Asia is bad? Can’t be!

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   This isn’t the first time there’s a topic appearing about how bad Asia is. Really, I don’t understand the fuss.This issue should have been discussed in 1982 not in 2005, but I supposed there was a similar discussion back then. Being a teen at the time, Asia showed me the way to prog music and after that a whole new musical world opened. To my humble opinion they did a great job with introducing young people to this kind of music. I especially liked the first two albums. True on some moments it does sound more like aor than prog but what the hell. On other moments they play an accessible version of this kind of music. This is just what Yes did at the time, remember ? Prog music is not just about complex compositions, classical themes or extended instrumental  interludes. It’s also about creating a symphonic landscape of different instruments playing their parts at the same time to create a symphonic wall of sound and that’s just what these guys did. Songs like “Here comes the feeling”, “Wildest dreams”, Without you”, “Cutting it fine”, “Daylight”, “The smile has left…” , “Time again”, “Ride easy, “After the war”  and maybe on or two others are pure prog. Most of their other tracks could be classified under the file of “aor with symphonic tendencies”, the last category is pure aor : the 4 hitsingles, Too late, Countdown to zero, ….

The 90’s Asia are sounding even more aor but the prog elements are still there. Just listen to some stuff of the Arena album or the bonus tracks from Aura.. But I do prefer the Wetton era with special remarks for the debut album.  Although it may have something to do with nostalgic feelings, I do like Alpha very much as well, just listen to a track like “Eye to eye”, it  may sound very eighties but it’s still very enjoyable and the keyboard and guitar parts are awesome even if the composition is rather simple. Funny how the quality of the music seems to go downhill subsequent release. But their latest aor album Silent Nation was a very decent effort. But it’s no prog by any means. Does this mean this is bad music ? Not for me !  I suppose a lot of people were expecting a lot when they noticed the name of the 4 members on the sleeve of the first album. You shouldn’t compare Asia to what these guys did in the seventies, this was a different era. If you wanted a track of 15 minutes on an album in 82, you wouldn’t get a record deal. When compared to the music of that time, this wasn't so bad.