Both Asias hitting the road for the 40th

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by gojikranz, Feb 8, 2022.

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  1. altaeria

    altaeria Forum Resident

    An Evening With John Wetton
    performed by John Payne
     
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  2. Mooglander

    Mooglander Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mesa Springs, CA
    [​IMG]
     
  3. PTgraphics

    PTgraphics Senior Member

    Gypsy Soul is just Wetton correct? Even though it’s credited to Asia.
     
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  4. altaeria

    altaeria Forum Resident

    Yeah, just him and Giorgio Moroder.

    I think a few of the "new" songs on the Then And Now album were also just Wetton with various studio guys.
     
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  5. PTgraphics

    PTgraphics Senior Member

    Yea that might be true. I know Steve Lukather did the solo on Days Like These. I remember the hype for that song before it was being released. Radio station in Florida counted down when they were debuting the song. You know ‘listen at 2 for the return of the great new song by Asia’ or whatever. LOL. Good times.
     
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  6. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    prerty sure Downes and Palmer are on all of those. Howe was out so it’s a different guitarist on each track but otherwise it’s actual Asia.
     
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  7. ModernDayWarrior

    ModernDayWarrior Senior Member

    At this point, Carl Palmer should just join Yes and just become a hybrid of Yes and Asia and play material from both bands.
     
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  8. altaeria

    altaeria Forum Resident

    Downes & Palmer didn't play on "Prayin 4 a Miracle" , and definitely no Palmer on "Summer (Can't Last Too Long)"
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2022
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  9. doity

    doity Forum Resident

    One was their manager, and the other five were people just avoiding going back into the cold Boston weather.
     
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  10. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    Just like you cant have Yes without Squire much less…3 or 7. ;)
     
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  11. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    Indeed!
     
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  12. NorthNY Mark

    NorthNY Mark Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canton, NY, USA
    Exactly. And neither Geoff nor Carl were on "Days Like These" either--apparently John actually played the very Geoff-like keyboard flourishes on that. For those who don't know about this period, "Summer Can't Last Too Long" and "Kari-Anne" were recorded by John and Geoff (without Carl) when they were trying to re-form Asia in 1987, but abandoned the project when they got no record label interest. And then "Days Like These" and "Prayin' For a Miracle" were recorded by John and various session musicians for an intended solo project. Apparently Asia was subsequently invited to reform to open for the Beach Boys at a festival in Germany in late 1989, followed by a series of German dates (one of which I was lucky enough to attend). John and Carl agreed, though Geoff was working with Greg Lake of all people and therefore couldn't make the shows, so John and Carl worked with John Young and an obscure German guitarist named Holger Larisch. Geoff's project with Greg Lake soon fell apart, and he joined Asia for the release of Then and Now and the subsequent shows including Live in Moscow, before John and Carl left the band, leaving Geoff to re-group with John Payne.
     
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  13. gojikranz

    gojikranz Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sacramento
    thanks for this info didn’t know some of that. Wonder why they held karianne over. Having a full side of “now” tracks would have made that concept work a little better. It’s a bit of a lost track(along with the more dubiously connected gypsy soul) now with recent represses of Moscow not including it.
     
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  14. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Not overly bothered who played on the Then & Now originals. Just glad we have them.
     
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  15. Comet01

    Comet01 Forum Resident

    Marc Bonilla is a very talented guy. He's a fantastic guitarist who spent a decade as Keith Emerson's right hand man in his solo band. Marc also played with John Wetton in the U-Z project.

    2006 video from Keith Emerson tour:


    In 2017, Eddie Jobson and Marc put together the "Fallen Angels" tour as a tribute to John Wetton, Keith Emerson and Greg Lake (all of whom had died in the previous year). It was a two man show with Marc handling vocals, guitar and bass pedals.

    I was amazed at how accurately Marc was able to voice the Greg Lake and John Wetton vocals on the various tours.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2022
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  16. Mooglander

    Mooglander Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mesa Springs, CA
    ^Yes, the KEB live album with Marc is fantastic! I mean...they did "Living Sin"!

     
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  17. Of those, I though only "Summer Can't Last Too Long" was any good. Oddly, I think the guitarist on that may have been Scott Gotham, of Thin Lizzy! Fortunately, when the four got back together for the 2000's reunion, they made some quality music. And Wetton had lived a lot since then. During the wilderness/alcoholism years, there were some spotty albums that usually had at least 2-4 really good songs each. But from about "Rock of Faith" forward, it seemed like he got to a better place and also had acquired some wisdom. Lyrics are often MUCH better on those last few Asia albums, maybe addressing one of the nitpicks of the critics about their earlier music.

    A good example:



    Now knowing that John only had a few more years to go at this point, I find it almost hard to process this tune, perhaps one of Asia's best. Nice chorus melody, too.
     
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  18. Days Like These sure wasted Steve Lukather. I mean, if you get Luke on your album, at least have him play something cool and Luke-sounding! Days Like These had a nice little melody, but was ultimately forgettable and might have really benefitted from a cooler guitar part. Once Wetton finally got the solo album out (variously as Voice Mail or Battle Lines) there were some really outstanding melodies, but the songs seemed almost neutered. Even when there were superb musicians like Mike Landau or Steve Lukather, they weren't really given much space to do anything. You would not listen and knew it was them. And while Robert Fripp had some prominent looped parts (always pretty), they felt kind of tacked-on. I might have preferred a "White Shadow" type of guitar solo somewhere. Still, the song melodies are strong enough that it's a pretty good listen. To my ears, "Rock of Faith" remains the best of his solo albums.
     
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  19. BwanaBob

    BwanaBob Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    I saw that Aqua Tour at a club on Long Island (Chevy's Bel Air in West Islip). It was actually well attended (pretty sure that was due to the Steve Howe presence). I had bought Aqua on the strength of "Who Will Stop the Rain" and I was curious how JP would handle classic Asia.
    Would I see him again? Not sure if JP with some pickup musicians would lure me in. If he had Geoff, I might have considered it.
     
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  20. seacliffe301

    seacliffe301 Forum Resident

    I had the good fortune of seeing John Wetton's last show with the band prior to the "Asia in Asia" project. While Greg Lake did a fine job (he and Wetton do very much sound alike),
    to my mind, the original four are the only viable version of this band.
     
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  21. Dr Mike

    Dr Mike Forum Resident

    He was the guitarist in the 1988 lineup that didn't end up moving forward. He and drummer Michael Sturgis got to know Wetton because Phenomena's "Did It All for Love," which featured all three men, was a big hit in South America, and they did some appearances together to promote it. Wetton and Downes brought in Gorham and Sturgis after this as a prospective new Asia lineup (Carl Palmer was off doing 3 with Keith Emerson and Robert Berry) and recorded some songs in search of a record deal; "Summer (Can't Last Too Long)" is one of these, as are "Kari-Anne" and a couple tracks on the Archiva albums.

    Of course, the band didn't receive any major-label interest, and Downes and Wetton called it off. Gorham, Sturgis and another Phenomena alum, Leif Johansen, formed 21 Guns shortly thereafter. Sturgis ended up going back to Asia in the mid-'90s and played on Aria, Arena and Aura.
     
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  22. I think they even got Elliott Randall (Steely Dan) roped in on some of those songs. And later, a very young Guthrie Govan - setting the stage for Steven Wilson. It's a long and winding road, for sure.
     
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  23. zen

    zen Senior Member

    The music the original four made, had a special blend about it. The way they arranged tunes was perfect. Steve Howe's approach and choice of notes were unique for pop-rock. That is key. I like what Carl Palmer brought to Asia's pop landscape, by keeping it creative, and mostly avoided a glorified "drum machine" role. Downes and Wetton were a great (underrated) songwriting team...and even Howe brought some great material into the band. Don't get me started on Wetton's epic vocals. Great harmonies, etc. Because of the highly productive reunion...for me, this makes Asia the greatest of all the super-groups. 5 strong albums. is pretty tough to top.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2022
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  24. paste

    paste Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    I was at that show! It was a very weird charity show with a local cover band, then Stellar Kart (sp?), who were a pop punk band with religious overtones, and then Asia. IIRC, Asia only played songs from the debut and the current album, Silent Nation.

    It wasn't a free show, but the only place you could get advanced tickets were at some ice cream place - possibly Cold Stone Creamery. There was one not too far from my house and when I went to get tickets, they had no idea what I was talking about, but they called the manager of another store and they had tickets and someone from that store brought over a couple of tickets for us.

    Despite the weird venue and sparse crowd, I actually liked the show and thought Guthrie Govan on guitar was the MVP.

    [​IMG]

    A year or two later, I saw the original Asia play a packed House of Blues and that was an even better show. Not long after that, I saw John Payne's version play an all day retro show with more Wetton-era material than his own.
     
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  25. Scopitone

    Scopitone Caught the last train for the coast

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    Polka versions?
     
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