ASIA
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Mike Healy (21.08.2004)
It's funny you mentioning Greg Lake and John Wetton
in the same sentence with Asia, because Lake replaced Wetton for the band's
December 1983 MTV live special from Japan called Asia In Asia.
Wetton eventually returned to the band, but I don't think their credibility
really recovered with the personnel changes, and by the time Steve Howe
was replaced, interest in the band evaporated, and it was all downhill
ever since. I don't think these guys really ever quite washed the tar-and-feathers
splashed on them for their involvement in Asia, let alone the related bands
that came after in the 80's, such as ELPowell, GTR and 3 (with To The
Power Of Three...God help us!). Geoff Downes still continues to kick
the dead horse to this day with various lineups featuring anonymous guys
filling in, and the occasional famous drummer who had nothing better to
do that day. I don't know anyone who ever kept up with these guys, despite
a plethora of live and "rarities" and best-of collections that
has come out in the last dozen years.
P.S. The live show with Lake was available on video (titled "Asia
In Asia"), but I'm sure that it's long out of print, but there is
a CD of it out there
Bob Josef (15.03.2006)
Now, I know I'm getting REALLY nitpicky about a band that nobody really
cares about nowadays, but I really think that you need to reclassify Asia
in the arena rock department, rather than synth-pop. Synth-pop, IMHO, has
two very specific characteristics. The first is a dominamce in the arrangements
of, well, synthesizers. Guitars, if present, are very muted at best. Synths,
of course, are everywhere in Asia's music, but they don't necessarily come
to the fore in the arrangements, partially due to Downes's limited playing
ability. Certainly, guitars and drums are as audible in the mix as the
keyboards.
Secondly, synth-pop generally uses rhythm sections that are very mechanical
and one-dimensional. If the rhythm parts aren't played by drum machines
and bass synths, they sound like it. With Palmer in the band, Asia almost
never kept a straighforward beat - his drum parts were fairly flexible
or all over the place, and his successors tried to pretty much follow his
lead.
If you listen to some of the post-Howe albums, in particular, like Live
in Moscow or the (really awful) Aria, Asia sounds not like the
Buggles or Duran Duran, but rather like they're going after the Journey
or Boston (who MCA paired them with in a very odd anthology) audience.
So, I submit that Asia is an arena rock band with some synth-pop and prog
overtones, rather than a synth-pop band. The defense rests...
Eric Balzer (12.08.2004)
There is a definite reason they called themselves "Asia." I read that they did some research and thought that if a band and an album title began with the letter A it would have a better chance of reaching the top of the charts. You'll notice that all their albums start with letter A. Clever boys.
Bill Slocum (31.08.2004)
I'm really glad you got around to these guys,
as delayed as it was (and as delayed as they were; Asia really should have
broken out a couple of years before they did, instead of being nearly buried
on the pop charts by the likes of "Tainted Love" and "Don't
You Want Me," which was sort of what happened to them in the spring
of 1982, even with their first single "Heat Of The Moment" making
it to #2 in the U.S.)
I thought it was funny you wrote "fortunately for all of us, this
ain't 'George Starostin's Album Sleeve Reviews' you're browsing through
at the moment." Because, as anyone who was there in 1982 like me knows,
the coolest thing about the band, from the very beginning with their debut
album, was those awesome album covers. What the hell is that thing on the
cover of Asia, anyway? The Loch Ness Monster playing water polo? I don't
know, but it was pretty cool then, when I played "Dungeons & Dragons"
in my friend's basement to the virtual exclusion of any future reproductive
possiblities, and all these wasted years later, I admit it still looks
cool now, not so much as the cover of their next album Alpha (which was
more "Gamma World" than D&D, that being even more embarrassing
to admit to), but pretty cool still. By the way, they were still making
album covers like that all the way until 2004's Silent Nation, not
that you will ever bother to review every album up to that, or should.
But the songs are good. I don't get your enthusiasm for "Cutting It
Fine" over the rest. Frankly, I think "Heat Of The Moment,"
hit as it was, was a pretty pure surging power-pop-art-rock-anthem, right
up there with the finest from ELO and the Moody Blues. I like "Sole
Survivor" very much, too, and don't think "Wildest Dreams"
is at all bad. It kind of plays to the same castles-and-majestic-battlements
fantasy aesthetic that the rest of this album uses, but that goes with
the album cover and doesn't feel cheesy, just nostalgic for the ethos of
ancient days. Not that I think it's exulted, particularly, especially at
this adult remove in time, but it's sort of fun. Plus, it's the one song
where "Asia" is mentioned in the lyrics.
Yes, the hits are great, and like you I think "Sole Survivor"
is better than "Only Time Will Tell." Only I think that "Time
Again" is pretty terrific, too. I mean, yes, it's got this half-proggy,
half-twee "Dungeons & Dragons" aethetic, but if that sort
of thing negated great art those "Lord Of The Rings" films wouldn't
be anything special now, would they? Plus, "Time Again" does
have some pretty fancy keyboard riffs in its favor, don't it? Not nearly
as bombastic as what Yes would have done, actually kind of fun and clever
because Geoff Downes seems to avoid that trap. Really, his cleverness at
the keyboards didn't begin and end with "Video Killed The Radio Star,"
and the proof is here.
Asia's not a great album, but it's more than a historic curio. I
like Asia, and wish they had done more with the aesthetic of their first
album. Just because I outgrew D&D doesn't mean they had to do the same.
After all, they were the ones making money from the proposition, weren't
they?
Jason Saenz (02.09.2004)
Wait a minute, I thought ASIA were new wave-prog, not synth pop. ASIA debut is one of those albums that is not really essential in your collection, much less in an album review page but boy am I glad you are starting a review on these dudes. I take it back, I guess you could call ASIA synth pop but I dont think that ASIA and the rest of bands in this category go together, ASIA does have instrumental virtuosos, thats the difference between ASIA and the rest on this synth pop category. Now back to the album, I agree with the rating, even though all the songs pretty much sound the same there all beautiful and melancholic 80's style. Most people tag this album as all filler but I dont really agree, it's just monotonous but very pleasent. I dont agree with your best song preference, I say 'SOLE SURVIVOR' is best but really it all depends on the mood. Good review George, you hit all the important aspects of this album and you are totally right about Howe's presence on this album, it would of been better if he would of shown himself more.
Bob Josef (15.03.2006)
Actually, I disagree -- I really think that this is the worst of the
three Wetton studio albums. First off, the production sounds terrible.
Very murky -- Howe, in particular, is buried in the mix. And secondly,
the songwriting has taken a major dip. "Don't Cry" is an attempt
to be bouncy - but this band (especially Palmer) is NOT GOOD at bouncy.
Even REO Speedwagon would have rejected this trite piece of junk. "The
Heat Goes On", with that organ solo, sounds utterly generic, like
a Foreigner track. And misogyny permeates most of the rest of the lyrics,
from "My Own Time" to "Eye to Eye" (although Downes
actually said that the latter song started as a dig at Trevor Horn -- notice
the Buggles-like staccato keyboard quote). Two of these songs were actually
previewed on the support tour for the first album. Live, Wetton was accompanied
by only Downes on a wimpy electric piano on "The Smile Has Left Your
Eyes." Totally cloying and sappy. On the album, all "Asia'd"
up, it doesn't sound quite as bad. "Midnight Sun" was also played,
and it gets my vote for the best song. More abstract and the closest to
prog than any of the other tracks.
I certainly understand why the album sold less, although I find it strange
that Wetton got the blame for this. Greg Lake sounded great filling in
for the Asia in Asia show -- too bad they couldn't keep him.
Two more B-sides surfaced at this time. "Daylight," the "Don't
Cry" flip, is a rather undistinguished rocker, but better than the
A-side. "Lying To Yourself" (the only Howe co-write from this
period) was recorded just after the album sessions and put on the flip
of "..Smile..", but it wasn't all that great, either.
Bob Josef (15.03.2006)
Now, I actually think this is a big improvement, despite the absence
of Howe (replaced by Mandy Meyer, from a Swiss hard rock band called Krokus).
For one thing, the production is so much clearer - -you can actually hear
everyone's parts well. And at least Downes uses enough of his production
tricks to make Meyer sound like a version of Howe at his weakest. I do
hate two songs, but the not the same two that you hate! I actually detest
"Suspicion" and "Wishing" (floated as a second single),
which show Asia pandering to adult contemporary radio at its worst. However,
I am sucked into to the drama of "Voice of America" and "Rock
and Roll Dream." In the latter, Downes makes good use of his patented
Buggles staccato chords, as he does on "Too Late," a very catchy
track that got a bit of radio play. I should by rights also hate a corny
ballad like "Love Now Till Eternity," but the guitar strumming
and, again, dramatic chorus, work for me here, also. The lyrics show more
variety than either of the previous albums, and the hooks are everywhere.
"Go" is indeed the best track, worthy of a place on the debut.
I personally thought this album had enough going for it for the group to
carry on, but I guess I was in the minority.
The Then and Now anthology was the first place that an outtake from
the sessions, "Am I In Love?", showed up. An even weaker, wimpier,
AC ballad than "Suspicion" or "Wishing.", complete
with awful strings (unlike the cool orchestration on "Rock and Roll
Dream"). Smart move for them to leave if off the album.