MCDONALD & GILES

I originally had this album back in the day, but somehow it was misappropriated. I recalled enjoying it immensely, so I was pretty excited when I found it on import CD a few years ago and willingly paid a premium for it. After all, these guys had been a major component of the original King Crimson sound.

I brought the CD home, unwrapped it, popped it into the CD player, and hit Play.

It was great to hear the album again; it was also a disappointment. This just isn't as good as I recalled it. I can't fault the playing at all: McDonald and the Giles brothers all are highly competent musicians. However the songs tend to be far more pop-oriented than anything you'll find on the early-era KC albums, and some tend to fizzle out about half-way through. There's just not a lot of fire in any of the tracks. I realize the comparison to KC is unfair, but it's also one of the reasons anyone would pick this up. So be forewarned: you're not getting some "great lost" KC album, you're getting an early-70's prog effort from McD & Giles that is a pleasant enough, but it has a lot more in common with a typical Traffic album -- Steve Winwood appears on one cut -- than anything by early KC.