Tag: king crimson

As the title suggests, this is the third in a trilogy of albums that launched King Crimson back into the spotlight after a period of inactivity. Discipline was a game changer of an album that made everyone in Progland sit up and take note. Beat was a tad more on the melodic side, with more commercial material. This album is the weakest of the three however, and Fripp closed the project after this.

Even so, this album does have its moments. The title track is a mix of commercial and the wild and wonderful. The single Sleepless with Tony Levins’ amazing Chapman stick playing was what this version of Crim was all about: weird and wonderful rhythms and beats with crazy Frippertronics wailing away. My favourite piece is Larks Tongues In Aspic 3. If you’re into Crim, then this is what you love. It’s seemingly wild and anarchic pieces of music, repeating guitar segments over and over, with beats and grooves to match. T

his is not my favourite KC album by any stretch, but it does have its moments.

6.5/10 from The Grooveman.

Sometimes it’s quite hard to describe to a younger music fan just what a groundbreaking and influential album this was at the time. This album is 53 years old now. So much music has been made that has been influenced by this album since its released, so much so that the sounds embedded in these grooves come across as dated to the new listener.

The opening track, 20th Century Schizoid Man stills sounds as insane and awesome as the first day I heard it. I Talk To The Wind follows, it is one of the few tracks that main-man Robert Fripp had not written. Sounding very Beatles-esque complete with mellotron, it’s a million miles away from the opening track. You could say that Crimson invented Prog, and Epitaph, complete with swirling mellotron and the huge ending gives testimony to that.

Moonchild opens up Side 2 in the most beautiful and gentle way with the softness of Greg Lake’s vocals, but this gives way to some crazy improvisations. The title track closes out the album and this is the best track on the album, its my favourite. I love the melody, tone, and the content of Lake’s vocals, and the way the track just builds is epic. It looks as though Mr Fripp has called time on the touring from Crimson, but I do hope they will record some new music as the musical landscape is a lot more interesting with him in it.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

The second in the trilogy of albums from the early eighties incarnation of the band, and my favourite period of the band. It was a stroke of genius by Robert Fripp in bringing in Adrian Belew, and I was aware from his work in Talking Heads. As well as being a second guitar player, Belew brought a pop sensibility and melody to the band. This album is definitely the most commercial Crimson ever were.

Any band of the time would have wished they could have written a track like Heartbeat. It’s such a beautiful song with a killer melody and hook, and superbly sung by Belew. Another thing that this version of the band opened up to, was influences from around the world, especially Africa and electronic drums. Discipline was full of these influences, and this album does carry on that vibe especially on tracks like Sartori In Tangier, which is a superb instrumental. The Africa influence can be heard best in Side 1 closer, Waiting Man, with the amazing Tony Levin playing the Chapman stick like he is playing a rhythm instrument.

There are still elements of Crimson of old, with (at times) the complete whack a doodle of Neurotica and experimenting with time and grooves, and Fripp with his Frippatronics. Bill Bruford is superb on this record, and I’m not sure if his talents have not been showcased better on any of the myriad of projects he has been involved with. This album and Discipline are my favourite KC records and both come highly recommended.

9/10 from The Grooveman.