HEAT OF THE MOMENT: THE VERY BEST OF ASIA 1982-1990

It has to be debatable whether Asia really qualify as prog rock even with stalwarts of the genre like Carl Palmer and Steve Howe in the line up.The songs are clearly meant to be radio friendly and very rarely get over the 5 minute mark.I would put this more into Boston and later Kansas territory.If you like that sort of music then I see no reason why you shouldn't like this.John Wetton is one of the best vocalists around and the production quality of all the songs is excellent.As a compilation this covers the earlier albums which in my opinion are the best.This is all the Asia you will need in your collection.

Asia was the first progressive band of the eighties to have a million selling album and their debut was one of the most selling debutalbums ever recorded. Asia wasn't just a new band, the band members all had a glorious past (ELP, King Crimson, Yes). The first album still is their best. Their version of progressive rock was suitalble for airplay on radio and MTV. Songs like "Heat of the moment" and "Only time will tell" may have sound to commercial for proggy ears, other tracks showed the virtuosity of its members. After the first album the sound was getting even more commercial but the massive symphonic sound was still enjoyable. When the band was recording their third album "Astra", Steve Howe was no longer in the band and his absence was noticable even if the ex-Krokus man Mandy Meyer did a pretty good job. After "Astra" which had its moments of glory the band disbanned itself due to poor album sales. The band reformed in 1989 without a guitar player and recorded 4 new songs for a compilation album "Now & then" but soon the writing was on the wall.

If you're looking for a good compilation of eighties Asia, You'll be better off with Anthologia which contains the 3 full albums with all bonus tracks the band officially recorded in that period of time. The tracklist of this compilation lacks some important Asia-gems like "after the war", "countdown to zero" or "without you" and some of the tracks which do appear are shorter than the album versions. For fans of progressive rock, it's very important to get the full track cause this is where the most interesting things happen. Although this compilation does contain 3 excellent B sides ("daylight,"Lying to yourself" and "ride easy") , which were previously unreleased. Not for true fans of Asia but it can appeal to young listeners who didn't know the music of this band before.

Open your eyes

The period cover by this collection was of course Asia's halcyon days when they were a true supergroup who's members origins included ELP, YES, KING CRIMSON, URIAH HEEP, etc.. Asia are the subject of great controversy among prog fans, with many feeling that with such a strong and talented line up, they should have created prog masterpieces to surpass their peers. What they came up with though was elementary power pop rock. Short songs which pack a punch then finish all too soon.

In their early years, the format was enormously successful, taking the band, and everyone else, by surprise. This collection captures the essence of that success, and includes both their hit singles, and many of their album tracks which could have been equally successful in that field.

"Heat of the moment" and "Only time will tell" open the album in familiar fashion, and set the tone for next hour plus of music. If these tracks leave you cold, there's no point in listening to the rest.

John Wetton's majestic ballad "The smile has left your eyes" is here of course, as is the more prog like "Open your eyes". Also present are the wall of sound "Go", and the anthemic "Voice of America" from the "Astra" album. For me, the only obvious omission in fact is from that album, as the Meatloaf/Steinman sounding "Rock and roll dream" was probably just too long to squeeze in.

An excellent collection of the band's work, with a couple of comparative rarities thrown in for good measure, from what was arguably there greatest era.

We all know that some of the greatest prog-rock groups of the 70s like Yes and Genesis made dramatic changes to their sound in the 80s, and enjoyed great success as pop-rock bands. But how does one rate good pop-rock albums such as 90125 and Invisible Touch on a site such as this? Is it fair to savage our gods just because they are good at more than one type of music? I for one, grew up in the mid-80s and loved songs like That's All and Land Of Confusion, a fact I still haven't quite reconciled with my now far greater love for Peter Gabriel-era Genesis. Commenting on some of Genesis' poppier material therefore leaves me with something of a dilemma.

With Asia though I have no such conflicts. The truth is that if it wasn't for its personnel, Asia wouldn't even qualify for inclusion in a prog-rock site. The fact that three giants of prog ... Steve Howe (Yes), Carl Palmer (ELP) and John Wetton (King Crimson/Roxy Music/Uriah Heep/UK/Wishbone Ash) ... got together with Geoff Downes (Yes) to make trite commercial rock should merely be a footnote in the biographies of Asia's parent bands.

I was foolish enough to check out this 18 track album, under the illusion that it was impossible for musicians of such pedigree to play unattractive music ... and I got the slap in the face I deserved. The vast majority of Asia's material is deadly dull (although I make allowance for the possibility that this record doesn't contain some of the group's more creative tunes). There are some catchy upbeat pop-rock songs like Heat Of The Moment, Don't Cry, Lying To Yourself and Only Time Will Tell that stand out among the rest of the rubbish, but frankly even these cuts barely match up to the low standard of groups like Survivor or Def Leppard, and make Toto seem like masters of prog.

Progressive moments are few and far between ... usually only the intros of songs, in fact! Ride Easy, Time Again (which is quite decent but has an awful chorus) and parts of Open Your Eyes may intrigue the desparate, but by and large, this is drivel. ... 20% on the MPV scale