HIGH VOLTAGE: LIVE

Since there are no reviews yet, here's a quick one. I have given two stars for the "Access All Areas" CD+DVD set that featured Pat Thrall replacing Steve Howe on guitar (in 1990), and despite this one featuring the original quartet, I really can't say I'd like this more.

The venue is London's Victoria Park, and the date is 24th July, 2010. Visually there's not much to be excited, in fact both the stage setting and the camera work are rather dull. The roughly hour-long set features the Asia debut completely -- though not in the original running order -- plus two newer songs: 'An Extraordinary Life' and 'I Believe'. I wasn't impressed in the least by either of them, so I don't even care to check from which album(s) they are from. My interest towards the latter-day Asia is frankly quite minimal, while it's precisely the 1982 debut which I was charmed by in my early teens and which I still enjoy listening every now and then (well, not often, though). Nevertheless, this time, with this gig, I didn't get the excitement. I even used NEXT button for a few times before finishing the song. Glad to say I only borrowed this from library. Needless to say, the CD with identical contents was completely useless to me.

The main fault is poor sonic quality. The band itself plays OK, but the recording is not very good. Sometimes the sound seems oddly muted momentarily while some details sound too loud in comparison. There may have been some technical problems right from the start; I was wondering what Steve Howe was trying to say to the stage stuff with his hand gestures.

My highlight moment was Geaff Downes' mock-orchestral solo spot at the end of 'Cutting It Fine'.