I don't have an issue with Discipline (and Beat and TOAPP) coming out under the King Crimson name.  The music is highly progressive and innovative and sits perfectly under the KC banner.

 

Plus I think there are commercial considerations here (something which we proggers sometimes get a bit sniffy about, but it is an important consideration).  It's just easier to market a new album under a band name that everyone knows rather than trying to market a brand new band name.

 

I don't entirely agree with you that "the symphonic elements were gone" either.  Accepting that the album is electronic in style, I still think that a track like "The Sheltering Sky" is very symphonic in style.

 

One of the truly great albums for me and too often underrated.

Since I heard it for the first time it's in my top five albums of all time, occasionally at no. 1. The definition of razor sharp in music and maybe unique in achieving top scores for both, individual instrumental performances and teamwork/coordination. Cool lyrics, too, and I'm not normally interested in lyrics.

And probably the origin of math rock, isn't it? 

 love this album Steve.. really love it.   By far my favorite album by them.

My thoughts on it?

as far as their symphonic elements?  hogwash...  that is like calling ELP a symphonic band.  Being heavily inspired by classical music is not the same as being symphonic.  In fact KC in their most 'famed' incarnation was for all intents and purposes a damned jam band who were masters at imporvization.

I like the emphasis on traditional song structure here and of course the addition of Belew and Levin took a ho hum 'whatever' kind of group and gave it something special in sound as well as style.

edit...and  that's an odd quote..  guess you had to pop in to do a quick edit huh haha

 

If I like Discipline (the album), I'm much less enthralled by Beat (mostly a repeat performance of Discipline, IMHO)  and 3oaPP. Combining the better tracks of the latter two albums would make a single Lp album that would actually rivalize in quality  with Discipline, IMHO

 

Overall, I tend to think the 80's version of Crimson was their weakest.

Not by who was inside the band, but because the zeitgeist drove them to

Same here...just not a fan of Belew's lyrics & vocals in KC (though I love Lone Rhino).  I wish they had followed their original plan and named the 80's band Discipline 

Bringing Adrian in was a brilliant move, as it was the first time that Bob shared guitarist duties.  Adrian's Talking Heads vocal style was a departure from the Greg Lake/John Wetton crooner style, which I appreciated in that era.

Bruford was the bridge to the LTIA past, and Levin the bridge to the Peter Gabriel-influence pop future.  

Plus, this was the first time that the Roland guitar synth was employed!  I met with Bob after the show and told him that the Roland "was a very strong instrument," and he smiled and nodded!!  He has since taken guitar synth to another level, and Discipline was the origin of this.  

Blew me away, and most young musicians I knew too.   It was the early 80s and nothing like that was being done or had ever been heard (other than the obvious David Byrne influence Belew brought over).

I can appreciate the difference in approach, but the older Crimson had something that got lost along the way after 1975 or so (a shift from classic prog to modern prog). Sort of like comparing the Mona Lisa to something by Andy Warhol.

god you are so hot... 

I do love that album at No12 in your list. In fact I would put it at number 2 in my list behind Red.

Discipline 9.5/10

Beat 6/10

Three Of A Perfect Pair 5/10

LMAO................

Not my cuppa either. This band achieved the making of a vastly overrated album in the dawn of its existence and did this over again twelve years later . It was a twist of fate that "Discipline" would be the name of a band from a later period that released a masterpiece with quite a lot of symphonic elements.

Boojieboy wrote: Whereas the earlier KC had more of an organic and earthy approach, Discipline to me has too much of a modern and almost robotic feel. It's a great sound, but a bit too much like computers involved, and not enough heart and blood.

That was typical of the 80s though. That's why there were so many experiments with drum computers in the 80 too. Needless to say all of them were failures.

1. ITCOCK

2. Discipline

3. Red

Many others albums still great, BUT those 3 ones are so marvelous from diversity to performance!

I will always remember the first time i listened to those ones: i was astonishing!

What's in a name? Fripp/ Sylvian does not trip off the tongue and memory as easily as an established name. The Next Day very much a Crimson album but is not called that and we are all conditioned to think in pop group identity. And so that goes.

Discipline I did not find to be overly electronic - electric yes, but guitars bass and drums with vocals is the basis. Tony Levin gives us the Chapman Stick making this album the effective Are You Experienced of the day. The symphonic elements are there just done with guitars rather than mellotron.

Even now one of the most breathtaking and innovative rock albums ever. And the composition style mas maintained over 2 more albums of it's like while exploring songs as well as the "Weird stuff".