Asia

I've been listening to ASIA and offshoots of ASIA since the original Heat of the Moment. I've been a fan of the old and the new ASIA, but certainly have my favorite albums. In all honesty, Phoenix is my very favorite album by ASIA. Yes, the musicians are getting older. But the music of Phoenix has a special, melodic quality that exceeds any of their previous works in my opinion. It is emotional and powerful. Most of the songs are ballads, or at least more mellow than in the past. You can hear the roots of predecessor bands - especially Steve Howe who resembles the Steve Howe from YES. But as far as a reunion album goes by a bunch of old greats, this album is exceptional. If you are looking for emotionally charged music that pricks the soul and elevates the conscience, this is the album.

I have been a fan of Asia since the early 80's and have just purchased their new CD Phoenix. I can tell everyone this and it is great to listen to real muscians, not the de sensitised so called music of todays generation of mindless rap crap and its off shoots. I am not saying there is not great muscians today but I don't feel they get to bring forth there talents as muscians of the 70 & 80's.

This new CD from Asia has the sound and sophistacation from these true muscians. This collection purely broght back memories of an age gone past, this age could do much good in its re surgence.

Sit back and indulge yourself in this age less collection. I hope there will be further colaberations from these talented muscians

After a 25-year hiatus, the original Asia line-up of John Wetton (bass), Carl Palmer (drums), Geoff Downes (keyboards), and Steve Howe (guitars) has finally re-formed and their new album "Phoenix" features the same classic Asia sound that made them so popular years ago. There have been several incarnations of Asia in past years, most recently including Geoff Downes and John Payne, but none of these psuedo-line-ups could match the musical ability of the original foursome.

This CD is loaded with songs containing the trademark Asia sound. Carl Palmer can still bang drums with the best of them, and John Wetton still sounds good on lead vocals. Songs like "Never Again" and "An Extraordinary Life" bring back memories of twenty-five years ago.

I've been a loyal Asia fan for many years, and I bought some of the CDs that didn't include the original line-up. Needless to say, they weren't as good. I kept hoping for a reunion of the original members, and "Phoenix" was definitely worth the wait. If you're a fan of the original Asia, then make sure to listen to Phoenix. The band still sounds as good today as they did 25 years ago.

This is the classic line-up of Asia - again making great music. I liked very much the albums "Asia" and "Alpha" which were their two first albums. I didn't like "Astra" so much and I think that when the vocalist was changed, that something disappeared. However, "Aria" was still great! This new album starts with maybe their best song ever "Never Again" - it has beautiful great lyrics that you should do your best and not harm your brother or neighbor. "Alibis" is one of the greatest moments too. This sounds very much like old Asia - although they are now much older. "An Extraordinary Life" is an excellent way to finish the album. One of the greatest moments is also the cover song "Orchard of Mine". I didn't like it at first but eventually it grew, and now I like it very much. There's only two tracks I don't like so much: "Nothing's Forever" and "Sleeping Giant / No Way Back / Reprise". "Sleeping Giant..." is quite boring. "Shadow of a Doubt" and "Wish I'd Known All Along" are also key tracks in this album. Welcome Back, the original Asia!
Stars: Never Again, An Extraordinary Life, Alibis

Two points here first:

1) As a young'un I was a huge fan of the first release "Asia". It's the biggest reason I got into 70's progressive rock and discovered Yes, ELP, King Crimson, Genesis, UK, etc. As much as I loved "Asia" (the album), I admit after discovering the original bands Howe, Wetton, Downes, and Palmer had played in, I realized "Asia" was a watering-down of their musical abilities. There was little in any of the music of "Asia" that taxed their respective talents on a level equal to early Yes, ELP, etc. BUT, there was a feel and energy with the first album that helped negate the complaints of how "de-progged" their music had become. These guys appeared to be enjoying playing together, writing simpler songs, and enjoying the merits of executing them well.

2) For most of the folks pulled into Asia (the band) by their first or second album, the drug-on-too-long, Geoff Downes version wasn't ever really "Asia". And that's the simplest reason why they were so easily "closed down" and replaced with the "original" line-up. John Payne (from the Downes-led, new version of the band) must have felt a bit of sting in the announcement that the original line-up was pre-empting his work and use of the Asia name, but I'm sure lots of other folks (including me) didn't care so much.

So, I'll mostly look at the CD in comparison to the work from the original line-up.

And how is it? Well, as some review mentioned, it's kind of like meeting up again with an old friend. They look familiar and sound familiar, but they've aged a bit, slowed a bit, and mellowed a bit as well. The good news is it DOES sound sort of like the same musicians who made "Asia" (the CD). It just sounds like they're not quite as nimble and sprite. The BAD news (for me, maybe not so many other folks), some of the songs have lame lyrics (not a first for Asia) and are obviously-crafted pop tunes (not a first for Asia either). But, Wetton's voice sounds good, Howe gets in quite a few licks that sound Howe-ish, Downes gets to use some big bold brassy synth patches, and Palmer keeps a steady beat, not unlike his earlier role in Asia.

So the classic Asia elements are there, just in a version diluted a bit from the first Asia album. As well, the music has been arranged and mixed to focus more on Wetton's voice. On the first Asia album Wetton's lead and multi-tracked backing vocals were catchy and clear, but the arrangements let the instruments take prominence as well, and there was better balance between vocals and instruments. On this, the guitar and keys do occasionally come out front, but not as often as I'd like. Unfortunately, a lot of the keyboard and guitar work seems frequently just complimentary background for the vocals. Lastly even the recording, mixing and mastering seems "nicer" and less aggressive than the first CD.

As a side note, it's interesting to see that 2 of the songs were written entirely by Steve Howe (no collaboration). Part of the reason Howe left the band in the early days was he felt the band was getting too commercialized and his music was getting squeezed out for album selection by the more radio-friendly Wetton-Downes tunes. Appropriately, the 2 less trite, less poppy songs on here are the Howe-penned tunes.

So, if you're looking for something with a similar (though not exact) feel to the first couple Asia albums, this definitely delivers. It just doesn't do so with a boatload of energy. As for Asia videos let me recommend the "Live in Tokyo" DVD from the 2007 tour over "Live in Moscow". For a group of geriatric rockers, they pull off quite a nice show.

When talented musicians from famous bands like Yes, ELP and King Crimson get together and create a super group what becomes the result? In this case; a big world tour and the best selling album of 1982. This fact doesn't tell us much about the music though. Heat of the Moment and Only Time Will Tell are timeless classics which got a lot of air play during the time of the album. They both are warm and emotional arena rock songs with memorable melodies and choruses, and John Wetton's voice fits perfect. The album as a whole shows the talents of the musicians both when it comes to song writing skills and musicianship. Steve Howe gets a lot of time to show his creativity and when it comes to invent original and progressive guitar work, but at the same time it's held back at a radio friendly level. The mix of warm and sing a long friendly rock, where almost every song could have been a hit single, with the progressive and jazzy guitar work from Steve Howe make this album am absolute classic!

Wonderful CD - had the album years ago. Every song is a hit, and if your like me, perfect for singing when you are alone in your car!

This is about as close to being an essential album as an artist can get without being rated as such. The line up of songs is near fantastic; it's arena rock at near its best. Best songs on here are "Heat of the Moment" "Sole Survivor", "Without You" & "Cutting It Fine". It's the song "One Step Closer" that keeps this album from being essential.

Asia was a "supergroup" with its members coming from other well established groups: Steve Howe (lead guitarist from Yes), Carl Palmer (drummer from Emerson, Lake & Palmer), John Wetton (vocalist & bassist from King Crimson) & Geoff Downes (keyboardist from the Buggles). With that lineup you just knew you were gonna get prog/art rock out of you-know-what! Surprise! They actually gave us a commercial, streamlined version of that. They still seemed to be pompous in their music.

This is probably the only studio album one needs to own on this group. The following albums fell off dramatically in quality. Liner notes are non-existent. But the album cover is sensational. Yes fans will know who I'm referring to!

I remember when this cd was released in the 80's...the supergroup made of some great musicians of prog music....this album got immediate success, everybody liked it. Now listen to this cd again and realize how this was a poor cd. I did and I can say that this album is really poor and I won't listen to it for the rest of my life, this is the kind of pop prog for the mass and has nothing to do with real prog music. Instead, look for what these guys has made in the 70's with their respective bands and you'll see the difference....

At the dawn of the 1980s, the ship of progressive rock had all but foundered on the jagged reefs of musical fashion, weighted down with its leaden pretensions and buoyed on toward ruin by a new wave. Things looked bleak for fans of this once-glorious genre. But then, like a phoenix from the ashes, a band arose from the wreck, borne on the wings of a dragon: Asia.

By its very nature, any supergroup is bound to inspire somewhat outsize expectations. But Asia had outsize expectations even for a supergroup. Assembled from the ranks of Yes (Steve Howe), Emerson Lake & Palmer (Carl Palmer), King Crimson (John Wetton), and the Buggles (Geoff Downes), Asia - or the idea of Asia - must have seemed a band of messianic proportions to fans of prog rock. So with outsize expectations firmly in place, Asia proceeded to confound them utterly.

The big hits "Heat of the Moment" and "Only Time Will Tell" give a good indication of ASIA, both album and band, overall. One can hear traces of King Crimson in Wetton's elephantine bass sound and passionate vocals; there are moments that recall Yes when Howe interweaves his classically-tinged guitar lines with Downes' beefy keyboard textures. But ultimately, this doesn't sound like some alchemical fusion of its members' former bands. Because by focusing their attack into four-minute blasts instead of sprawling LP-length epics, Asia strip prog down to its sinewy core - "arena prog", if you care to put a label to it, sounding as much like Journey as Genesis. (Early Genesis, that is - in the early 80s, Genesis were blazing many of the same trails as Asia were.)

For prog purists, that constituted nothing short of treason. But for listeners who came without preconceptions - i.e. those who sent ASIA soaring to #1 and "Heat of the Moment" and "Only Time Will Tell" to #4 and #17, respectively - it sounded pretty damn awesome. The furious "Time Again", the pulsating "Here Comes the Feeling", the exuberant "One Step Closer"... still sounds pretty damn awesome, really. Asia may not have been able to save progressive rock. But they were able to produce a great album, and that's good enough for me.

I only really remembered the main ASIA songs that I heard on the radio. I liked what I heard of them but I didn't hear a lot from them. I thought I'd buy their Greatest Hits to get the ones I remembered and basically sample some of the ones I've never heard of. In the end, the ones I remembered were the best on the CD. The others are a little forgettable in my opinion. Again, I was never a dedicated fan.

Buying this along with a copy of "Gold", I should have stuck with the latter purchase instead, since this compilation has "Sole Survivor" and "Here Comes The Feeling" (two songs that I enjoy from this band, if not as much as their monolithic threesome, "Heat Of The Moment", "Only Time Will Tell", and "Don't Cry") with some edits that take the fun out of listening to them. The other songs that weren't big hits aren't so bad to listen to, but then this band is more of an acquired taste to me.

All I can say is that I'm glad that I found this particular collection of the best of Asia! So many of their songs that I hadn't heard in a while still sound as good as they did 25 years ago! The musicianship is truly remarkable, and the producers did a great job in selecting the songs to include in this compilation. Truly one of the super groups of the 80's. By the way - they have been touring recently with the original lineup - Howe, Wetton, Palmer, and Downes. If you have a chance to catch them live, by all means - DO! They may be getting older (like the rest of us), but still know how to ROCK!

This is a excellent compilation of ASIA. One of the last groups that play progressive/pop/hard rock so well! The cd features 3 songs never included on a ASIA original albums. Enjoy!

i like this song, the last time i heard this it was during the 80's i am so glad that i found it again on yahoo. it makes me think of my boy friend. it has a great dance beat. if you liked this song you will like heat of the moment by asia. this is one great song to get!

Are you guys kidding ? If Prog was not a joke before, Asia made damn sure that anyone with any sense at all abandoned ship. If it were not for the reconstituted King Crimson - it would have all been over. I'm a fan of the Downes-era Yes and even the first album but this......contrived and formula driven dribble.

I like Asia, I really do. I'm not so sure I am satisfied with this album from some of the "giants" playing on this CD. I loved their first recording and I heard a lot of positive talk about this their second album "Alpha". I ordered a used copy on Amazon for less than a dollar and I am still wandering if I got a deal. I coulsdn't tell if that is Carl Palmer or my cousin on drums and where in the world was Steve Howe (on the telephone?)Most of the songs, while ok, sound as if they were stamped from the same mold and don't offer up much variety. I would rather reccomend their first album "Asia" or the latest release "Phoenix". Back to you Paula. - Ciao

As a follow-up release to ASIA's self-titled best-selling album, "Alpha" does a relatively good job of holding its own.

The biggest hit featured, "Don't Cry", doesn't have nearly the punch of the first album's claim to fame, "Heat Of The Moment", but it is still an enjoyable listen.

One of the drawbacks of the album is that so many of its selections, while truly well-executed, never received their much-deserved attention and airplay on the radio at the time of the album's release.
"Never In A Million Years" is a fine power ballad, and "My Own Time (I'll Do What I Want)" is a powerful anthem for any wannabe rebellious teen of the '80s. The song that comes closest to the strength and impact of the first album is "The Heat Goes On", with cords and lyrics that harken back to the band's initial work.

But it must be noted that there is one near-criminal omission on this CD. In the original LP and cassette release of 1983, there was a final song included, entitled "Daylight". Arguably the best song on the entire album, it was presumably cut because back in the day CDs were quite new and the time allotted on them was fairly limited. Rather than examine the listing for the least impressive piece, the final track was simply eliminated when "Alpha" first came out on CD. (Why, in a time where we can now fit 20 tracks on one dsic, the album was never re-released with its original, full listing, is beyond me.)

If you can find the song "Daylight" on another collection or download it, do so by all means. "Alpha" is indeed worth having in your music library, but preferably on vinyl or, if you can actually find one, cassette. It's CD version is indeed lacking considerably with one of its best cuts missing.

Forget all the negative reviews on this cd.It is the best one Asia has put out period.Songs like midnight sun and never in a million years are great.This album is not as hard as the first release but its more melodic.Do yourself a favor and get this cd.

Luis Mejia (son) - Asia marked an era of melodical new style of arena rock with their debut self-titled album, being the first supergroup of the 80's, but after the success of the debut, they tryed to keep up with the fame but just couldn't get along with this album.

Alpha is a very nice album to hear, having great mellodies and beautiful escapist sounds that should be enjoyable for any fan or casual listeners, showing their habilities and experience of past bands, but the album retains a great lack of originality and complexity, they seemed to be blinded by their mainstream success and got lazy on this album; not a total failure, still. The music composition and the lyrics are a lot inferior, some lyrics even seem to be incoherent or ridiculous such as The Smile Has Left Your Eyes and I'll Do What I Want. Certainly the best tracks among the album are Don't Cry, which keeps a lot of originality, and The Last To Know, which is the tracks that has the most beautiful mellodies in the whole album. The two most famous songs in the album are Don't Cry and The Smile Has Left Your Eyes.

Among the artists its to notice that Downes' keyboards dominate the whole record to the point of leaving behind all the other instruments. Wetton's voice is always nice to hear but he didn't make any vocal effort or stunning choruses. Howe's guitar is nice to hear but it appear only eventually in certain parts of the songs to add a little touch of power ballad and not leaving the music in simple synthpop. Palmer's battery is played in a very delicate but rythmical way. Downes and Palmer are the ones who dominate the album.

In conclussion Asia gave a nice try within mellodies and electronical but sweet sounds but within that they got lazy; still I recomend it to any fan or casual listeners, the album leaves a good impression of the band.

Love this CD. Great for background music at parties or long road trips.
Funky, jazzy, hip-hop, fun. Ethnic eclectic sound.

My two boys (age 2 and 7) LOVE this CD. We play it almost on a daily basis and they dance around all over the house to it. After a year, it still has this effect to them. Their favorite track is the 2nd one. I rarely get to listen to the whole CD through before they are jumping around asking for "TRACK 2! TRACK 2!"

This is by far my (our) favorite Putumayo compilation!

I received this CD as a gift from my younger sister&I STILL enjoy it.It's worth every listen.

This CD kicked off Putumayo's Lounge series,giving it an auspicious start.There are tracks I enjoy more than others,but it isn't a weak album;there aren't fillers.The best tracks are those by Pink Martini,Nicola Conte,Jasmon,Mo'Horizons,Gotan Project,Hamid Baroudi,Montefiori Cocktail,Arling&Cameron,and Blue Asia.Mau Mau&Dissidenten aren't my favorites;as you can see,99% of the CD is pure perfection.

The music uses a variety of styles.Nicola Conte,Jasmon,as well as Arling&Cameron use Bollywood as inspiration."Shiva's Daughters" is loveably cheesy.Hamid Baroudi&Blue Asia make haunting Middle Eastern melodies.Mo'Horizons&Gotan Project have more Latin flavors.Montefiori Cocktail turns a Brazilian bossa nova tune into kitschy bliss.Pink Martini from Portland,Oregon (being from Oregon,I'm proud of them)gives a nod to chanson.

This CD is intoxicating;it's a musical margarita.

I have had this CD for a while and I really enjoy it. I actually play it quietly in the background when I teach Pilates and the class LOVES it....every time I use it at least one person comments on my "great" music...I always share the title with them. Great music is meant to be shared!!

Putamayo always puts out great albums, and this one has a great beat, especially good in the background when you have people over.

Asia's GOLD is an even better version of their ANTHOLOGIA double-CD set; both include the entirety of the recordings they made for Geffen between 1982 and 1990. This one improves the sound quality immensely and corrects some errors in the original version. Therefore, even if you own ANTHOLOGIA, you should buy this set, especially since the belief among the members of the original line-up- now back together- that Indonesia's 2005 drug-smuggling conviction of a young Australian tourist was trumped-up and unjust makes this collection an essential purchase for your conscience as well as your ears, even if the original album covers aren't in the booklet for this one.

Gold is not just another Asia "greatest hits" album, but rather a collection of all their tracks from their first three albums, plus B-sides and the 4 new tracks from Then & Now. Everything in this collection just sounds great, with no chopped-up tracks or anything to ruin the fun of listening to even the classic greats ("Heat Of The Moment", "Only Time Will Tell", "Sole Survivor", "Here Comes The Feeling", "Don't Cry", and "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes"). This is the compilation album to have if you want to hear all that the 1980s version of Asia has put out for songs.

After having been slightly dissapointed in ASIA's current album Pheonix, Listening to ASIA GOLD was an incredible pleasure as well as a rich nostalgic trip back to the eighties. Lets face it, without john wetton, it just isnt asia. This compilation of greatest hits has some great b-sides that I havent heard since the late eighties/early nineties. This is as complete a collection of Asia as you're bound to get. Two Discs with all three albums..b sides from the first two albums, four original songs that were included in the previous asia greatest hits cd. Wow is all I can say. The sound of Asia is still rich and epic as ever. A great bargain for the price that amazon is selling it. This is a must have for any Asia fan.

great band and all their music before their breakup. Finally back together and making more good music. Buy this now!

Based on a previous review, someone said that this was the best, most complete collection, I purchased this album...and the review was correct. I got a great album. The quality of musician-ship is surrounding. If you like Asia and you want a sampling of their music, then go for the GOLD.

Many years ago when the first album came out bough it with intense years> I found out that as my age progresses I tend to actually listen as I was at the opera ASIA has been my opera music. because they have mastered lyrics for the upper heavy metal croud. they are todays music masters.
I rate a five.

Astra has long been looked down upon as the weakest of the original three Asia releases. With Steve Howe officially out of the fold, the disintegration of the original Asia prog-rock-alumni-supergroup concept was well underway, and this would prove to be the last Wetton-era studio release (not counting 1990's largely compilatory and contractually obligated "Then & Now") for another 20 years.

So by all means, Astra "should" be relegated to the occasional-listen, obscure-80s-AOR pile. Yet it's actually one of my favorite CDs of all time.

Let me be clear: I'm not an Asia fan whose affinity for the group is limited to any one subset of their long and diverse history. I love music from both the Wetton and Payne eras, and I have just about all the releases. Maybe this frees me from harboring prejudice against anything with an Asia label that's not Downes/Howe/Palmer/Wetton. Maybe it's just personal preference. Either way, I think some of Asia's strongest material can be found on Astra.

Even without Steve Howe, Astra has an extremely distinct "early Asia flavor." That's because it burst forth primarily from the John Wetton/Geoff Downes songwriting nucleus which, it may be argued, was largely responsible for defining the group's epic-yet-pop-accessible sound in the first place. Howe's characteristic guitar style is noticeably absent, but for better or for worse, it would not have been emphasized enough in these compositions to matter. That said, Mandy Meyer does a perfectly good job of picking up the Asia guitar mantle for this release.

The version I'm reviewing is some kind of re-release, supposedly remastered. So far, I have not detected any discernible difference in sound quality from the original. But it was cheap, and I didn't mind picking up a second/newer copy anyway, since my old Astra CD is looking a bit worn. I can say that Astra always had very weak bass (typical 80s production style), and if anything, I'd like to see remastering fix that. Unfortunately, that does not appear to have been addressed with this re-release.

So how about the songs themselves? I normally wouldn't do a track-by-track review of an entire album, but it just so happens that I like every song on Astra, which is rare enough to justify the added thoroughness. (Note that the track order on this reissue is slightly different from that of the original release.)

The CD leads off with "Go" and "Voice Of America," probably the two best-known songs from this release, and apparent staples of Asia concerts in the years since. "Go" is an energetic anthem that lives up to its name, and "Voice Of America" showcases John Wetton on the layered-vocal-harmony sound for which he is perhaps best known.

"Hard On Me" is a fun song that, for whatever reason, doesn't get a lot of recognition. It's very typical Geoff-Downes-synth-driven rock, which isn't a bad thing at all.

"Wishing" is a powerful, moving, fast-ish-ballad-ish song with a timeless, bittersweet melody and lyrics, and I'm really surprised that it wasn't a big hit. It has everything you'd expect in a hit song: a catchy melody, touching romantic lyrics steeped in a feeling of loss and yearning, a nice arrangement and instrumentation, etc. I'm not sure whether it was even released as a single, so I can't say which factor(s) is/are to blame for this song not achieving greater popularity.

"Countdown To Zero" uses a very distinctly eighties-ish sound to discuss a very serious subject (World War III and nuclear holocaust), although lyrically (and perhaps instrumentally, depending on your tastes), it wear its cheese on its sleeve. Notice the insertion of "timely issue phrases" like the line about "stinging acid rain," which actually makes no sense at all in this context -- it was just an attempt at sounding current and hip with the big issues of the time. Well, call it a guilty pleasure, but I still like the song. The melodies and harmonies are solid, and the arrangement very effectively evokes the intended mood of impending doom. Plus I like the processing of Wetton's voice on the spoken part. He sounds very commanding and "god-like."

"Love Now Til Eternity" starts out sounding like, for lack of a better term, circus music; but it quickly turns into a melodically powerful romantic ballad. If you're looking for ultra-profound lyrics, you might not find those here, but the music does a beautiful job.

"Too Late" is a classic Asia-style rocker. Multiple layers of Wetton on top of organ introduce the chord progression, and then synth and guitars take over, with the help of some interesting Carl Palmer double-bass. On the chorus, this song reminds the listener that Wetton vocal harmonies and Downes keyboards combine to form a sheer wall of sound that few artists in the history of rock could rival.

"Suspicion" is one of my all-time favorite Asia songs. That's not because of the lyrics, which are fairly stock and even strange at times. It's because of the composition and instrumentation, especially from about the 2:25 mark through the end of the song, where (mainly) Downes does what he does best: an epic, bombastic, larger-than-life, synth-driven, more-than-a-minute-long outro (an approach also heard in "A Far Cry," "Enough's Enough," and "Free," among others). If I had to pick a favorite aspect of Asia's music, the "Big Geoff Downes Outro" would be it, and this song has it in a big way.

"Rock And Roll Dream" obviously has something to do with rock stardom, but it's not entirely clear what the lyrics are saying about the subject. The song has varying sections ranging in mood from ominous to epic and heroic. The ending is almost playful, featuring interplay between Wetton harmonies, guitar, and keyboards.

This brings us to the final track: "After The War." The lyrics seem to describe a post-apocalyptic fantasy world with some megalomaniacal madman to watch out for. Again, I'm not too concerned about the exact meaning of the words. They create a feeling that is well supported by the music. Carl Palmer gets to show off a bit on this track, and Wetton sounds as authoritative and commanding as ever. This song reminds me of part of why I like Asia: many of the songs are about more than the usual set of possibilities -- boy meets girl, boy gets dumped by girl, boy tries to lure girl back, etc. -- conjuring up interesting images and letting the listener wonder a little. In that sense, this song is an effective closing track.


After listening to Astra for many years, I feel that every song has something interesting to offer. I think it's unfortunate, in a way, that Asia saw such massive success with their first album (riding the wave of popularity generated by the song "Heat Of The Moment"), because it managed to overshadow just about everything that was to follow, especially as "creative differences" gradually split the band over the next few years. Astra was essentially the last musical gasp of that era of Asia, but by no means is it a collection of leftover scraps.

If I had to isolate a weakness in the album, it would be the lack of blatant instrumental virtuosity. Clearly, given their musical pedigree in acts such as Yes and ELP, these players (well, at least the original three -- no way to know about Meyer) are endowed with impressive technical skills. And sure, we all know Asia has always represented the "poppier" side of progressive rock, probably not qualifying as "prog" at all by some people's standards, but other Asia albums at least -- particularly the first one -- have exhibited slightly meatier chops and tighter playing. Yet given the typically "accessible" flavor of Downes/Wetton songwriting, the relative musical simplicity of Astra should come as no surprise, especially with Howe gone. I think it's an unfortunate omission, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying the music.

Solid composition and instrumentation, backed by Carl Palmer's distinct style on drums, Geoff Downes's epic synth ambience, and John Wetton's inimitable "wall of vocal harmony" -- with a more-than-competent guitar presence from Mandy Meyer -- make Astra a solid release deserving of as much recognition as any in Asia's catalog.

What we have here is a much-maligned effort that does not deserve the bad rap inflicted by some on this Web site as well as reluctant buyers of this LP over the years.
Sure, the band's inaugural "Asia" smashed its way into the best-seller charts three years before with a heavy dependency on lead guitar from Steve Howe. By the time "Astra" came along, Howe was gone and the capable Mandy Meyer took his place.
I applaud the band here, especially singer/composer/bassist John Wetton, for stretching the bounds of creativity. It's a drive that's marked his career, as he was always one to exit the safe, four-lane highway from time to time to challenge the riskier, unknown paths to the sides.
In "Astra's" far-reaching melodies, Wetton and his lineup break out of the claustrophobic confines of simple guitar-bass-keyboard-drums and add a wider range of sounds yet still keep their trademark Asia harmonies.
From the echoes in "Go" to the ballad-like "Love Now Till Eternity" to the anxiety-filled "Suspicion" to the end-game "After the War," this LP offers a much broader smorgasbord of sound than Asia's previous two efforts.
"Astra" didn't take the first few times I listened. But then something clicked -- or, rather, it cracked the veneer of Asia's previous predictability, and it's been near the top of my CD heap ever since.
Enjoy it for what it is, a nugget of quality music in a decade when such work was, by the standards of the '60s and '70s, elusive.

After being spoiled by "Asia" and "Alpha", "Astra" really pales by comparison. The glaring absence of Steve Howe is virtually devastating to the effort as a whole. The overwrought, cheesy synth-driven tunes, as good as some of them are, could have been dramatically improved with the addition of Mr. Howe's guitar wizardry. I realize he was out of the group by this time, but you'd have thought they would have at least attempted to duplicate his sound here and there. That being said, there are some good songs here and overall it's worth a listen to. I'm pretty pumped to hear their new cd "Phoenix". The samples I've heard so far are promising. Here's hoping Steve Howe gets his due on the new album and returns Asia to the original sound that made them a household name in 1982!!

I had this DVD before only lost it due to a B&E. It's great to have the music back again. I listen to it almost constantly. I'll probably wear it out.

pure fire any hip hop fan go get this!! this is hip hop in its purest form!!

i thought i was ordering the movie but didn't realize that this was in fact an audio cd. the seller was very understanding and refunded my money immediately. thanks.

Out of the context of the film, the songs aren't quite as cool, but still some good solid hiphop and a good rendition of "Happy Day." If you haven't seen the documentary, I highly recommend that -- it gets 5 stars.

I have seen David LaChappelle's documentary film: 'RIZE' and was completely blown away by its presentation, artistic sensitivity, its exploration of body & soul and the marriage of both in rhythmic splendor; and too, in the surprising exposition of INTELLECT as expressed by its film dancers & characters, which bears out my premise that intellect is the 'diamond in the rough,' whereas intelligence is simply and affordably acquired. The people therein will serve as an inspiration to their generation and those to come, with their spiritual maturity, intellect, artistry, and 'rize' above environmental gravity. I do not know them personally, and it does take much to gain my respect, but I will say outrightly: I am proud of them! The very essence of survival, wisdom, battle fatigue, despair, death, and its rise over these crippling effects, are the fodder of which any aspiring writer or preacher could take for their next book or sermon. My respect goes out to them all. God bless them one and all.
... CULLEN DORN

At the beginning, I was perplexed and assumed they were on drugs or belong in a mental hospital. However, at the near end of the movie, it was based on their belief and completely respect that. An interesting movie, if you are openminded.

If you like clownin u'll like the soundtrack... and if u liked the movie you'd like the soundtrack... cept there are some songs that dont belong wit the clownin theme but it is the movie soundtrack.. those songs bring the cd down as a whole but its all good...