Standing on the Shoulders of Giants is the third full-length album by San Fernando Valley, California-based Latin rock band Tribe of Gypsies. It marks the swan song for percussionist Mario Aguilar and bassist Eddie Casillas, who was replaced by Juan Perez (ex-Civil Defiance) for the final three songs the band recorded for the album.
The title refers to a saying first attributed to Bernard of Chartres. It was most famously used by the 17th-century scientist Isaac Newton and is also inscribed on the edge of the British ã2 coin. The album was re-titled Tribe of Gypsies III for the European market and released by Bruce Dickinson's Air Raid label.
The album contains a cover of "Parisienne Walkways" (dedicated to Philomena Lynott in the liner notes), co-written by Phil Lynott and Gary Moore for Moore's 1979 Back On The Streets album. The track also appears on The Spirit of the Black Rose - A Tribute to Philip Parris Lynott, released by Swedish label Record Heaven in 2001. Another song, "Over All", written with Downset's Rey Oropeza, is uncredited and plays at roughly the ten-minute mark of "Parisienne Walkways".
"The Flower" was co-written by Roy Z and Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden.
Sian Llewellyn of Classic Rock magazine called the album "a summer stunner".
Musicians
Contributions
Production credits<br> All tracks produced, mixed and engineered by Roy Z and Joe Floyd<br> except tracks 2, 3 and 4, produced by Richard Polodor, mixed by Richard Polodor and Bill Cooper, and engineered by Bill Cooper<br> Recorded at Silver Cloud (Burbank, California) American (Woodland Hills, California) and Rumba House (Sylmar, California)