King Crimson Discipline

This album was released in September 1981 and you may well argue it's not a progressive rock album at all. It's certainly a long way from 1970s Flutes and Fairies. It is clearly influenced by Talking Heads. Remain In Light was released in 1980 and the stylistic influences are clear. Adrian Belew, King Crimson's singer on this album, worked on Remain In Light of course.

Its emphasis is on rhythm rather than harmony, which dominated earlier King Crimson. The first song Elephant Talk really sounds like Talking Heads, Belew's vocal delivery almost a direct copy of David Byrne. But the instrumental arrangement takes it to another level. Fripp is clearly delighting in trying something new.

In the second song, Frame By Frame, I can detect some XTC influences. Something about the vocal line strongly reminds me of Andy Partridge. I absolutely love this song.

The third song, Matte Kudasai, sees a distinct change of mood, and you could be tempted into thinking it's quite straightforward. But as ever there's a lot going on. Its vibe reminds me of Scottish band The Blue Nile (even further away from prog).

On the fourth track, Indiscipline, you can almost hear Fripp waking up from the previous song and deciding to do something more experimental again. Belew delivers a speech banging on about something or other which edges towards sounding pretentious. Can I hear echoes of 21st Century Schizoid Man in the instrumental section? For the first time, the King Crimson of old raises its head, to my ears.

Belew speechifying features later in the album too, and I thought I'd find it annoying and distracting but it works in the context of the album.

Is it progressive rock? Well, it features in this blog, so I obviously think yes. But it's such a long way away from Selling England By The Pound, Fragile or Wish You Were Here you could argue it's an entirely different genre. All I know is, I really, really like this album.

Reasons to listen:

  • You like Talking Heads
  • You're prepared to go beyond the normal boundaries of progressive rock
Reasons not to listen:
  • Fairies and Flutes blah blah blah

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