RARE

Asia in prog album shock!

Beware, this is not a true Asia album. Although released under that name, only Geoff Downes and John Payne performed on it. It is thus "rare" only because it did not sell well, not because it contains long sought after gems by Asia.

The music was created to provide music for a documentary film and video game, and as such is entirely instrumental musak. The tracks, of which there are many, tend to be short or very short, and therefore the album requires to be heard as a complete piece rather than Individually.

Taken on that basis, it's actually quite pleasant, if undemanding. Downes keyboards dominate throughout, moving through piano, synths, etc.

Ironically, given that there is nothing of the true Asia style or sound here, the album is probably the most prog release to bear the band's name!

This IS an Asia release, and John Payne is performing on it, along with of course Geoff Downes. Some people mistakenly refer to this as a non-Asia release because it only features the two artists and obviously, being mainly short instrumental pieces, sounds nothing like anything else Asia has released. However...for the bulk of the 1990's Asia was the prog Steely Dan as both Downes and Payne were the only two members, augmented by session musicians. (1994's "Aria" was the only Asia 'band' release of the decade.) "Rare" is actually the most progressive Asia release to date. Payne does contribute vocals, although no lyrics, although his main contributions are guitar and bass ; this is still mainly Geoff's show, as his brilliant keyboards dominate. "Rare" is indeed a rare treat, finding Asia again confounding expectations and exceeding them. By stepping away from Asia's regular prog-rock styles and stretching, the duo prove their vision has no boundaries. Meeting both Downes and Payne in late 2004 I brought a copy of "Rare" along for them to sign, and both agreed it's one of their favored works. Track down a copy of "Rare" and you will not be disappointed, and just may agree as well.

An enjoyable album consisting of instrumentals only. Not a real Asia album - more a Downes/Payne album.

Not easy to highlight any track here - tracks 1-16 have been written for a documentary and are more like one big instrumental track, tracks 17-22 have been written for a game (and probably Unreal Tournament as the music here really recalls this game). I'd say "The Horizons" and "To The Deep" are the most memorable.

Rating: 75/100

Amoeba

I've seen this album listed as a proper studio album by Asia rather than as a compilation, but it is probably best left out when listing Asia's "regular" studio output in virtue of the radically different nature of the music found here. Even though this was released as under the Asia name it actually has a lot more to do musically with Geoffrey Downes' solo career and his New Dance Orchestra releases in particular. Like Downes' The World Service album which was released in the same year, Rare is an all instrumental album. It consists of many brief instrumentals, some of which were originally intended for a nature documentary and the others for a computer game. I'm guessing that the two tracks The Journey Begins and The Journey Ends mark the start and the finish of the nature documentary material and the rest of the tracks are the computer game tracks, but I'm not sure about this.

The only two musicians credited are Geoff Downes and John Payne. There are no lead vocals at all but Payne does add some choir vocals. There are some occasional drums and guitars.

While I do find some value in at least some of these compositions, the fact that this music was intended to be accompanied by pictures is evident and it rarely stands on its own feet. It is not bad as background music, but it does sound somewhat incomplete and even unfinished at times. Some of Geoff Downes' solo albums are much better examples of his instrumental side. Rare is for fans only.