After seven years away from the public King Crimson returned in 1981 with a brand-new incarnation. Joining Robert Fripp and Bill Bruford are ex-Zappa/Bowie guitarist, Adrian Belew and ace session and Peter Gabriel bassist, Tony Levin. Incorporating sounds reminiscent of the resonant chimes of ancient gamelan music and the sleek, clear lines of modern minimalism,this Anglo-American combination forged a startlingly different musical vocabulary. Frame By Frame, Thela Hun Ginjeet and the album’s title track in particular, showcase Belew and Fripp’s dovetailing guitar parts and Levin and Bruford’s cyclical grooves, forming a mesmeric sound unlike anything heard before on any previous King Crimson albums. The shimmering, hypnotic textures of The Sheltering Sky and savagely raucous Indiscipline provide aleatoric counterweights to the album’s tightly-controlled complexity.
After seven years away from the public King Crimson returned in 1981 with a brand-new incarnation. Joining Robert Fripp and Bill Bruford are ex-Zappa/Bowie guitarist, Adrian Belew and ace session and Peter Gabriel bassist, Tony Levin. Incorporating sounds reminiscent of the resonant chimes of ancient gamelan music and the sleek, clear lines of mode...
Whan can be said about this album? That it's ahead of it's time? That is seamlessly combines the talents of Belew, Fripp, Levin and Bruford? That it can be considered a genre of it's own (much like every Crimson album)? That it perfectly mixes the ethereal with the contemporary earthly rock melodies? What about all of these? Discipline is my favourite King Crimson album, next to Starless and Bible Black. I've listened to this more times than I can count, especially The Sheltering Sky, which, to ...
Whan can be said about this album? That it's ahead of it's time? That is seamlessly combines the talents of Belew, Fripp, Levin and Bruford? That it can be considered a genre of it's own (much like every Crimson album)? That it perfectly mixes the ethereal with the contemporary earthly rock melodies? What about all of these? Discipline is my favourite King Crimson album, next to Starless and Bible Black. I've listened to this more times than I can count, especially The Sheltering Sky, which, to this day, remains the greatest musical piece I have ever heard. I may have listened to The Sheltering Sky close to 500 times, maybe more, I don't know, I lost count a long time ago. From the crazy rock melodies of Elephant Talk and Frame By Frame, to the minimalism of Sky and the precision and fulfillment of Discipline, this is truly an mind-blower from the mighty Fripp, whose previous Crimson album was the immortal Red. I am a die-hard Crimso, I own more Crimso CDs than I can count, but Discipline is, in my opinion, one of their crowning achievements. If I have to introduce Crimson to a friend, I don't start with ITCOTCK, I start with Discipline. It's one of those Crimson albums that's immediately accesible, yet incredibly subtle and progressive. Truly, a masterpiece.
Band diaries / Press reviews
10.38 The familiar meeping of tape test tones is meeping away: "Three Of A Perfect Pair" is being lined up for action. Now, the title track is werning.
Recording the TOAPP album was even more of an ordeal than recording "Beat", acknowledging that my view of this period is subjective. In a nutshell, the price for making "Discipline" was to make the next two albums, this the inevitable outcome of taking an idea into a world governed by the music industry. In that world of 1981, the contractual minimum was three albums.
"Discipline" had to be made, was waiting to made: there was a necessity about it. "Discipline" generated a new vocabulary for Crimson; forced the players to abandon clichés & adopt different ways of thinking; used new technology & instruments; and balanced front line & rhyth...
