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valravennz
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: March 20 2005
Location: New Zealand
Status: Offline
Points: 2546
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Posted: August 13 2005 at 06:26 |
Well I like Asia and own several of their albums. I would not say they are progressive rock - more like 80's power rock with a bend towards commercialism in a very big way.
My favourite album is "Aqua" - easy listening with some v nice guitar work from Steve Howe. Not as hateful as everyone assumes, but each to our own ...
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"Music is the Wine that fills the cup of Silence"
- Robert Fripp
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salmacis
Forum Senior Member
Content Addition
Joined: April 10 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 3928
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Posted: August 13 2005 at 08:31 |
I love the albums Asia did- there, I've said it! I see nothing wrong with the music they did- if they had made a prog album, they'd have been pilloried by the music press for being 'old hat' and 'breaking no new ground'. However, by doing the AOR they did, they gained a lot of criticism for doing non prog material from fans. So, they couldn't really win!
I am not so worried about what they didn't do and choose to enjoy the band for what they were- if I want a prog album from these guys, I'll play Yes, ELP, King Crimson or any of the other bands they were in.
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DavidInsabella
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 26 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 317
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Posted: August 13 2005 at 13:38 |
That's what happens when four musicians think they're so great anything the do will be amazing.
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Life seemed to him merely like a gallery of how to be.
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Wormboy
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 06 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 101
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Posted: August 13 2005 at 19:04 |
Yes, I'm sorry. Asia was indeed bad.
A great lineup does not guarantee a great album. Every guy you
name was past his prime when Asia got together. In fact, none of
them was involved in a highly rated prog album near the Asia
period. By all accounts, it was a pop effort banking on their big
names to make some money.
A better name would have been "Alimony"
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Guests
Forum Guest Group
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Posted: August 13 2005 at 19:25 |
Whats wrong with making obscene money.....that's the Tory party for you.
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goose
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 20 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 4097
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Posted: August 13 2005 at 19:38 |
At least they don't put out naff music at the same time though eh?
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Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 27 2004
Location: Peru
Status: Offline
Points: 19535
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Posted: August 13 2005 at 19:58 |
The problem of Asia is that their stuff is not bad, only weak, but for that level of artists weak is bad. If any 80's POP band would have done this stuff everybody would consider it good, but for this guys is simply not enough.
So now, I can't imagine these guys being bad. You have been owned. |
- GTR: Hackett & Howe together, any prog' fan dream, but it was a nightmare
- Three: Keith Emerson, Robert Berry and Carl Palmer, the three are great musicians but the album is terrible.
- Yes Union: Anderson, Wakeman, Bruford, Howe, Squire, Rabin, Kaye and White, almost all trascendental Yes members (except Moraz) together, but the result couldn't be worst.
- Kino: Arena, It Bites, Marillion and Porcupine Tree members together, but again not the expected.
So, Asia is not the only case in which supergroups don't work.
Iván
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Hangedman
Prog Reviewer
Joined: November 03 2004
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 1261
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Posted: August 13 2005 at 22:38 |
saying that a band is good only because the musicians are good, is like saying food is good only because it has only the most expensive ingrediants. In order to make a good dish you must have a good combination of tastes and flavors, if you just put all the rarest and most sought after spices it will taste terrible. Music is very similar.
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Progbear
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 14 2005
Location: CA
Status: Offline
Points: 139
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Posted: August 13 2005 at 23:15 |
Tiresias wrote:
If you blend Crimson, Yes and ELP alumni, but make them play pop, they are gonna suck |
Actually...that’s not the problem. The line-up certainly had the
ability to make good pop music. But they chose not to, or
rather, didn’t care to. It’s the difference between Genesis’
Duke and Genesis’ Invisible Touch. Prog snobs who pretend
anything vaguely poppy is crap will tell you there is no
difference, but that’s not true.
The problem with Asia was that their hearts weren’t in it. They didn’t
make the music they made because they enjoyed it. They made it because
they were thinking, “this will put another Rolls Royce in the garage.”
The sad thing is, they were absolutely right. There’s nothing wrong
with music that just happens to be commercially successful/viable if
the people making it genuinely enjoy the music they’re making; that
will communicate itself to the listener. It’s when someone makes
commercial pop music purely as a moneymaking venture that it becomes
tragic.
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[IMG] http://www.denness.net/rpi/u/Progbear/fs/8/w/500/cp/2/s/5/si g.png">
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MANTICORE
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 09 2005
Location: Chile
Status: Offline
Points: 350
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Posted: August 13 2005 at 23:28 |
SOLE SURVIVOR & HIT OF THE MOMENT
the only songs that I have listened
very pop.! but not bad
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The Beatles
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Rob The Good
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 17 2004
Location: New Zealand
Status: Offline
Points: 476
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Posted: August 14 2005 at 07:49 |
To be honest, I REALLY like Asia...but they're not Prog. I don't mind - I like to let my hair down once in a while.
Edited by Rob The Good
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And Jesus said unto John, "come forth and receive eternal life..."
Unfortunately, John came fifth and was stuck with a toaster.
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Axis
Forum Newbie
Joined: August 12 2005
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 17
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Posted: August 14 2005 at 08:06 |
I bought the first two albums when they came out. They're OK, I like
some of the stuff. Haven't really bothered with them ever since.
Their current guitarist - Guthrie Govan - is a superb player!
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M. B. Zapelini
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 21 2005
Location: Brazil
Status: Offline
Points: 773
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Posted: August 14 2005 at 08:49 |
As an AOR band, Asia is great, one of the best bands. As prog-rock, they are probably the greatest deception of all time.
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Fantômas
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 15 2005
Location: Brazil
Status: Offline
Points: 1859
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Posted: August 14 2005 at 19:25 |
It isn't just bad, it's motherf**kin bad... Jesus...
ELP is awful, so Asia doesn't really surprise me being even worse...
Damn, Wetton was a member of one of the best bands ever! He should treat the people with more respect!
Edited by Fantômas
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And above all, is punk
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Shaman
Forum Groupie
Joined: June 21 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 48
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Posted: August 14 2005 at 20:59 |
Love the first two albums. It's not prog but is good 80's Rock.
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Sir Hogweed
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 29 2005
Location: Netherlands
Status: Offline
Points: 191
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Posted: August 15 2005 at 05:06 |
This line-up and great Roger Dean covers must have lured many proglovers like yourself into buying their albums expecting to hear great things. I still sense some hard feelings towards this band because of that. If they would have put a removable sticker on the cover, saying "File under pop/rock", they would still have been succesful and their old fans would not have felt betrayed.
I suggest you buy all their albums to learn an important lesson about how statistics relate to music. GTR is another fine example.
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Bilek
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: July 05 2005
Location: Turkey
Status: Offline
Points: 1484
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Posted: August 15 2005 at 05:39 |
ASIA SUCKS!!!!!
there's nothing much to say about this, becasue everything that needs to be said is said. Just make a brief search in the forum. There are several threads on this, and one colloborator had even given some historic facts about how the hell Asia was formed, and what happened since then (with record companies, etc...)
I suggest freakmeeko to keep the hell out of Asia! Not knowing this awful band is far better than knowing it and hating the individual members for this crappy project, despite the great work they put forward before!
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Listen to Turkish psych/prog; you won't regret: Baris Manco,Erkin Koray,Cem Karaca,Mogollar,3 Hürel,Selda,Edip Akbayram,Fikret Kizilok,Ersen (and Dadaslar) (but stick with the '70's, and 'early 80's!)
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Raff
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: July 29 2005
Location: None
Status: Offline
Points: 24429
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Posted: August 19 2005 at 14:25 |
I think the cooking metaphor is very fitting. You can take the best ingredients available and mix them, but don't expect to always come out with something wonderful - it's a question of chemistry as well. In the case of Asia, there was indeed a lot of pressure from Geffen, but also the desire of some members (Wetton in particular) to make lots of money. Then, it all happened in the Eighties, one of the worst periods of all for good music. Look what happened at Genesis and Yes (though I like 90125)...
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Wormboy
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 06 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 101
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Posted: August 19 2005 at 15:29 |
Bilek wrote:
ASIA SUCKS!!!!!
there's nothing much to say about this, becasue everything that
needs to be said is said. Just make a brief search in the forum. There
are several threads on this, and one colloborator had even given some
historic facts about how the hell Asia was formed, and what happened
since then (with record companies, etc...)
I suggest freakmeeko to keep the hell out
of Asia! Not knowing this awful band is far better than knowing it
and hating the individual members for this crappy project, despite
the great work they put forward before! |
Yup. And so gimicky! Let's start the name of every album with "A," whether it's a good name or not!
Like I said, the album name should have been "Alimony," cause I'm sure that's why the album was made!
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bobthesalesman
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 16 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 156
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Posted: August 19 2005 at 15:30 |
Why did so many great bands seem to crap out in the 80s?
Damn punk movement and hair metal.
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www.myspace.com/thepianowar
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