DISCIPLINE

On Discipline King Crimson proved to be one of the few bands that could keep up with the changed musical climate. Again they single-handedly (re-)defined progressive rock as an adventurous genre that proved to be able to create new music as we had never heard it before.

That is a bit exaggerated of course. Many bands were experimenting and creating a new musical aesthetic in those years. But few did that inside the prog rock area. On the contrary, the progressive music of those years was firmly rooted in the punk movement, the mortal enemy of prog! It's exactly those new wave, pop and industrial influences that Belew and Fripp brought into the Crimson sound. The result is something entirely unique that has little to do with anything they or anybody else had done before.

The classic track here is Elephant Talk of course, the new anthem for the reborn King Crimson. Just as 21st Cent Schizoid Man, it's a neurotic affair that you're either bound to hate for its nerviness or adore for its raw hysterical power. Whichever side you take, there's no denying that this is one of the last essential prog albums of the old 70's generation.