970, and is now known among samplers and music heads. Crimson stayed a cult band--albeit a massive fish in the cult pond--which may have been good because they did far more daring work than mainstream prog acts.'

But one of the things music people remember about In The Court Of The Crimson King was Giles drumming. He had this totally fresh and unique style of working concise phrases without really maintaining a steady pattern. When he did set one, is was extremely attuned to the music with no fat whatsoever. This never really caught on in rock because Crimson Mach I never became the commercial monster expected: besides, Giles' esoteric creativity would have never worked in 1970s stadium rock: But trust me, you have to hear Giles' work to really hear all the great rock skin men.

So hear this: Progress is 100% Giles: happy, jazzy music with his amazing style in full force. This work is melodic and song oriented: a far cry from the dark caverns of In The Court that he sited as a reason for leaving the Crimson King so early.

But his amazing style is in full tact: listen to is cymbal work here, his amazing discipline on the drums themselves, the way he always works towards melody. Giles was one of the few `1970s progressive drummers never to give way to heavy flash and up and down flashing strobe stage devices, and this is to his credit, and in full evidence on Progress. His work is so lean, so tasteful, so uncompromisingly good, you need this for the drumming alone.;


And Giles winds up doing 4/4 straight with Leo Sayer to pay the bills. What a scummy, unjust world