DISCIPLINE

When Robert Fripp decided to build a new band, he wanted his band to be called "Discipline", and not the original name, "King Crimson", because he taught it would be too controversial. After a while, in 1981, he & his band decided the name "King Crimson" is more honorable, but they named to the album "Discipline" to not give up on the name.

The four did their rehearsals and recorded the material in a month, gone to a tour in Europe, then came back to record it in two weeks. After finishing, they toured again in the USA & Japan. The music that came out from the new line-up of "King Crimson" was overwhelming, polyrythmic, rationalist & complicated. They took an inspiration from old african cultures, when there's no really a word for "musician" out there, because EVERYONE is in the music business... They are not busy being stars or professionals, they are collaborating to do music, and music only.

The dialogue between two guitars - the one held by Fripp vs the one held by Belew, added a new dimension to the music. The couple used different forms of beat & playing, small spaces between each other, From planned to freestyle, between lagato & stackato. The musicians haven't told a dramatic story - with beginning, middle & an end, but mainly used the time meaning to create an accumulating effect of colours & layers. The symphonic orchestra & the european legacy are not a part in this story - Fripp tried to taste from other cultures.

One example for improvisating is "Thela Hun Gingeet", a really innovative track - which his name is a mix of letters from the song, which called "Heat In The Jungle". Belew decided, after the known murder of John Lennon, that he wanted to give a musical statement about the growing violence in the streets. The music, however, is far more complicated, The composing created a stress between the 4/4 tempo, and 7/8. The results are two diagonal lines who meet each other in some points, and then disappear. "Discipline" is performed, in a 17/4 beat, when fast 1/16 chords are played - simultaneously - and blurring the non-symmetrical.

In the end, it's a clever, revolutionary & sharp album. In fact, he had invented the "Crimson" sound for the next three decades. It's a more of a "Hi-Tech" Rock, also with pop ingridents, and less naive that rock that been done in the 70's. The album kept the musical consistency & the open mind also. Too bad that the next Crimson albums, that gone out in the 1980's - "Beat" & "Three Of A Perfect Pair") were just a shallow copy of the fresh "Discipline", But i will deal with that later... The album simply deserves it - 4 stars.