McDonald and Giles
Tomorrow’s People – The Children of Today
McDonald And Giles – McDonald And Giles
Label: Island Records – ILPS 9126, Island Records – ILPS-9126
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, Gatefold
Country: UK
Released: 1970
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Prog Rock
This piece was written by 12 Original Players and originally featured in Issue 3 of DIG – copies of DIG Mag can be purchased here.
I had been a fan of King Crimson ever since I scored a copy of their LP, Lizard for £1. Joining the dots through reading the liner notes and credits of LPs has always been my preferred source of knowledge for digging, especially in the pre-Discogs era. Around this time, the group cropped up in the sample credits for the Brotherhood’s Elementalz album and I was sent down a prog rock worm hole for a couple of years as a result.
I found the McDonald and Giles LP twelve years later, on my 30th birthday, having buried my father two days prior and I was on a digging mission in his honour. He was the catalyst for my vinyl obsession, as he used to take me along on his record buying sessions from a young age.
One of his regular haunts was Reddington Records in Birmingham. On the day in question, they’d started their closing down, half price sale. Within 2hrs, I had amassed a 3ft high stack of vinyl with the McDonald and Giles album sitting proudly on top. I didn’t dig with a portable at this point, so I was unaware of the horn-led grooves and the sweet drum break that the LP housed!
Whilst trying to whittle this down to a manageable pile, one of the staff recognised me and asked where my Dad was. I explained the circumstances, and as a mark of respect they threw in the McDonald and Giles LP in for free.
So, as well as being a great album, this LP is a signpost to memories of record shopping with my Dad in many shops and market stalls that have also passed into history.