DISCIPLINE

Discipline ? 1981 (3.8/5) 12 ? Best Song: ??? Lots to choose from After spending half a decade in studio silence, King Crimson decided to hop into the world and add New Wave influences into the mix, thus making for one?fluid experience. Gosh, this is some really out-there material. You'd never expect it form the group, but isn't that exactly the point that Fripp and company had been driving home since their early inception? Yeah, that's it. Adrian Belew comes in and makes things even more interesting. For those of you who scoff at New Wave as some pitiful fad to be swept away by your ever-living progressive rock, why not take a step back and look at things, buddy. Where did Yes go? They wen't soft radio rock, pal. Where did Rush go? That's right Rush were always shitty. Jethro Tull were taking electronica into consideration, and ELP were all but dead by 1981. Pink Floyd was just about to bite the big bazooka a year or so later. Where is your precious progressive rock, now? Well, disregarding the silly re-animation of things with Marillion in Neo-prog, it was in terrible shape. Fripp must have smelled which way the wind was blowing and to preemptively save the soul of his group without repeating himself, he set aside a few years to study the landscape, thus Discipline was born. The guitars slap and sting, especially in te hard-run of 'Frame by Frame'. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the monumental, but concise opening jam of 'Elephant Talk' which must rank as one of the group's best. In all, Discipline is a warm, organic listen, where Red was sharp and abrasive (for the benefit of the album, you see). And while an album like Discipline doesn't hold a candle to Either Court or Red, it has just enough verve and vigor to come on top as one of my favorites. The singing is vitriolic and imaginative, and it's a real adventure into a futuristic landscape of flicking and hippity whicking. If any complaint might be levied against Discipline, it is that the album contains little to none of your so fabled 'epochal' factor. It just doesn't SEEM as important as it used to, and maybe it isn't.