ASIA

As a concept, Asia has been widely derided, at least since the group started to fall apart sometime after their second album. Greg Lake, himself briefly a member in 1983, characterized the concept as "corporate." And there certainly is something corporate about the group itself and their debut album. But I'm not sure exactly what it is.

Maybe it's the vocal sound. It's a chant that's equal parts Yes and Kiss. It's monolithic, not unlike a board of directors speaking with one emphatic voice that is not to be questioned. Kind of corporate.

Or maybe it was the band's instant success. The sales expectations for Asia might have been similar to those of early 1980s albums by U.K., Rainbow, etc.; in other words, decent, but not top-ten in the US. John Wetton's voice had never been on a hit single. None of these guys had any kind of star appeal. Why did Asia hit the jackpot? (OK, to be fair, Journey's Escape, released a year prior to Asia's debut LP, was a smash, hitting #1 for one week in the US and winding up as the #5 album of 1981. Asia was #1 for nine weeks and was the #1 album of the year. On the other hand, Escape had three top ten singles, compared to one for Asia. Anyway, Escape was the second album produced by Mike Stone, and Asia was the third. So some Geffen Records execs might have expected at least a Top Forty album.)

Then there's the fact that Asia was a supergroup assembled by a record company's A&R people. Definitely sounds corporate. Prior supergroups - - like Cream, Blind Faith, and Crosby, Stills and Nash - - are looked at differently because they're believed to have emerged organically. Sounds like a fair belief. Of course, it's possible that the members of Asia might've found each other without A&R people.

But it took more than A&R mechanisms to make Asia a hit. The fact is, the album is full of catchy art-rock (or art-pop if you'd like). The hits - - "Heat of the Moment" and "Only Time Will Tell" - - still sound fresh (to me, anyway), with "Sole Survivor" and "Here Comes the Feeling" nearly as strong. I'll also mention the almost jazzy "Time Again," the most "prog" sounding track here.

But the real gem is one I've never heard on the radio, and one which I haven't seen on a greatest-hits album: "One Step Closer." It's a charming duet sung in harmony by lead vocalist and bassist John Wetton and guitarist Steve Howe. Keyboardist Geoff Downes also adds both a nice lead vamp and a complimentary rhythm part to the verses. "One Step Closer" is a bit oddly placed, coming after "Sole Survivor," which might be the heaviest song on the album. But it seems like Asia is sequenced from most to least commercial. The four longest songs make up Side Two of the vinyl LP, and the first three of these ("Wildest Dreams," "Without You," and "Cutting It Fine") are definitely the album cuts. "Here Comes the Feeling" closes things out with a return to a slightly poppier sound during its chorus.

For whatever reasons, CD issues of Asia haven't included "Ride Easy," a harmless Wetton-Howe song that was originally released as the b-side of many issues of "Heat of the Moment" in 1982. Nonetheless, the song has been released by Geffen on several Asia collections.

Overall, the performances on Asia are very good, with some especially strong playing by Howe throughout. The rhythm section of Wetton and drummer Carl Palmer is solid, though neither is virtuosic. With Howe playing a lot of lead parts and Wetton rarely carrying the melody, Downes is often the key instrumentalist, a role for which he's well suited. My only complaint is that Wetton needs to strain to hit some of the lead-vocal notes.

Thanks to Stone, the production is excellent; Asia has a better sound than nearly any record I've heard from 1982.

Despite the quality of this album and of Alpha (1983), the group's sophomore effort, Asia will probably always be viewed with suspicion by many prog-rock fans. After all, this is corporate, commercial rock. But it's also a good collection of art-rock songs.