Discipline: 40th Anniversary Series

You know, I really have no idea why I still love this album. Parts of it are so stuck in the 80s that if I play it around non KC fans they cringe and look at me like I lost my mind. I don't care, I just love the album. Going to college in the mid-80s where I was introduced to this band, I found myself drawn to not their most popular first album (which I had never heard at the time), but the 70s and 80s groups. These are the ones that Fripp comments are more popular in the US than Brittan, so maybe that has something to do with it. USA and Red were my introduction, then, it took a while, but Discipline became one of my favorites. If you like things a bit off the beaten path and don't mind giving it a few spins, you could like this album, but it's not for everyone. Now on to the review of the 40th anniversary:First off you need to understand this in not really a DVD-Video. The few videos on here are fun to watch, but nothing great. The focus is the audio, and nothing is going on on-screen while the audio tracks are playing (note, if you have a plasma TV you may want to turn it off so you don't burn the screen). Do a little research on wiki if you don't understand.Main feature 5.1 surround: If you have equipment that's older than a decade you MIGHT have some problems with hearing the surround sound, but it's nothing that a cheap newer DVD player and receiver can't solve. There are two versions of the 5.1, one in lossless MLP format, only playable on expensive DVD-Audio players, and one DTS version that will play on almost everyone's equipment. Second, I do not have a DVD-Audio player [...] so I have currently only listened to it in the DTS surround. Don't let the DVD-Audio scare you off. The DTS sounds fantastic. The surround field is huge with tons of separation. The first lyrics in Elephant Talk are jaw dropping when Adrian comes in. The field is set up with you in the center of the band and them playing around you, so you do need to have quality rear speakers that match your fronts or it's not going to sound right. Fripp I think is mainly in the rear, Bruford and Tony mainly in L&R with Adrian's solo's bouncing around, but mainly focused in the center. When Adrian's singing comes in, it's dead center pulled forward some and it sounds like he's right there with you. Very nice surround mix on par with Dark Side of the Moon IMHO. Note, only the main album is mixed in 5.1 unlike some of the other 40th anniversary where they mixed some of the bonus tracks in 5.1. Minor issue.Stereo from DVD: Again there are two formats for this, a MLP Lossless in 24 bit/96kHz and a PCM Stereo in 24/48. As before, the MLP will only play in DVD-Audio players. The PCM is part of the basic requirements for ALL DVD players, so it will play on ANY DVD player. If your DVD disc won't play in the DVD player (not the CD player,....HELLO!) then either your equipment is set up incorrectly or you have a bad DVD and send it back for a replacement. Oh, and make sure you check the Audio Setup and put it to PCM if you're wanting listening to stereo and don't have a surround receiver with DTS. If you don't have a DTS decoder and put it on DTS, you're going to get nothing. That's user error, not something wrong with the disc.Since I don't have a DVD-Audio player, this review is of the PCM stereo, which is also an uncompressed audio format and of slightly better tech specs than CDs (16/48). All I can say is Steven Wilson is a God. I haven't listened to much Porcupine Tree (his day job), but he is an outstanding mixer/producer and this album has never sounded better. Included as extras here for some odd reason are the 30th Anniversary remasters (which were the best sounding up to this point) and you can bounce (albeit slowly in the DVD menus, though you can do it quickly on a PC) from the 2011 mix to the 30th Anniversary. The difference is astonishing. Huge sound stage and separation. Instruments sound crystal clear as they should and not muffled. I think I may actually like the 2.0 better than the 5.1, it's that good. And surprising that Stephen could improve so much over a recent remaster. Makes me wonder if Fripp has lost too much hearing over the years to really assist in the mixing. And I'm no technical expert and don't really understand the difference between a "remaster" and a "mix", but I'm guessing the mix is much more involved. The mix IMHO takes nothing away from the original (and doesn't add either), just sounds fantastic. A great reason alone to buy this even if you have the 30ths. Again, only the 7 original tracks show up under the heading "2011 stereo mix". Not sure if the same care was taken with the bonus tracks.DVD Extras: Like I said before, it has the 30th Anniversary issue, including the bonus track of an alternate version of Matte Kudasai, in both MLP 24/96 stereo and PCM Stereo. In addition to the Matte Kudasai, there are 5 more tracks. I've only listened to them once. Kind of interesting, but nothing stands out. There's also, in PCM stereo (no MLP) "Album rough mixes". 7 original tracks from the recording sessions that were prepared by the original producer, Rhett Davies. There's a paragraph in the booklet describing them. Only listened to a little of that. Just an interest addition, but doesn't add a lot of value. Finally we have 3 videos from The Old Grey Whistle Test, a BBC program, from 1982. They also are interesting, but the quality is not that great. Good for a watch or two, but not a long term value. It was interesting to see Fripp sitting (of course sitting) more up front in the lights and actually smiling some!CD: And lest we forget, there is a CD included. It has the 2011 mix of the by Stephen Wilson and three bonus tracks. No alt version of Matte Kudasai, just an alt version of The Sheltering Sky and Thela Hun Ginjeet and an odd mix of vocal loops that wasn't really needed. That's only 54 minutes long, so they could have included the couple other DVD bonus tracks and the alt of Matte, but they didn't. I haven't listened to the CD yet, but I'm sure the quality is similar to the DVD stereo track, i.e. excellent.Packaging: I'm only mentioning this due to something I found EXTREMELY annoying. The only other 40th I own is Red and it has a slightly different CD/DVD holder that actually works. I have A LOT of trouble getting the discs out and actually slightly cracked the CD already, luckily only in the center and it doesn't effect the playing. I really liked the 30th LP style better than this as well. It's a box with an insert that slides out and opens revealing the 2 discs on opposite sides in plastic holders. The booklet is just thrown in the middle with no pocket to stick it in. The expected notes from Fripp are included as well as a short narrative by Sid Smith and the usual pictures.A few interesting things I've figured out: So you (like most of us) don't have a DVD-Audio player. Did you know that with the free program Foobar2000 and the also free DVD-Audio plugin (just spend 10 seconds on google and you can find them) you can play the MLP lossless tracks on your PC (sorry mac). There's also a free win-amp plugin that also works on MediaMonkey. Additionally, there's a free program called DVD Audio Explorer that will allow you to rip the tracks off of the disc and convert them to lossless flacs at 24/96 (for you personal use, of course). If you don't have a way to play flacs on your home theater, for the stereo tracks at least, you can rip them from flac to lossless WMAs. These play on my cheap Sony blu-ray and could play on DVD players that play WMAs. It takes some work, but there are ways to enjoy the MLP tracks on here without going out and buying a $500 universal player.It's all talk!

I just received this in my mailbox tonight (kudos to Amazon, I ordered on a Sunday and it arrived on Tuesday!), so I'm still working my way through the extras. But I am so pumped after my first listen to this 5.1 mix, I have to post a review immediately!Having been a big fan of the surround sound mixes that gained some momentum and then faltered a few years ago, I was totally excited to see this amazing, classic album being newly released in this format. I dare say that nobody has ever quite realized this format as fully as those who did this release (yes, i realize that my wording makes me appear a pretentious twit here, so be it). I've found that some of the releases in this format have fallen short. Rush's Moving Pictures, earlier this year, didn't particularly meet my admittedly high expectations. At the time I listened to it, I figured that maybe the fact that most of us imagine music as being heard from the audience, listening to musicians on a stage, made the format a somewhat moot point for most "rock" albums. This mix made me completely re-vamp that preconceived notion.Here's why: Most of the surround sound discs I've heard tend to keep the drums relegated to the main right and left channels, with the "extraneous" tracks such as backing vocals or strings being given a bonus punch by appearing in the rear channels. This is not necessarily wrong, it works great on my R.E.M. and Elton John 5.1 discs. But now I see, by way of the genius(es) who mixed Discipline (the print is small and it's dark in my house, otherwise I'd be more specific!), that the mix should be ALL around the listener, as if (s)he were in the middle of the stage, the middle of the music.Of course, this particular album is a great example of music that is easily accessible to NOT being heard in that tried and true "stage" formula, as the intricate, woven musical lines lend themselves to being experienced in a less conventional soundscape. But the fact that the drums are all around you, instead of just in front of you, is nothing short of revelatory! There's no reason that any album, rock or otherwise, can't benefit from a truly surround sound mix in the manner achieved here.Now onto the actual material, 'cuz I know I'm getting a little long-winded here... The tracks ALL sound amazing. The most striking ones for me were "Frame By Frame" and especially "Matte Kudesai", where the tracks are a little less manic and have room to breathe. "Kudesai" in particular, brought Belew's beautiful vocal right into your face. Of course he's known for his guitar and songwriting prowess, why wouldn't he be? But going up to the center channel and hearing the perfection of his vocal right in your ear is breathtaking. Adrian's name certainly deserves to be mentioned alongside great vocalists like Jeff Buckley or Freddie Mercury, something I probably wouldn't have thought before tonight. "Thela Hun Ginjeet" and "Discipline" are also served particularly well by the 5.1 mix.All in all, I'm hopeful that this format will continue to flourish, as the modern age of the compressed mp3 format (which also has it's place in the world of listening) could certainly use a counterpart for those of us who love our music in pure magnificent grandiosity! Hopefully the KC machine will continue to release their classic albums in surround (I'd like to beg for Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair next, please!). And as long as I'm shouting out my wishlist, How about Radiohead's OK Computer, Jeff Buckley's Grace and The Verve's Urban Hymns soon, folks? Those are foregone conclusions for the surround sound treatment, am I right? I should be receiving my copy of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here tomorrow, which will tide me over for a bit, but I'm not asking too much, am I? Get on it, people! And fans, buy this stuff up so they hear the demand!

There are plenty of reviews of the "Discipline" album and have been for many years, so I won't go over that again here. What I will do is review the 5.1 surround content and the actual "sound" of this jewel.All of the tunes sound GREAT in 5.1 and the mixing is VERY well done. King Crimson isn't a band that uses too many electronic effects that really lend themselves to panning around all of the speakers like, say, a Floyd album might, but the 5.1 still does this album justice.The sound is "usually" laid out as follows...Drums and bass (mostly) come out of the mains. Fripp's guitar is panned to the rear and Belew's is up front. Belew's vocals come out of the center speaker, while the other vocal part (usually the harmony) comes from any of the other speakers. Sometimes it's the mains. Sometimes the harmony is on the mains and the rears. It's ALWAYS done to nice effect and the mix is CLEAN. I can crank it to around -10 DB on my system, which is as far as I'll dare go and there is absolutely ZERO hiss or noise - only the sweet sounds of KC doing their best (IMHO) album EVER.If something happened to my copy of this DVD, I'd buy it again without a second thought. The CD that comes with it is well done also.One thing I forgot to note - It's not mastered loudly. There's plenty of headroom. If you want it cranked, you certainly have that option, but the mastering engineer leaves it up to you. 5 stars...

I have to confess to being a newcomer to the sound of King Crimson ,i bought a copy of LARKS ,TONGUES IN ASPIC about a year ago and wasn't sure if i wanted to venture further into their world, however a couple of months ago i decided to get DISCIPLINE and also their 1975 Live album USA.DISCIPLINE is a very different beast compared to their previous work - their first album in 7 years and features a new line up with Adrian Belew on vocals and the sound reminds me of Talking Heads. I was surprised how good the album was and the sound quality is superb,you also get a dvd with some great extras including some live performances from THE OLD GRAY WHISTLE TEST from 1982.Anyone who listens to King Crimson needs to have an open mind as your'e never quite sure what's coming next and i am certainly willing to explore their work in more detail.A good album which grows in appreciation with each listen.

When this came out I was really excited to hear what King Crimson would sound like now. I had been turned on to them by a friend starting with Starless and Bible Black and Red. I had also been following Adrian Belew’s career through his work with David Bowie, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, and the tracks he contributed to on Grank Zappa’s Sheik Yerbouti. Tony Levin was familiar through his work with Peter Gabriel and on Robert Fripp’s Exposure, which had showed hints of the potential reawakening of King Crimson.I love Discipline from start to finish, there is not a weak moment on it but on this 40th Anniversary Edition you get so much more. The album on the CD sound great but the 5.1 surround sound version opens up the music to reveal further subtleties that were not apparent before. I can listen to this late in the evening and hear all the power of the music without cranking the volume up to 11. This is the case with all the 40th Anniversary Editions and it is a remarkable achievement.I don’t know how many versions of this, and other KC albums, if you have a decent surround sound syestem and you are a fan of this period of Crimson then you really do need this 40th Anniversary version of Discipline.

54 minutes of music which Talking Heads would be proud of making. Here King Crimson blurt out early 1980s musical vistas. The rhythm guitar sounds lovely. Whizzes and whurls abound. I think however that the standout track is Matte Kudasai. Released September 1981 with music industry names akin to Eno the ravages of time provide little support. It's a forlorn album. Except for the wonderful Kudasai. In this the swirly gates of ill defined apocalypse shoot forth into that velvet crimson of fallen kingdoms. Beowulf could climb. It's an interesting CD now celebrating 40 years. It's worth remembering that the same year saw Fresh Fruit For Rotten Vegetables by Dead Kennedys release. Plus ça change?

King Crimson's `Discipline' was one of the ground-breaking albums of the 1980s. Robert Fripp for the first time brought in two fine young American musicians, Adrian Belew and Tony Levin, to join him and veteran KC drummer Bill Bruford in a reconstituted and for the first time guitar-dominated foursome.The result is by turns mellow and energetic; complex, interesting and fun, it sounds nothing like the work of KC's previous incarnations. If you like the music of Talking Heads from the same period, you'll likely warm to it immediately. Lead vocalist Adrian Belew (you can't always describe what he does here with his voice as technically `singing') actually sounds like David Byrne in several places. Multiple guitar interplay weaves over inventive rhythms to form joyful conversations. It's more or less instantly accessible, as good on first hearing as on the hundredth.On the 2011 remix, Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp again teach less skilled music producers the art of masterful remastering. The DVD is the star, featuring the album on MLP Lossless 5.1 surround & DTS 5.1 digital, and MLP Lossless & PCM stereo. The video content features performances of `Elephant Talk', `Frame by Frame' and `Indiscipline' from 2 different sessions for the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test. Both the CD and the DVD feature extra tracks not on the original 1981 album release: `A selection of Adrian's vocal loops' and some new Steven Wilson mixes of `The Sheltering Sky' & `Thela Hun Ginjeet'.Even if you have an earlier release of this album, the sound mix on the 2011 package is so exemplary that it's worth buying as well. If you don't have this truly great album in your collection, this is the one to go for.

Discipline was one of those albums that I loved. But I forgot I loved it. It was always overlooked when choosing which KC album to play.So when the 40th Anniversary remaster was being made with Steven Wilson on the mixing desk I knew were were in for a treat. He had done wonders for 'Red' and the others so far issued.I ordered this together with 'Starless and Bible Black', a classic in my book. So when they arrived I played them with open ears and anticipation.You will not be disappointed. The Wilson ears and hand have worked a miracle on Discipline. Like the previous reviewer says it's like a veil has been lifted. To my ears the bottom end, Levin's bass and Bruford's batterie, have been given a power and authority that previous editions lacked. I think the technical phrase is 'umph'. The guitar work is clear and to listen to Fripp and Belew interlocking guitar lines is a marvel to behold.The album truly is aural knitting at its best. That makes it sound analytical and cold. It's not. It is a warm, funny, exotic and powerful album and all the more so for Wilson's remix.Plenty of bonus material on the DVD part to keep any Crimso drooling too.