KING CRIMSON — Discipline (review)

KING CRIMSON — Discipline album cover Album · 1981 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Sean Trane
In the early 80's Fripp started a new band and had planned for naming it Discipline , but at the last minute decided to rename it King Crimson. I personally wished he had not for, of all KC eras, this one is the one I like least, but this is only a personal view. With ex-KC member Bruford and ex-Gabriel sideman Tony Levin and Talking Heads-collab Adrian Belew, Fripp set out to make complex music and decided that the music would be more contemporary while retaining some of the typical Crimson characteristics. However, I find that this very line-up is possibly the most dated and has not aged that well: Everything of those three records spells early 80's. From the David Byrne-like antics of Adrian Belew to the electronics percussions of Bruford to the rather peculiar (for the times) Chapman Stick of Levin, this album is full of experiments (which make this album progressive per-se) but those very experimental features have now become the biggest problem (IMHO) to enjoying this album. Elephant Talk (with the strange Elephant guitar wails), Frame By Frame and Thela Jun Ginjeet are the backbone of this album displaying some excellent technical musicianship in shorter and poppier tracks than ever before, but there are also some real yawners (Matte Kusadai) and some very irritating tracks (the title track and its anti-title track). As for the most adventurous track Sheltering Sky, it does not approach anywhere close to the superb preceeding album tracks. I remember seeing some live footage of them playing in front of a red curtain and the musicianship was really impressive, but man was that virtuosity ever cold. A bit like the feeling I get whenever I get to hear this album.

This version of Crimson is definitely too poppy for me and even sounds new wavish to these ears!! I truly believe that a real classic or a masterpiece prog album should have a timeless sound quality and sadly for Crimson , this is not the case with this album and the next two
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

My Ship Hard Bop
WILLIE JONES III
Buy this album from MMA partners
Ice Breaking Post-Fusion Contemporary
DAG ARNESEN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lee Ritenour & Dave Grusin : Brasil Latin Jazz
LEE RITENOUR
Buy this album from MMA partners
From The North - Gogo Penguin Live In Manchester Nu Jazz
GOGO PENGUIN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Anthony Braxton Saxophone Quartet : Sax QT (Lorraine) 2022 Avant-Garde Jazz
ANTHONY BRAXTON
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

03 Willie Jones III My Ship #NightIsAlive
WILLIE JONES III
snobb· 4 hours ago
Fall
SUNNY KIM
js· 19 hours ago
Twilight
RANDY SCOTT
js· 1 day ago
Trifecta - Beck and Call - official video (taken from The New Normal)
TRIFECTA
js· 2 days ago
Phoenix
GRÉGORY PRIVAT
js· 2 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed