ASTRA

I'm a fan of Steve Howe, so maybe that's why I think Astra is where Asia went wrong. Other than Howe's absence, Astra was written, performed, and produced by the same people who wrote, performed, and produced Asia's first two albums, Asia (1982) and Alpha (1983).

Actually, there's one other difference: whereas those first albums had been produced by Mike Stone, Astra was produced by Stone and Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes. Perhaps this was the point at which Downes's control of the band began. Even by 1985, Downes and drummer Carl Palmer were the only two continuous members of Asia, and Downes would become the only original member when Palmer left in 1991. Although he seemed to be a quiet partner in the Buggles (1979-1981), Yes (1980), and Asia (1981 - ), Downes apparently desired to be a producer as well - - perhaps like Trevor Horn, his Buggles partner. In fact, according to plenty of sources on the internet, he "worked extensively as a producer with such acts as Mike Oldfield, Thompson Twins, and GTR." I'm not sure "extensively" is accurate; as far as I can tell, he co-produced one song for Oldfield ("Magic Touch," 1986) and another for Thompson Twins ("Nothing in Common," 1987). He did produce the entire GTR album (1986), although I'm not sure that's something to be proud of. What all of these works have in common is a short-lived, electronics-heavy rock exemplified by Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 1986 album Liverpool.

Astra has much the same sound. But while "Magic Touch" and "Nothing in Common" were good songs, the songwriting on Astra was relatively poor. The lead single "Go" is pretty good, and I have to admit that as much as I want to hate it, "Rock and Roll Dream" has an awfully catchy chorus. But there's not even a "When the Heart Rules the Mind" here. Perhaps not surprisingly, the tour to support Astra was cancelled.

I'm tempted to suggest that the ill-fitting production style of Astra would never have happened without Howe, but Howe was the one who wanted Downes as the producer for GTR. The real problem is the quality of the songs themselves - - and Howe hadn't written that much of Asia's first two albums anyway.

Astra isn't completely terrible, but it's inessential for anyone other than Asia collectors or completists. "Go" is available on most of the group's greatest-hits albums and as a standalone download. I'd suggest listening to Asia first, and if you like that, Alpha.