King Crimson: Classic Or Dud

That "Industry" track is, iirc, an example of Bill Bruford's theory of lead drums.

Can you talk about that Josh? 'bruford lead drums' is kinda ungoogleable

Drums are the lead instrument.

Either that or he means Bruford's Simmons kit swung about as hard as an anvil.

I think his idea was that drummers are always relegated to the backbeat in rock, even in prog, so with Simmons pads in hand (as it were) he wanted to integrate himself into the group as more than just rhythm keeper. I suppose it's not terribly dif. than some free jazz drummers, like Rashied Ali or something, though Bruford was trying to fit it into Fripp's regimented anal-retentive scheme. So while it wasn't really "free" in that sense, he was trying (on tracks like "Industry," at least) to drum differently.

I guess he pursued the idea more forcefully in Earthworks, with the gist that in most bands the drums are the sole acoustic instrument, but in Earthworks, they were the sole electric instrument.

Found this somewhere:

Industrial rock was becoming a genre unto itself in the early 1980s; the German group Einsturzende Neubauten used power drills, jackhammers, broken glass, elevator springs, and toy keyboards on their 1981 debut album Kollaps. King Crimson IV toyed with the concept: several songs ("Indiscipline," "Neurotica," "Dig Me," "No Warning") contained an imaginative array of metallic clashes, clangs, sirens, factory sounds, and the like. One instrumental, "Industry," was a dedicated study in nuanced noise: over an ominous one-pitch bass ostinato repeating every nine beats unfolds, with rising intensity, a succession of guitar synthesizer layers, spasmodic drum fills, mechanical sound effects, orchestroid outbursts, and sky-saws. "Industry," a brilliantly effective tableau, may sound improvised, but Belew said it was the result of much pre-planning: "Bill had the idea of the orchestral snare drum. Robert and I developed all the guitar ideas very carefully - the harmonies and things. It's supposed to give you a feeling of walking through a factory."

Not necessarily supporting my memory of Bruford's theory, just interesting.

Wow, a wealth of stuff here:http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook/ch09.htm

The name of the new group was to be Discipline. For a bass player, Bruford suggested Jeff Berlin, with whom he had worked extensively. Eavesdropping on a Bruford/Berlin session, Fripp was impressed but decided their collective style was not what he wanted - it was too, as he put it, "busy." So with Belew on tour with Talking Heads, in February 1981 Fripp and Bruford went to New York in search of a bassist. At the auditions, Bruford would pop in a cassette of a 17/8 riff and the would-be Discipline bassist would be asked to play it back. This in itself was sufficient to sort out as it were the men from the boys, but Fripp was also looking for a certain quality in the very person of the bassist.

As far as the music was concerned, Fripp's main battles were with Bruford, over finding an appropriate drumming style. Fripp described Bruford as a vigorous and expressive drummer with a never-ending flow of ideas; the problem for Fripp was how to get Bruford to calm down, to play less, to trust that the music's structure called not for lots of fancy fills and dramatic, dynamic phrase articulations but rather for restraint, control, and less busy-ness. Fripp was concerned that the rhythmic subtleties of the guitar, bass, and stick parts not be covered up by drum thrashing. In a long list of suggestions for Bruford, which he published for the world to see in his Musician column, Fripp advised, "If you fill space, you deprive the band of space, or other musicians the opportunity for filling space."

Of Fripp's list of suggestions for his drumming, Bruford said, in a 1982 interview, "It starts out as a stream of negatives first off, which cracks many a lesser man. 'Don't do this, don't do that, and I suggest you don't do this. By the way, I also recommend you don't do that.' You're in a prison and you've got to find your way out of things. I quite like that. I must be a masochist or something, but I don't feel right unless I'm imprisoned and told to find a way around it. That's the challenge."

With Belew, Fripp's concern was the reverse: how to coax him out into the open, how to encourage him to contribute genuine aspects of his own musical personality to a group which he initially felt was playing at a level way over his head. It was up to Belew to deliver lyrics and vocal lines for existing instrumentals the group had worked up, and in time he began to find his voice. Fripp was constantly impressed with Levin's musicianship and personal qualities; the bass player, whom Fripp described as the best he'd ever worked with, seemed to have a certain solid, silent strength. Fripp wrote that "Tony is always on: he doesn't seem to have our concerns."

"Bruford said, in a 1982 interview, "It starts out as a stream of negatives first off, which cracks many a lesser man. 'Don't do this, don't do that, and I suggest you don't do this. By the way, I also recommend you don't do that.'"

This list is included in the reissue liners for Discipline. "If you have an idea, don't play it."

Ha, thank you google, here it is:

1. Any existing solution is a problem to a problem is a wrong one; absolutem, obsoletum.
2. If you have an idea, don't play it.
3. When a change in the music needs emphasis, don't play it. The change in the music is emphasis enough.
4. Don't phrase with any other member of the band unless it's in the part.
5. Phrasing in the part should include no more than two people.
6. If the tension in the music needs emphasizing, don't. The tension is there because of what you're playing, not what you're about to play.
7. If you really have to change your part to build tension, don't add - leave out.
8. The maximum tension you can add is by stopping completely.
9. If there is space for a fill which is demanded by the music, don't play it; there are three other people who would like to use the opportunity.
10. If the part you're playing is boring, stop listening with your head.
11. If this still bores you, listen to the interaction between all parts.
12. If this still bores you, stop playing and wait until you are no longer bored.
13. Do not be dramatic.
14. Do not be afraid to repeat yourself.
14. Do not be afraid to take your time.

Boy, what a negative list, Let's be positive about this:
1. Repeat yourself.
2. Take your time.
3. Leave room.
4. Listen to everybody else.
5. Develop a new set of cliches.
6. Develop a new vocabulary of drum sounds.
7. Listen to the sound of what you play.
8. Accept responsibility for what you play; e.g.: if you fill space, you deprive the band of space or other musicians the opportunity of filling space.
9. Abandon fills.
10. Abandon drama.
11. Abandon dynamics.
12. Conceal yourself.

I am no drummer but anytime I've some up with a big list of "don'ts" I think of that little aside at the end. "Boy, what a negative list."

WEIRDLY it's the same advice they give teachers when making class rules!? (To have a few positive rules instead of a big list of don'ts.) I had to attend all these workshops, do assignments, on 'how will you make your class rules' and all I could think of was Fripp bossing Bruford around. Actually half of those positive rules would be ones I would be ok w/for my classroom.

2. Take your time.
3. Leave room.
4. Listen to everybody else.
7. Listen to the sound of what you play.
8. Accept responsibility for what you play

class is in

I have been playing Discipline & Three of a Perfect Pair LIKE CRAZY, NONSTOP lately. And watching youtubes of live performances from that era. I saw a youtube comment where a guy said Discipline got him through his first year of teaching and I wanted to write him with a very heartfelt ME TOO but it just seemed too much.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6TM5i3fdty4/TnJv2LJlHrI/AAAAAAAABLo/de1bJBhp_C8/s1600/heat_bill_buford.jpg

I had a disappointing couple of months a while back – every bookstore I'd go to I'd see dozens of Bill Buford's HEAT on remainder. And I'd misread the author's name and get excited – it *looks* and *has a name* like it's trying to ape the cover of Discipline or Beat. And just one missing R in the name. So deceptive!!!

What's the best live document covering their 80s output (which is also my fave)?

Absent Lovers

Live at the Pier is quite good as well--it's from the 82 tour.

http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=26599

I've always loved Fripp's list of rules even though they are extreme. The idea that multiple members of a band shouldn't all play the same part is a really hard thing for many rock musicians to swallow. It's kind of like the anti-Nirvana concept. I would love to play in a band that had ground rules like this.

one of those groups who seem to be the best band in the world when you hear them first and who get more and more boring with each subsequent listen.

I had the opposite experience. KC really grew on me.

it would be hilarious to set bands up with that list cold, and watch them just stand there silently in fear of breaking one of the rules

I remember hearing a great story of Belew trying out for Bowie's band. They had him do "Heroes" and he struggled to do the song justice. It was only at the end that they told him the studio version was several guitars, after Belew had done his best to approximate all parts at once.

http://www.snopes.com/music/media/guitar.asp

Absent Lovers is great. My MP3s of it became corrupt on a decaying DVD-R so I really should get out there and replace it. A live version of 'Red'!

Ahhhh hah ha that Heat book upthread is cracking me up, imagining the Tuscan butcher as Fripp

Will track down Absent Lovers

I had Absent Lovers when it was a bootleg back in the early 90s -- the version of "ToaPP" is particularly awesome. Pretty sure it's their last concert before breaking up.

The '82 tour discs (collectors club releases, all) have fripp ripping into some pretty expansive versions of the Sheltering Sky, as well better-than-the-album takes on the Beat tracks.

That was kinda easy

Daaaaaaaamn this is fierce

Compare and contrast, quartet vs. double trio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdlbkVWYmW4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ_72lms-OM

Shockingly, '90s fashion more '80s than '80s fashion.

This is the lineup, from 2008, I wish stuck around: Fripp, Belew, Levin, Pat and Gavin from Porcupine Tree, who brings so much. And none of that lame Trey Gunn dude.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w0vxQ-ueCI

Like, listen to the drums on this one alone ...

'absent lovers' is so much better than the '80s studio records, i listened to it a ton in college. listening to that youtube it sounds, uh, nerdier than i remember but still amazing.

Level 5 is by far the best of the latter-day Larks Tongues sequels

I thought The Power to Believe as a whole was quite underrated as a record.

I played those two Frame By Frames at the same time. Really gorgeous, but you have to be clever with the pause button.

dectet

Power To Believe, like so much of KC's studio stuff, is surpassed by contemporaneous live material. I think you can even hear the crowd noise on the "studio" version of Level 5.

That Larks' box set:

http://www.dgmlive.com/diary/photos/13oct6v.jpg

The idea of Fripp and Toyah on a celebrity game show, even for charity, is doing my head in. I hope somebody records this and puts it on youtube.

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep2week19/all-star-mr-mrs

http://www.dgmlive.com/diary/photos/T&R.jpg

I recall being similarly surprised when he turned up on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! to welcome back Toyah (who had just been evicted). He was really relaxed on it, too.

Sort of reminds me of when Faith No More's drummer was a contestent on "Who Wants to be A Millionaire:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_iNK0mBKrQ

His buddy he brought along is "Robert, Rob Trujillo.

I'm kind of not surprised that Fripp would be on a show like this. He's a surprisingly funny and entertaining guy in his own weird way.

maybe he will announce boastfully that he did it for the tail
that seems to be his way

Footage from Koyaanisqatsi set to "The Court of the Crimson King":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2dgtXzNhgo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1tYgwk_ngek

Sorry, been drinkin'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tYgwk_ngek