Music Review: Asia “XXX”

XXX

Somebody told me back in the mid ‘80s that Asia was the band where progressive rockers went to die. I thought that was pretty funny, but loved their music all the same, no matter how many personnel changes they went through, the music was always solid. The individual instrumentalist some of the best in rock, and the songs were always good and very often great.

Asia began in early 1981 with the apparent demise of Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, two of the flagship bands of British progressive rock. But the concept for the band started as far back as 1974 with the break-up of King Crimson. Various plans for a super group revolving around bassist John Wetton had been talked about for some time, including the abortive British Bulldog project with Bill Bruford and Rick Wakeman in 1976. Wakeman left this project at the urging of management, according to Bill Bruford.  Wetton, a very fine bass player, song writer and vocalist had paid his dues as a side man in King Crimson, Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry, Uriah Heep, UK, Jack-Knife, and Wishbone Ash. So, in a manner of speaking, it was his turn to lead a band and to let his various talent shine through.

In 1977 Bruford and Wetton were reunited in U.K., augmented by guitarist Allan Holdsworth and keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson. Their eponymous debut was released in 1978. By January 1980, U.K. had folded after one lineup change and three recordings. Wetton's Caught in the Crossfire solo album (1980) did not fare very well in England. In early 1981, Wetton and former Yes guitar wizard Steve Howe were brought together by John Kalodner and Geffen Records to start writing material for a new album. By this point, many progressive rock bands, such as Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, had folded, so many qualified musicians were available for this proposed group. They were eventually joined by drummer Carl Palmer , and finally by Howe's recent Yes cohort, keyboardist Geoff Downes.

Asia “Heat Of The Moment”

The bands early recordings were panned by the critics as disappointing for so much talent, and they didn’t think the band was “true” to the prog rock movement and found them more suited to radio friendly AOR (Album Orientated Rock). But, Asia clicked with fans of popular arena acts such as Journey, Boston and Styx and with the instrumental mastery of the individuals, they certainly had no problem ruling the arenas. The debut self titled album, Asia, released in March 1982, enjoyed considerable commercial success, spending nine weeks at number one in the U.S. album chart and selling over 4 million copies in the U.S. alone. The album sold over 10 million worldwide. The singles "Only Time Will Tell" (#17) and "Heat of the Moment" (#4) became huge Top 40 hits.

In the U.S., the band did extremely well, selling out every date on their debut tour. Asia would go on to receive a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist of the Year. MTV also played Asia videos on heavy rotation — as many as 5 times a day. Billboard named the Asia debut as album of the year. Though Asia, with many personnel changes along the way, would continue to pack arenas and chart highly, they didn’t repeat the critical nor sales success of the debut. The revolving door of players would begin with the second album, Alpha, where Wetton was forced out of the group mid tour and replaced by Gregg Lake of ELP on bass. But Wetton was back in ‘84 for the next album, then Howe left the band to be replaced by  Krokus guitarist Mandy Meyer. this is where the revolving door of great musicians, especially from progressive rock bands, began. Before the decade was done the band would sport musicians such as guitarist Scott Gorham ( Thin Lizzy) and drummer Michael Sturgis (ex-a-ha) , John Young (Steeleye Span and Bon Jovi), and Toto guitarist Steve Lukather. The band wasn’t so much a place for musicians to come to die as it was a vacation spot. A place where accomplished musicians came to relax in a creative atmosphere.

Through the ‘90s the band saw the likes of  John Payne (vocals/bass), guitarist Al Pitrelli ( Danger Danger, Megadeth and Alice Cooper) Ex-Simply Red guitarist Aziz Ibrahim, Elliott Randall (ex-Steely Dan, and Randy Crawford), Dave Kilminster, guitarist Guthrie Govan and ex-Manfred Mann's Earth Band/The Firm/Uriah Heep/Gary Numan/AC/DC drummer Chris Slade. Though these various incarnations made fine music and left an indelible mark on the groups history and discography, none of them could quite recreate the magic of the original line-up of Downes, Wetton, Palmer and Howe.

XXX is the third album by the original lineup, and celebrates the 30th anniversary  of the band which reformed in 2006. XXX  to my ear is the best album since the early days, and may be on a par with the first album. Howe is as electric and as astounding as he ever was in any band, Wetton’s bass work is rock solid and his vocals still rangy and expressive. Carl Palmer is still showing why he is one of the most respected rock drummers of all time and Downes is still amazing on the keys.

“Face On The Bridge” by Asia from the album “XXX”

They’ll also be releasing a deluxe box set of the debut as well as 2 DVD releases and a world tour in support of XXX.  The album is a new collection of what is sure to be Asia classics and contains many songs which will no doubt be concert favorites for the future.

The album is available tomorrow, July 3 at all the usual places, but you can click on any of the links (conveniently disguised as the title in orange above) and be sure to check their website for venues because you’ll want to get your tickets reserved early as they are already selling out.

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Copyright © 2012 Robert Carraher All Rights Reserved