DISCIPLINE

Returning to the spotlight after a lengthy seven-year hiatus and with two new members in tow, the 1981 King Crimson album 'Discipline' found Robert Fripp's art-rock ensemble sporting a crisp new post-punk sound. Back at the helm after successful stints playing with both Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno, Fripp is here joined by fellow returning member and former Yes drummer Bill Bruford, marking his second stint with the group, and new boys Tony Levin(bass) and Adrian Belew(guitar, vocals). In terms of collective experience, this is some band. The members count the likes of Talking Heads, Genesis, Frank Zappa and Peter Gabriel amongst their repertoire of previous engagements, and from the off it's pretty obvious that 'Discipline' is an album brimming with top class instrumental technique. However, those who have yet to investigate 'Discipline' must be warned: this is as far away from the group's original post- psychedelic origins as they are as likely to get. Instead, what we have here is freshly-weaved Talking Heads-style art-rock embossed with complex ethnic rhythms, dashes of vivid electronica and sardonic lyricism courtesy of new head writer Belew. Highlights include the overlapping guitar textures of the fiendishly-intricate 'Frame By Frame', the churning electro- rock of 'Elephant Talk' and, most impressively, the eight-minute krautrock-styled opus 'The Sheltering Sky', which harks back to the ambient soundscape experiments of the Fripp-Eno album's 'No Pussyfooting' and 'Evening Star'. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012