ASIA

I was twelve when this album came out. I had never even heard the term "progressive rock." This album introduced me to some good music and great musicians. It was because of Asia that I learned about Yes, ELP, King Crimson, UK, and the Buggles. This led me to still other bands like Jethro Tull, Genesis, Gentle Giant, etc. It was an exciting year of discovery for me, and I owe it all to the album so many of you are bashing mercilessly. Is it as progressive as it could have been? Obviously not. Does that make it bad? Of course not. There are some great songs on this album ("Time Again," "Wildest Dreams," "Here Comes that Feeling"), and no song is weak.

If the members of Asia got together and said, "Hey, let's make some good pop/rock/prog music and earn some big bucks in the process!" I say more power to them.

And as an unrelated but important side note: This is a tremendous album to make love to. There are not many prog albums that can make that claim. Be honest, how many of you have sex while listening to ELP's "Tarkus" or KC's "21st Century Schitzo Man" (or "Catfood"!)?