DISCIPLINE

I never heard this album at the time it was released. In fact, it took me almost 30 years to actually get the CD. It may sound strange for such a fan of King Crimson like me. But the fact that Robert Fripp wanted to call the band Discipline had its reasons. Besides the inclusion of american guitarrist Adrian Belew in the line up didn´t appeal to me. Everybody knows they called themselves King Crimson after some pressure from the recording company. For their sound here is everything but KC.

Not really bad, I should say. But totally different. Even for a band that dabbled with such distincitve styles of music through their brief career in the late 60´s and early 70´s (classical, jazz, avant guard, eletronic, etc) this album doesn´t bring any of their trademarks in mind when I hear it. In fact, it sounds too much like something Adrian Belew did, solo or with Talking Heads. Of course Fripp´s great minimalistic guitar lines are stil present, and so are Bill Bruford´s terrific drumming. But in small doses. Too restrained. Most of the time you hear Belew´s pyrothechnics and David Byrne-like Vocals (from TH) plus Levin´s stick. Great musicians, no doubt, but still not really what KC was all about. Fripp and Bruford seems to be more guests than real band members in my opinion.

So in the end I can´t say I appreciated this CD much. The lack of memorable tunes is something I really miss from Discipline. King Crimson always flirted with the avant guard, but they never forgot how to blend it with some fine, simple melodies. That´s what made them stand out, and be such a great band. This is truly different album. And a different band. If it is good or bad it depends on your taste for music. Too much early 80´s new wave experimental stuff for me. And such bad lyrics. Discipline kind of dated somehow, while their 70´s output dind´t. They shouldn´t have used the name.

For collectors/hardcore fans only. (By the way, I like Talking Heads!)

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