A great chapter in the Crimson saga.....
It isn't surprising that this album has no one star reviews (at least not at the time of this writing) as it is one of the best albums of the 1980's, and one of King Crimson's enduring masterpieces. It was the first album after a seven year hiatus, and Fripp and company didn't start where they left off from 1974's Red. Fripp, Bill Bruford, and new members Adrian Belew and Tony Levin went off in a completely different direction, and it was brilliant. My favorite songs are the opener Elephant Talk, the equally beautiful songs Frame by Frame and Matte Kudesai, and the scary and tense Thela Hun Jingeet. There isn't a dud on the whole album, and honestly, all of my Crimson albums are pretty damn solid. They weren't a band to waste notes. This was also my first King Crimson album, one that I still love.

Flawless!
This is one of those albums that should be on the Desert Island list. King Crimson gets a new lineup with Adrian Belew on guitars and vocals, Tony Levin on bass, stick and backing vocals, Robert Fripp on guitar and Bill Bruford on drums. Apparently, this recipe of musicians was all that was needed to produce a disc full of great songs. Each number is strong enough to stand out on its own. I remember when it first came out and I heard it for the first time, I was overwelmed by how strange Adrian Belew's guitar sounded. I regret that I was not quite ready for such progressive sounds and it would be many years later before my ears grew up. This is a near perfect album, but it is definately not for everyone. You have got to have the ears for it. - Ciao

Culture Clash Club
Some seven years after Robert Fripp declared King Crimson dead post "Red," there was much surprise in the music world when he re-appeared not only with a four-piece rock band, but slapping the name King Crimson upon it. Just to make sure it would get the intellectual ears to ponder it, he gave it the academic and spiritually highbrow moniker "Discipline." Because as anyone worth their prog-rock smarts would tell you, playing good highbrow rock required it.

But what shook a lot of people at the time was how the usually reserved Fripp gave the front mic to Adrian Belew, whose more light-hearted (read "American") persona was so different from Fripp's. Add old KC alum Bill Bruford and US Bass/chapman stick wiz Tony Levin and you had a clash of continents that made for perfect chemistry. Fripp's mathematical guitar "fripperies" balance Belew's animal noises with impeccable beauty and more that a dash of humor. The two cuts to gather the airplay, "Elephant Talk" and "Thela Hun Ginjeet," seemed to favor Belew, who obviously was having a ball barking out the alliterations on "Elephant Talk." Bringing some of his polyrhythmic skills over from sidelining with Talking Heads, Belew brought the rock to Fripp's highbrow.

When the band decided to wax artistic, though, Belew delivered. The lovely "Matte Kudasi" may be one of his finest hours on any album, and the lyric to "Indiscipline" captured the love/hate relationship an artist can have with his words. The final, title track is also terrific fusion rock, the instrumental work that is positively electric. Levin's work on this song in particular and the album overall, probably brought the inventor of The Chapman Stick a whole new clutch of devotees.

Fripp may have looked on the new King Crimson as an academic exercise (the new liner notes are often unintentionally funny in their seriousness), but these four virtuosos under Fripp's strict hand held together to make some brilliant music. "Discipline" is best thought of as the high water mark in a trio that includes "Beat" and "Three of a Perfect Pair." By combining some of the ferocity of new wave (there are hints of Talking Heads and The Police among the songs here), proved that the new line-up of Kind Crimson lived up the legacy of its namesake.

Underrated even as it is lavished with praise
I know my title makes no sense, but it's true. This album cannot be praised enough. It is a masterwork. It is a new era for the Crim, more new-wavey but still pretty proggish. These songs are excellently written, and are made more so by the players. Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew on the guitar create some of the most excellent shredding in the history of music, with the two's complicated lines interlocking and creating something fantastic. Then there's Tony Levin on bass/stick, playing seemingly simple but probably not so bass/stick lines. They, especially the stick lines, seem to act more as another melody than harmony. And then there is freakin' William Scott Bruford on the drumset. Why is this guy not as appreciated as god-danged Neil Peart? Peart is way too flashy and far too mechanical to be as praised as he is. I'm being a hypocrite here, because there is no way in heck I'm as good a drummer as Peart. But jeez, Bruford is so much better. The guy has such a unique style and keeps up with this very complex playing with absolute ease and finesse, but instead of playing fills the whole way through like a certain Canadian, he GROOVES and it is EXCELLENT.
Sorry to get off on a rant there. I love Rush, I even like Peart's playing generally. Let's move on.
Concerning the album, a song that is good, or even a song that is great would be a total dud on this album. That's how awesome it truly is. "Elephant Talk" is a great opener, with lyrics that are mainly synonyms for the word talk, with weird elephantesque guitar noises and a cool stick melody being what makes the song better than it already was.
"Frame by Frame"...wow. Fripp's incredibly fast run-up-the-fretboard-and-back-and-not-break-a-sweat guitar riff is simply the epitome of sweetness and the more melodic part of the song (e.g., the verses) is stunning and beautiful.
"Matte Kudasai" is a lovely ballad with a beautiful slide guitar sound that is a recurring theme and Belew's drifting, pleasant voice singing lyrics such as "She sleeps in a chair/in her sad/America". I'm not a fan of soft, ballad-type songs, but this is done quite well.
"Indiscipline" sounds totally unhinged, with Belew ranting about "it" and equally wild music popping up after each verse. Crazy fun.
"Thela Hun Ginjeet" is another fairly unhinged song, but it is not as wild as "Indiscipline", for sure. Rather, it grooves and comes back to a recurring, fairly nonsensical (at least, it seems) chorus when it is not recounting an absolutely bizarre and somewhat creepy narrative that seems to be about some sort of videotape.
"The Sheltering Sky" is a beautiful and interesting instrumental that is a little overlong. I dig it, though.
Now we come to the title track. "Discipline" is another instrumental, but is far more awesome than "The Sheltering Sky". In fact, it makes "TSS" look like a huge turd floating in gross brown water in a disgusting toilet with the lid up in a dingy gas station/truck stop. It has incredibly awesome, nearly orgasmic overlapping guitar parts that, along with the really cool bass-and-drums groove, creates a totally out-of-this-world whole. Even though it is fairly minimalistic and five minutes long, it doesn't last long enough.
The bonus track, the alternate take of "Matte Kudasai" is good, because you can't really ruin a song like that. But it is almost the same as the previous version. Kind of a waste.
In summary, 500000000000000000000000000000 stars. Perfect. What music should sound like.

This CD is the King of King Crimson!
This is such an awesome CD full of interesting sounds and rhythms! I had it years ago when it came out and had it stolen. Lately I kept thinking about it and decided to purchase the new remastered CD. It's just as good as ever! In fact I think I appreciate the work and the quality of the recording even more now.

Tony Levin's bass is phenomenal! Sometimes it's interesting just following his bass playing. Outstanding! Whether he's with Crimson or with Peter Gabriel he's fantastic. Definitely one of the best bass players I know of along with Chris Squire. And talk about guitar work. Fripp and Belew do some outstanding, very interesting work here. Kind of Al Di Meola on acid. Bill Bruford is excellent! I read a review where someone apparently doesn't think much of Bruford. I've seen him perform in a couple of different groups like Genesis and Yes and he's alway been able to flow with a progressive band well. He provides a great foundation for the music here.

Highly recommended if you are in to strange music and progressive rock styles. My favorite King Crimson CD. I don't know if this is classified as progressive rock but whatever it is, I like it a lot! One to crank up! Sometimes I take it out and play little games like looking at it and then not looking at it, just to see if I still like it. I DO!