They had done a set on the short-lived Fridays show (a knock-off of Saturday Night Live), in which they performed "Elephant Talk."
It had been seven years since the band had broken up right before their Red album. The band included Fripp and Bruford -- and now included Americans Adrian Belew and Tony Levin. Their soundscape now included elements of New Wave and World Music. (It's at this point that Robert Fripp explicitly adopted his gamelan -style of guitar, but which I would argue was consistent with and a further development of his highly arpeggiated -style of guitar playing.)
The motto for the album: "Discipline is never an end in itself, only a means to an end."
Personnel in the band include:
Robert Fripp: electric guitar, Roland guitar synthesizer
Adrian Belew: electric guitar, Roland guitar synthesizer, lead vocals, lyrics
Tony Levin: bass, stick, backing vocals
Bill Bruford: drums, Simmons electric drums, slit drum, various percussion
Track 1: Elephant Talk (4:43): This is one of the stand-out songs on the album. It combines 80's style poetry (alphabetic lists) and Belew's guitaristic sound-effects, here in what I believed they called it "elephantosis." Stunning track!
Track 2: Frame by Frame (5:09): This song and the next are slower tracks. Definitely mellower, more melancholic and sweeter. As far as I can tell, this song is a reflection of death and its causes. It reminds me thematically somewhat of the Police's "Murder by Numbers."
Track 3: Matte Kudasi (3:47): Very much the slowest of the songs on this album. Very sweet soundscape. Title translates from Japanese as "Please Wait" and seems to be a song about growing old and old age.
Track 4: Indiscipline (4:33): This is a crazy song, which incorporates instrumental noise and controlled chaos for its soundscape. This is IMO Belew's most mature and interesting lyrics. But still very much part of the 80's style poetry, very much in the same paradoxical vein as Laurie Anderson and Brian Eno):
I do remember one thing
It took hours and hours and
By the time I was done with it
I was so involved, I didn't know what to think
I carried it around for days and days
Playing little games
Like not looking at it for A
And then looking at it
To see if I still liked it --
I did!
(instrumental jam)
I repeat myself when I'm distressed
I repeat myself when I'm distressed
I repeat myself when I'm distressed
I repeat myself when I'm distressed
I repeat --
The more I look at it, the more I like it
I do think it's good
In fact
No matter how closely I study it
No matter how I take it apart
No matter how I break it down
It remains consistent
I wish you were here to see it!
(instrumental jam)
I like it!
Stand-out song!
Track 5: Thela Hun Ginjeet (6:26): "Discipline" is followed up by this equally frenetic song. Each of the parts stands out in its own way, but the dominant parts are Levin's powerful, beefy, but angular bass line and Bruford's complex drum patterns. The title is an anagram for jungle in heat, which leads us to the thematic element of the song. It's about crime in New York and presumably the accompanying corruption of the NYPD. At the time. The story told in the middle of the song is a version of what actually happened to Belew outside the studio when they were working on this song.
Another stand-out song!
Track 6: Sheltering Sky (8:22): The final two tracks are instrumental. The song references the novel of the same title by Paul Bowles. It is notable for Fripp's gamelan guitar, Bruford's hypnotic percussion, and Belew's guitar effects. In my mind, apart from the actual literary reference, the track always conjures up for me a prehistoric landscape with the imagined calls of pterosaurs, etc. Hearing this song live in concert for the Three of a Perfect Pair tour was simply amazing!
Track 7: Discipline (5:13): This is THE song on this album. It involves different complex time signatures which cause the instruments -- particularly the guitar duo throughout -- to weave in and out, as the time signature periodically mathematically coincide and then de-cohere again. What is amazing is the final stretch with the two guitars, weaving in and out, and then stopping suddenly at the exact same time on the very same note.
Just blows my mind!
Grade: solid A. At one point, I might have given it an A+ for being a "perfect" album. But its new wave aesthetic does age just a bit, and so I can't give it that little bit extra for its quality now.
This is the last of the four classic albums. In the future, I'll be digging deeper into the catalog and present my ratings and thoughts on the rest of their catalog. However, I will proceed along the lines of rating what have been and might yet be my examples of that elusive fifth album.
Enjoy!
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