MCDONALD & GILES

With the major composer/multi instrumentalist and drummer from King Crimson's debut, the sole McDonald and Giles effort that appeared so soon after "In the Court.." might be expected to bear some resemblance to it. And even a few nods to that classic disk would have been welcome, but this one is so different in all the wrong ways, unless you have a penchant for lite jazz or whimsical Canterbury. McDonald had expressed the opinion to the effect that the Crimson sound was inherently evil or at least encumbered with a whole lot of negative energy, so McDonald and Giles was to be the antidote. The highlights here are "Tomorrow's People", which has some similarities to KC's "Cat Food" featured on In the Wake of Poseidon, and parts of the "Birdman" Suite where McDonald cooks on sax or mingles with the Giles' while playing flute. The vocals don't match Greg Lake let alone Gordon Haskell. The album is not bad but is really more of a curiosity than anything, a missing link to nowhere if you will, even if one could argue that segments of the later Crimson album "Islands" might have tipped the hat in this direction. For completists.