Discipline by King Crimson: reinventing progressive rock music; a smart blend of cerebral art rock and post-punk, yet catchy and with almost pop sensibilities

With Understanding Comes Appreciation

Unless you were a youngster in 1981, you have zero idea what it was like to buy this vinyl and be utterly gobsmacked by its unalloyed genius. Although it'd be far too easy, and not at all representative, I could easily sum up this album with just one sentence: "bass wizard Tony Levin on stick (a strange bass-like instrument)."

That alone should have you sold already, never mind the rest... and who are they? founder prog-legend Robert Fripp on guitar? Zappa’s prominent alumni, ex-Talking Heads Adrian Belew on guitar/vocals? ex-Yes, ex-Genesis Bill Bruford on drums? That's quite a line up (one of the best talented quartets assembled in music history? Yes, you are allowed to go that far), definitely one for the musicians out there, and believe me, these guys certainly do NOT mess around. Both new American guys alone (Belew and Levin) bring in a vast arsenal of instruments and sonic innovation that the band never had before. And nowhere will you find a keyboard instrument, not even the hallowed mellotron.

Discipline is the first album of a radically re-invented King Crimson for the 1980s, shedding their 70s Prog trappings for a more concise, yet no less technically stunning approach. Indeed, this is one of the few 80s Prog albums that doesn't succumb to the hit and miss "Prog Lite" style that bands like Genesis and Yes began purveying around the same time to mixed, sometimes thoroughly depressing results. There is a strong influence from the likes of Peter Gabriel and most notably, Talking Heads (singer Adrian Belew sounds comparable to David Byrne). A smart blend of Postpunk and Art Rock, cerebral yet catchy and with almost pop sensibilities? Sign me up.

Each of the seven tracks on Discipline is a winner. The instantly likable album opener "Elephant Talk," with its three-part percussive stick and guitar riffs, clever, alliterative lyrics, and Belew generated "elephant" wailings and shrieks, takes the band to weird and wondrous new territory, and serves to loudly proclaim "the old King (Crimson) is dead —long live the King!" Next up, "Frame by Frame" keeps the newly upbeat mood and frantic pace going —this one is a terrific song! Please, play it "loud and proud!" The sensitively-sung "Matte Kudasai" is simply lovely, and here Fripp serves up some of his tastiest licks since Crimson's vaunted early days. His sustained, looping "Frippertronic" effects, as developed and demonstrated on his ambient collaborations with Brian Eno, had now come into their own, and finally found their proper setting. Beautiful! Track four, "Indiscipline," is a dangerous, menacing masterpiece. Levin's floor-shaking stick, Belew's paranoia-drenched vocals and lyrics, and accomplished use of feedback, coupled with Bruford's frantic, insistent drumming, and Fripp's screaming lead, come together in a song fully as good as any the band have ever released. To quote the lyric, "I LIKE IT!" Don't touch that dial (or volume knob!), because the best is yet to come: "Thela Hun Ginjeet" is perhaps my favorite of a first-rate set. The band is AMAZING here, and Belew's "true-life" narrative of his scary encounter with members of a street gang, all set to a driving "jungle" beat, is absorbing every time. Number six, the evocative instrumental "The Sheltering Sky," enters subtly jazz territory not dissimilar to "Larks Tongues in Aspic" but reveals another new facet of Crimson. This is one to listen to in the dark —great stuff! Finally, the appropriately —named title track is a masterful (6/4-time) exercise in four-part syncopation, as the drums, stick, and two guitars integrate perfectly in a seamless, infectious whole, and bring this excellent album to a lamentably early close; would that there were seven more tracks! (Oh well, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair were soon to follow...)

These days I listen to the 2016 Expanded Edition on Apple Music, a lossless 24 bit remaster done by Robert Fripp which sounds great, clear and not overly loud or compressed in the slightest. There are also bonus tracks —an alternate version of "Matte Kudasai,” “The Terrifying Tale of Thela Hun Ginjeet“ and “Studio Sessions.” The original record already had killer production, so you can't go far wrong whichever one you pick of the several versions out there.

Really, if this isn't one of THE ultimate albums of the early 1980s then I don't know what is. Remember, it is Prog so it is very technical and there is a lot going on, so "attentive listening" might be required to catch all the details and make sense of it all (it may also just need to grow on you over time). Otherwise it might come across as "too weird," but what are you doing listening to KC, or music at all, if that's your attitude? Lol! Just Kidding!

Discipline is an absolute masterpiece of 80s progressive rock and my fav album (very hard take here) of the inventory of King Crimson —man it is not an easy take when you have all their flawless masterpieces from the 60’s and 70’s which set the bar and standards of the music style, and gave the band its reputation in the first place, yet, yes, Discipline is that good my Sharks. It resoundingly demonstrated that the old bands could not only survive in the prevailing musical climate, but flourish, and take the genre to new and wonderful places, and this record is the bullet-proof of that. Definitely essential!

Give it a try, and enjoy it while rereading this. Maybe the experience and appreciation will be different this time, even for those familiar with the record.