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Asia (band)

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Asia is a progressive rock group. It was formed in 1981 as a supergroup, with former members of Yes, King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and The Buggles.

History

Formation

Asia began with the apparent demise of Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the two flagship bands of British progressive rock. Under the auspices of David Geffen's record empire, a supergroup would form from these ashes. After the break-up of King Crimson in 1974, various plans for a supergroup involving bassist John Wetton had been mooted, including the abortive British Bulldog project with Bill Bruford and Rick Wakeman in 1976. In 1978, Bruford and Wetton were re-united in UK, which, after Bruford's departure, developed a more mainstream sound, a precursor for Asia's style. By 1980, after UK's demise, a new supergroup project was suggested involving Wetton, Wakeman, drummer Carl Palmer and (then little known) guitarist Trevor Rabin, but Wakeman walked out of the project shortly before they were due to sign to Geffen and before they had ever played together. A few years later, Wetton and guitarist Steve Howe started working together, Howe having come out of the break-up of Yes in early 1981.

Howe and Wetton were soon joined by Buggles/Yes keyboardist Geoff Downes. Carl Palmer joined the band later in the process. Trevor Rabin was considered for the group and some demos were recorded with him, but he dropped out to accept an offer to join Chris Squire and Alan White in what became a new Yes and the other Asia members decided to stay as a quartet.

The band's early offerings were considered disappointing by music critics and fans of traditional progressive rock, who found the music closer to radio-friendly AOR pop. However, Asia clicked with fans of such early-1980s arena acts as Journey, Boston, and Electric Light Orchestra. Rolling Stone gave Asia an indifferent review, while still acknowledging the band's musicianship had been a cut above the usual AOR expectations.

Early years

Asia's eponymous debut album enjoyed considerable commercial success, spending nine weeks at number one in the U.S. album chart. The singles "Only Time Will Tell" and "Heat of the Moment" became huge Top 40 hits, with the latter cracking the Top Ten, while remaining a stadium favorite at U.S. sporting events.

File:AsiaAsia.jpg
Asia, 1982

One criticism remains that Wetton and Downes' songwriting relied too heavily on love balladry and keyboard hooks. But in comparison with their next two "classic" albums, Asia did tend toward progressive rock, with the anthem "Wildest Dreams" showcasing Carl Palmer's drumming. "Sole Survivor" is reminiscent of Yes. The US tour also did extremely well, while the MTV channel played their videos on heavy rotation.

However, neither the second album, Alpha, nor its singles, repeated the chart success of the first. The power-ballad "Don't Cry" barely entered the Top Ten in 1983, while "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes," an affable John Wetton vocal performance, barely charted in the U.S. Rolling Stone rightfully panned "Alpha" as an over-produced commercial album, while others lamented that Howe and Palmer were effectively reduced to session musicians.

Unsurprisingly, John Wetton and Steve Howe quarrelled over the direction of Asia. In 1983, Wetton left the group briefly, while ELP frontman Greg Lake replaced him for the highly publicized "Asia in Asia" concert in Japan, which was broadcasted over satellite to the US on MTV and later made into a home video. Thereafter, Asia reformed without Steve Howe, who also despaired that Yes had enjoyed a successful rebirth with Trevor Rabin as its new guitarist. However, Howe would enjoy a brief success with GTR, another supergroup formed with Steve Hackett of Genesis, produced by Downes.

Decline

The third Asia album, Astra, was a commercial failure, largely because Geffen cancelled the tour due to lack of interest. Mandy Meyer of Krokus provided more of a hard-rock guitar approach. Yet the band enjoyed a modest hit single, "Go," with Meyer's guitar heroics center-stage. In 1985, this Asia line-up died, although Wetton resurfaced with a 1987 solo album, Wetton-Manzanera, based on Asia material. Asia were also credited with a contribution to the Sylvester Stallone film soundtrack to "Over The Top", although Wetton was the only band member involved. Unlike Wetton's later anger at Asia continuing without him in the 1990's, this project was viewed favorably by other Asia band members.

File:Asia Alpha.jpg
Alpha, 1983

Wetton revived Asia in 1989 to a mediocre reception even from its former fans. Pat Thrall joined Downes, Palmer, and Wetton, who performed classic material and even King Crimson songs. The band toured the former Soviet Union in 1990, while "Then And Now" featured their previous hits and new singles. "Days Like These" charted briefly in 1991, generating a small amount of MTV airplay. John Wetton left in 1992 to focus on recording solo albums, none of which have had any amount of commercial or artistic significance. This was the beginning of the end for Asia. With John Payne they obtained no hit's, no video play on MTV, and the over public perception of being non existent in the main stream world. To the mainstream world ASIA will always be known as the great super group of the early eighties. If one goes out and takes a public poll as to when did Asia record their last song, it is doubtful that no more than three percent will give a date past 1990. Asia received more commercial success with Astra and Then & Now with the songs Go and Days Like These then anything the Payne era produced.

The Payne era

Downes found a new lease on life with Asia by teaming up with superb vocalist/bassist John Payne. Enlisting new musicians, he led Asia through to the present day. The comeback album, Aqua (1992) featured sessions from Steve Howe and Carl Palmer. Downes' environmentalist single "Who Will Stop The Rain?" attracted some radio attention, but the "Aqua" club tour featuring Howe (whose presence was heavily promoted) was poorly received by some of the band's more closed-minded supporters, with Howe only taking the stage halfway through the show. However, the tour was successful enough to warrant the band's longevity.

The group released Aria in 1994 and Arena in 1996. Aria featured former Danger Danger and then future Megadeth lead guitarist Al Pitrelli, who would leave Asia during the short Aria tour. This underscores the fact that the keyboard-driven band often faced trouble keeping a regular guitarist. Furthermore, Arena featured three different session guitarists, including Ian Crichton of Canadian prog rock band Saga. In the late 1990s, Downes and Payne opened the Asia vaults, releasing the double-disc Archiva, a collection of bootleg shows from both the Wetton and Payne eras. All of these releases have been brilliant works.

In 1999 there was talk of a reunion of the original lineup (minus Howe). Luckily, this did not take place and John Payne has continued to carry on Asia with Downes unabated.

File:Asiaastra.jpg
Astra, 1985

The 2001 Aura album showed a return to progressive rock form, but without recapturing the commercial success of the first album. No ASIA album was able to capture the success of the debut or Alpha. Never again would an Asia album or single climb inside the top ten. However, the group continued to tour small venues in America, riding on nostalgia alone. In one show at Detroit, MI in October 2004, Payne and Downes confessed the failure of Aura to capture commercial success, and also joked that Asia would go to Hip Hop and R&B, even playing a R&B jingle with acoustic guitar and keyboards.

Recent years

Asia did change its direction, but towards the style of rock with progressive overtones that made them well-known in the first place. Marking a departure from their previous stagnation, for the first time a studio release was not titled as a single word starting and ending with the letter A. 2004's Silent Nation (name influenced by the Howard Stern vs. FCC incident) picked up some unexpected exposure on the Internet. The band now had a more stable line-up of Geoff Downes, John Payne, drummer Chris Slade and guitarist Guthrie Govan. With a solid line-up for the first time in many years, Asia was able to give its sound more of a "band" feel. The album managed to chart better than 1992's Aqua. There was an acoustic tour featuring only Downes and Payne. In early 2005, the full band toured in Europe and the Americas, performing in settings ranging from small clubs to medium-sized arenas. In August 2005, Slade left the group to be replaced by Jay Schellen.

Meanwhile, Wetton and Downes reunited to record an album under the name Wetton/Downes. Icon was released in 2005.

Downes and Payne have mentioned that there will be an new studio album in 2006.

Personnel

File:Asia Aria.jpg
Aria, 1994

Many musicians participated through the years, especially during the 1990s, when the band consisted essentially of Geoff Downes and John Payne plus an ever-changing set of guests. More recently, Asia returned to a more traditional line-up format. The current lineup is highlighted in bold.

Other musicians joined and left after a short time, without recording any material with the group. The most notable collaboration of this kind was the participation of Greg Lake in the "Asia in Asia" concert in bass guitar and lead vocals. Yet more musicians played as session, guest or live artists without formally joining Asia. Some of the names include Simon Phillips, Steve Lukather, Ian Crichton, Ant Glynne, Scott Gorham, Vinny Burns (touring guitar of Aqua), Tony Levin, Vinnie Colaiuta.

Discography

File:Asia Aura.jpg
Aura, 2000
  • 1982 - Asia (Downes, Wetton, Howe, Palmer)
  • 1983 - Alpha (Downes, Wetton, Howe, Palmer)
  • 1985 - Astra (Downes, Wetton, Meyer, Palmer)
  • 1990 - Then & Now (new tracks: Downes, Wetton, Thrall, Palmer)
  • 1992 - Aqua (Downes, Payne, Howe, Pitrelli, Palmer)
  • 1994 - Aria (Downes, Payne, Pitrelli, Sturgis)
  • 1996 - Arena (Downes, Payne, Sturgis, Ibrahim, Randall, Hotei, Jardim)
  • 1996 - Archiva 1 (Downes, Payne, Glynne, others)
  • 1996 - Archiva 2 (Downes, Payne, Glynne, others)
  • 1999 - Rare (Downes, Payne, others)
  • 2000 - Aura (Payne, Downes, Howe, Crichton, Randall, Thrall, Govan, Slade, Sturgis, Colaiuta, Jardim, Levin)
  • 2004 - Silent Nation (Downes, Payne, Govan, Slade)

Cultural references

Although Asia has not recaptured the success from the early Eighties in its later years, the band's legacy endures, and occasionally Asia references are found in the media. Some of these references are not altogether flattering; Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank," features Professor Bobo (played by Kevin W. Murphy) singing part of verse two from "Heat of the Moment." In one episode of the South Park cartoon, Eric Cartman and the United States Congress sing Heat Of The Moment a capella. More recently, the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin also used Heat Of The Moment in its soundtrack.

See also

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