ALPHA

Asia's self-titled debut really wasn't that bad, especially as an early-1980s pop/AOR offering from a band clearly aiming more for commercial success than pure artistry. But Asia is rightly viewed as an album with three or four strong songs, filled out with songs that were less remarkable, though not bad. Any songs left over from the Asia sessions were, one would assume, even less remarkable. Plus, how confident could these guys have been that there'd be a follow-up for which to hold songs aside? As I understand it, there wasn't as much time to write and record Alpha; after a longer-than-initially-planned world tour, the members of Asia caught up on their individual lives, then came back together to capitalize as quickly as possible on having had the Billboard #1 album of 1982. Alpha was released about 16 months after Asia.

The result is more of the same. On one hand, that's not bad under the circumstances. On the other, how much more of the same do we need? Wikipedia states that Alpha is less progressive and more pop-oriented than Asia, and in what appears to be a textbook example of an "echo chamber" effect, I've seen this repeated many, times, including on Prog Archives. Whereas this claim may have some merit, the balance between progressive and pop is only slightly different between the two albums. What is definitely true is that Steve Howe is credited as a co-writer on just one Alpha track, where he is listed to having contributed to more than half of Asia. But in my estimation, of the 21 songs between the two albums (I'm including cassette bonus tracks here - - remember them?), only one is really a Steve Howe song anyway ("One Step Closer," which I consider Asia's best song). Put another way, except for this one track, I didn't notice Howe as a composer on Asia, so the absence of his name from the writing credits on Alpha doesn't represent a major change between the two albums.

One song on Alpha, though, really stands out: "Don't Cry" is a beautiful piece of art-pop, nearly as good as "One Step Closer" and by far the best of the songs with the patented Asia vocal sound. The rest of the album hangs together nicely.

A final thought: which is more poorly named, the band or the album? I hope it's clear why I question the band name; meanwhile, the term "alpha" indicates the very first in a series. Just being picky.

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