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Asia (band)

Asia
Background information
Origin England
Genre(s) Rock
Arena rock
Progressive rock
Years active 1981 - present
Members
Geoff Downes
John Wetton
Steve Howe
Carl Palmer
Former members
Mandy Meyer
John Payne
Guthrie Govan
Jay Schellen
Pat Thrall
Greg Lake
Mike Sturgis
Al Pitrelli
Vinny Burns
Trevor Thornton
Aziz Ibrahim
Elliot Randall
Chris Slade

Asia is an arena rock/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.

Contents

  • 1 History
    • 1.1 Formation
    • 1.2 Early years
    • 1.3 Astra to the USSR
    • 1.4 The Payne era
    • 1.5 Recent years
    • 1.6 2006 reunion
    • 1.7 2007 news
  • 2 Personnel
  • 3 Discography
    • 3.1 Albums
    • 3.2 Singles
  • 4 Cultural references
  • 5 See also
  • 6 References
  • 7 External links

History

Formation

Asia began with the apparent demise of Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, two of the flagship bands of British progressive rock. 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 1977, Bruford and Wetton were reunited in UK, along with guitarist Allan Holdsworth and keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson. Their eponymous debut was released in 1978. By 1980, after UK's demise and Wetton's departure from UK, 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. In 1981, Wetton and Yes guitarist Steve Howe were brought together by A&R man John Kalodner and Geffen Records to start working and writing, 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 Yes bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White in what became a new Yes and the other Asia members decided to stay as a quartet. Trevor Rabin, in a filmed interview from 1984 and included in the recently released and updated DVD 9012Live, said that his involvement with Asia never went anywhere because "there was no chemistry" among the participants.

The band's early offerings, under the auspices of Geffen record label head David Geffen and Kalodner, were considered disappointing by music critics [1] and fans of traditional progressive rock, who found the music closer to radio-friendly AOR pop-rock. However, Asia clicked with fans of arena acts such as Journey, Boston, and Electric Light Orchestra. Rolling Stone gave Asia an indifferent review [2], while still acknowledging the band's musicianship was 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 Five, and remaining a stadium favourite at U.S. sporting events.

"Sole Survivor" also received heavy air play on rock stations across the US.

The US tour also did extremely well, selling out every date on the '82 and '83 tours, while the MTV channel played their videos on heavy rotation. Billboard named the Asia debut as album of the year.

Asia became known as pioneers of phase two of the progressive rock era by avoiding long-winded forays, and by including (to at least a greater extent than phase one) enough commercial polish to attract radio airplay outside of album-rock circles. Yes' 90125 and Big Generator, ELPowell's Emerson, Lake & Powell in 1986, and the GTR album would all follow in the Asia debut album's footsteps.

However, neither the second nor any following Asia album repeated the chart success of the first. The power ballad "Don't Cry" entered the Top Ten in 1983, while "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes," a fan favourite for John Wetton vocal performance, charted inside of Billboard's top 40. But Rolling Stone panned Alpha as an over-produced commercial album [3], while others lamented that Howe and Palmer were effectively reduced to session musicians. However, many Asia fans favour Alpha over the debut. The tracks "Eye To Eye" and "My Own Time" became huge fan favourites. "Open Your Eyes" and "The Heat Goes On" became concert staples. Alpha received indifferent reviews from various critics, while still attaining platinum status. Alpha reached #6 on the USA Billboard album chart.

In 1983, Wetton was forced out of the group on the heels of the comparatively disappointing sales of Alpha, while ELP frontman Greg Lake replaced him for the highly publicised "Asia in Asia" concert in Japan, which was the first concert broadcast over satellite to MTV in the US, and later made into a home video. Asia reformed with Wetton in 1985 to start work on their next album, but Steve Howe soon left to be replaced by Krokus guitarist Mandy Meyer. Howe then enjoyed brief and very minor success with GTR, another supergroup, formed with Steve Hackett of Genesis and produced by Downes.

Astra to the USSR

The third Asia album, Astra, was not as commercially successful as the first two. Geffen cancelled the tour due to lack of interest. Howe's replacement, Mandy Meyer of Krokus, provided more of a hard-rock guitar approach. The band enjoyed a modest hit single, "Go," with Meyer's guitar heroics center stage. In 1985, this Asia line-up ended, 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 original band member involved. Wetton formed a band line-up without Downes for a short tour in 1989; keys were played by John Young, guitars by German Holger Larisch. Unlike Wetton's later anger at Asia continuing without him in the 1990s, this project was viewed favourably by other Asia band members.

Asia returned to the studio in 1989 with Toto guitarist Steve Lukather and other musicians (see discography below) and released "Then & Now". Pat Thrall joined Downes, Palmer, and Wetton, on tour who performed classic material and even King Crimson and UK songs. The band toured the former Soviet Union in 1990 to play in front of 20,000 fans, two sold out nights, 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. Asia received the RIAA gold album award for Then and Now. A DVD and CD can be bought of the Asia concert in the USSR. John Wetton left in 1992 to focus on recording solo albums, none of which have yielded any hits.

The Payne era

Downes found a new lease of life with Asia by teaming up with vocalist/bassist John Payne. Enlisting new musicians, he led Asia through to 2005.

The comeback album, Aqua (1992) also featured Steve Howe and Carl Palmer, as stated in the booklet. 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 well received by most of the band's supporters, with Howe taking the stage after the 5th Song. However, the tour was successful enough to warrant the band's continuation.

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 unreleased tracks recorded during the first three Downes/Payne albums.

In 1999 there was talk of a reunion of the original lineup (minus Howe). The original proposition included Dave Kilminster on guitar, who had previously toured and recorded with John Wetton. While Howe was interested in participating, two of the band members vetoed his involvement. This reunion did not take place and John Payne continued to carry on Asia with Downes uninterrupted. Wetton and Palmer did, however, get together to form Qango, which included Dave Kilminster, although the band was short-lived. Dave Kilminster went on to work with Keith Emerson and is now Roger Waters' lead guitarist.

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.

Recent years

Marking a departure from convention, 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. (Govan and Slade had both guested on Aura.) Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen also assisted with early sessions for the album, although neither appears on the final recording. 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, playing settings ranging from small clubs to medium-sized arenas. In August 2005, Slade left the group to be replaced by Schellen. The new band started work on an album, tentatively entitled Architect of Time, for release in 2006.

Meanwhile, Wetton and Downes had released some archival Asia material under the name Wetton/Downes and they then reunited to record an album, accompanying EP and a DVD. The album Icon was released in 2005.

2006 reunion

Steve Howe and Carl Palmer live (2006)
Steve Howe and Carl Palmer live (2006)

On January 5, 2006, the original foursome convened a group meeting in England in anticipation of formally reforming for work in 2006. On 1 February 2006, after the news had been trailed on John Wetton's website, Steve Howe's website announced that the original line-up were planning a CD, DVD and world tour to celebrate the band's twenty-fifth anniversary. While Downes' website confirmed this, Carl Palmer was initially more cautious. In a number of announcements in January and February, he denied any specific plans for touring or recording, while conceding that the four men have been discussing the possibility. [4] [5]

In May 2006, Carl Palmer announced in an in-studio appearance on U.S. cable channel VH-1 Classic that the original lineup of Asia would tour the United States - the territory in which the group enjoyed its greatest success - in late summer of that year. Palmer stated the set list would include the entire Asia album, and that band members would likely "throw in" selections from their respective earlier projects (specifically giving "Roundabout" as an example), to give younger fans a sense of where they had come from prior to forming the supergroup. The drummer said that once the agreement had been reached, everyone was eager to move forward on the project in advance of the anniversary. Palmer added that, should the tour be a success, a live DVD release could mark that anniversary in 2007.

In July 2006, tour dates were announced with the 1st leg of the tour beginning on August 29 in Rochester, NY and ending in London on December 3, 2006. The setlist will feature most or all of the first album as well as a couple of songs from the second. In addition, as mentioned previously, one selection each will be played from Yes, ELP, King Crimson, and the Buggles to acknowledge the history of each member of the band. There will be dates in 2007, as well, with venue size based on the success of the 2006 shows where the band is mainly playing in clubs and theaters. According to the book Asia: Heat of the Moment the Asia website, they have sold out various venues. In fact, the 7 dates in Japan during March of this year were completely sold out.

In an article on mcall.com, dated Aug 26, 2006, John Wetton discusses the possibility of a new album with the original lineup in 2007. He also mentions a tour to Japan in March 2007 and talks about how they have managed to put their past difficulties and personality conflicts behind them. The band announced that after the Asiatic leg the reunion will keep on rolling on tour to South America.

Work by the ongoing band with Payne, Govan and Schellen was shelved. The partnership between Downes and Payne was announced to have been dissolved on 24 February. Payne, Govan and Schellen have formed a new band, initially to be called "One", now called GPS. [6]

2007 news

As of March 16, 2007, it was announced on the band's Web site that Asia will be going into the studio this year to record a new album for release in early 2008. All four original members will contribute. This will mark the first recorded material from all four original members since 1983's Alpha.

Personnel

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. The current reunited original lineup is highlighted in bold.

Other musicians joined and left after a short time, without recording any studio 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, Ron Komie, Scott Gorham, Vinny Burns (touring guitar for Aqua), Tony Levin, and Vinnie Colaiuta.

Discography

Albums

Singles

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note: no singles charted in the US from this point on

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Cultural references

See also

References

  1. http://www.originalasia.com/

External links