Discipline

King Crimson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 22, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Discipline Us
• ASIN: B00064WSNW
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  DVD Audio  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (152 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,604 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Elephant Talk

2. Frame By Frame

3. Matte Kudesai

4. Indiscipline

5. Thela Hun Gingeet

6. Sheltering Sky

7. Discipline

8. Matte Kudesai (Alternateive Version)

Editorial Reviews

With this 1981 LP, King Crimson became one of the few bands to release a classic in three different decades. This was their highest-charting LP (#45) in 11 years, and that Fripp/Belew guitar interplay still dazzles; includes a bonus alternate version of Matte Kudesai !

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 95 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars '80s band creates their own masterwork. November 4, 2005

By Michael Stack VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

Several years after the band broke up, Robert Fripp resurrected King Crimson, but in a way no one would have expected. Returning was drummer Bill Bruford, and joining was bassist/stickist/backing vocalist Tony Levin and one of the few who could stand next to Robert Fripp holding his chosen instrument and not look inept, guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew. Originally a band called Discipline, Fripp realized this was King Crimson and renamed the band. Wrapped in a red sleeve with a Celtic knot on the cover, this album is in many ways as the cover implies-- intertwining and interlocking-- Fripp and Belew's guitars play complex lines that live with each other and don't stand without each other, supported by Levin's thunderous bass and melody vs. countermelody playing on the stick. Below all of this, Bruford is easily holding it all together. The album is one of the true greats of its era, and is certainly among the best Crimson has ever recorded.

From the opener, "Elephant Talk", you know you're in for something different-- Levin's melody/countermelody intro overlayed with two intertwined guitars, elephant squeals on guitar, a half-spoken vocal, and two bizarre guitar solos. Five minutes later, you're overwhelmed, what's amazing is that its got a groove, its a great rhythm, its just plain amazing.

The rest of the album pretty much follows suit in terms of being brilliant to the point of overwhelming while the environment and the mood changes-- interlocking guitars rule several of the songs (the breathtaking "Frame By Frame", with impassioned vocals and some of the fastest guitar licks you'll ever hear, the frantic "Thela Hun Ginjeet", and the title track-- an instrumental where you can really hear Fripp and Belew get into a groove). These are offset by a couple great ballads ("Matte Kudasai", with its beautiful slide guitar seagulls and an almost lazy feel to the vocal, "The Sheltering Sky", featuring a horn-toned Fripp guitar melody). In the middle of all of this is a piece that sounds like it would fit the last generation of Crimson better-- "Indiscipline". Building tension until the release-- an explosion of guitar pyrotechnics and a blazing solo that almost seems out of place here, but works.

Something of note-- this is NOT a progressive rock album (in terms of the genre)-- in fact, its got more in common with new wave acts like the Talking Heads and the Police than it does with Yes and early Genesis. One of the reasons why I love Crimson so much is unlike many of those other progressive rock bands, they didn't stand still, they grew and changed and became something else over time.

Bottom line though-- this is one of the greats, highly recommended.

62 of 68 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Musicianship So Good It'll Frighten You October 30, 2002

By Chris Matthews

Format:Audio CD

Back in my punk rock days we used to go around bashing all the prog rock dinosaur bands. It was 1980 and I was still into Bowie 'cause he was a freak, so I went out and bought the new 'Scary Monsters' record.

As I listened to that album, I immediately wanted to know who in the hell the WILD guitar playing was by. It obviously wasn't Mick Ronson. Earl Slick? No. Carlos Alomar? Nope. I turned the album over: Robert Fripp......huh? Never heard of him.
He must be new. The guy obviously had a LOT of musical training, but here he was doing these strange licks all over the record that managed to be beautiful & frightening at the same time...and MY GOD he was fast! The licks on Because You're Young outblazed the (then) new Eddie Van Halen & this guy WAS PICKING, not 'tapping'! I was astounded. I had to know where this superguitarist came from.

Fortunately, at the time I was also into the Talking Heads & Zappa, so I was following the career of another new avant-garde guitar player named Adrian Belew. In an interview he mentioned that he had joined the newly "reformed" King Crimson. I had heard of them, but wrote them off as old prog rock bastards like ELP & Yes with their 100 year long flights of boredom. However, Adrian mentioned that his fellow guitarist was Robert Fripp.

CooL! That was the dude I'd been looking for! This was going to be a hellacious band.

I had no idea at the time how right I was, and how utterly ignorant of the Crimson version of prog rock I had been.

Quick trip to the record store: Hey! New King Crimson album!
Called Discipline. Yep, Fripp & Belew are on here. I GOTTA have this album! Hmmm...bass player is Tony Levin. I've heard of him. Oh yeah, he's on that new guy's album I just bought...Peter Gabriel. And Bruford. Isn't he that drummer from that old fart band, Yes? Well I want something different,...

At home on the turntable the most frightenly good musicians I'd heard since Jimi Hendrix came storming out of the speakers Like a rolling thunderclap in a summer storm that had snuck up on me, I stood back awed by the intensity of what I was hearing.

Elephant Talk. I knew it was Adrian singing, but he sounded out of his mind: "Advice! Answers! ArTIC-yew-lut AhNOUNCE-ments!
...it's only talk!" God, this is wild. And there was that sinuous guitar fluttering in and out..I immediately knew it was Fripp.

Two more songs went by. Beautiful. "Matte Kudasai" & "Frame By Frame". They were haunting.

Then: "I DO remember one thing....it took hours & hours..." This next song was scary: "Indiscipline". Adrian sounded even more out of his head than before, like some mad genius trying to comprehend the frustrating act of intellect that had been forced on him. (Later found out it was based on a letter from his wife. How different than I imagined). And the entire time the band weaved in & out doing MONSTER riffing, sounding like they were going to explode, but still keeping it tightly together. And the drumming...I'd obviously been WRONG about Bruford. This guy was incredible!

And so my introduction to King Crimson went.

This album still has the same effect on me to this day. Whenever I'm playing in a band and some young punk kid starts talking about boring old dinosaur bands, I laugh & think of me. THEN I lay this album on them. It never fails that they come back obviously changed by what they've heard.

I still love old school punk. I still hate a lot of the pretentiousness of '70's bands....

.... But I FREAKIN' LOOOVVVE KING CRIMSON!

No wonder Tool had them as an opening act. Should've been the other way 'round.

Want your mind changed about prog?

Get Discipline.

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A New, Brilliant (And Controversial) Crimson April 1, 2006

By Alan Caylow

Format:Audio CD

After the release of 1974's "Red," King Crimson guitarist/leader Robert Fripp declared to the press, "King Crimson is over. Forever and ever." But seven years later, Fripp changed his mind and resurrected the band. Hooking up again with Crimson drummer Bill Bruford, and with new recruits Adrian Belew on guitar and vocals and bassist Tony Levin, King Crimson came roaring back to life with 1981's "Discipline." But this was certainly not the same Crimson of yor. You still had Fripp and Bruford from the classic Crimson line-up, but with the addition of Belew's soaring voice & frenetic guitar, Levin's ominous basslines, and a more streamlined approach to the music---including some more melodic elements than usual from Crimson---the band's sound was practically re-written from scratch with "Discipline." And some fans didn't like it, dismissing this version of King Crimson as "The Adrian Belew Band." But, for the more open-minded Crimheads, "Discipline" was exciting and fresh, a glorious new direction for this classic prog-rock band. And I agree. Even with more melodies, the band are still very much in a prog mode on this album. They didn't go pop. It's just *different* prog music than what they did before. From the great, interlocking grooves & sonics of "Elephant Talk," to the wistful beauty of "Matte Kudasai," to the frantic musical AND lyrical attack of "Thela Hun Ginjeet," to the hypnotic sounds of the instrumental "The Sheltering Sky," this album is simply amazing, the musical chemistry between Fripp, Bruford, Belew and Levin outstanding. With "Discipline," King Crimson opened the second chapter of their impressive musical career with a daring, challenging, powerful work. This is easily one of the band's very best albums.