While I lived thru the year as a radio listener, it always surprises me a little when I'm reminded exactly how massive Asia's debut was. It struck me that even like three years later music of its style had little chance of even being top 10 much less being what I recall was best selling LP of the year. Part of that was not really remembering many other bands seeming to imitate them, for how huge they were. Then in past week in streaming shuffles I was hit with both Frank Stallone's "Far From Over" and Donnie Iris' Do You Compute?" both of which sure seem like writer/arranger/performer was trying to grab some of that sweet sweet Asia sound. So was I wrong? Were there in fact lots of post-Asia debut bands or singles that were obviously ripping Asia's vibe? Can anyone think of others?
Asia wasn't all that impactful. I don't know how a band would have gone about sounding like them anyway. Yes' 90125 was a big hit. Did anybody follow that blueprint?
Well, however you might go about sounding like them, it sure seems to me the makers of the Stallone and Iris records were---slavishly so even. It's not like Asia had an inimitable approach....that combined with hugeness, one might THINK it would be imitated, and maybe it was but with songs that didn't quite set the world on fire, as indeed those two singles did not as I recall. But you are certainly correct that Yes Rabin sound was also massively huge, and also not much emulated by later pop artists. Maybe some of the other later Trevor Horn productions in some sense. Maybe huge hit doesn't lead to imitators in pop/rock automatically, tho one might think it ought to in a sense, since pop record makers DO want to sell records.
Asia was great, It's funny how the Steve Howe classic Yes fans/80s Yes haters quickly forget that Steve Howe did the Asia pop thing over a a year before 90125 Yes Steve mentions this in his book also
It was a huge album for sure. In 1981 we thought they were as close to Yes as we’d ever see live (high school kids at the time, saw them in Worcester, MA). I think it’s more they emulated the pop approach/production of that era.
The style of Asia might have felt rooted in late 70's AOR like Toto or Journey. When hair metal picked up steam it probably felt more youthful, and the likes of Springsteen, U2, etc. felt more authentic. Asia might have sounded manufactured by comparison and fallen out of fashion as a result.
I'm from Pittsburgh, and played lots of local gigs there in the mid-'80s. I remember Ah! Leah! well enough, but never heard Iris' Do you Compute? Donnie was a big local name back then. It's crap. Simply awful, despite how much I admire Howe and Hackett's work before it, and even somewhat since.
Here’s one: Cutting Crew’s “(I Just) Died In Your Arms” Geoff Downes style keyboard intro and John Wetton-esque vocals.
Interesting....I dug that single in real time and never really THOUGHT of it as Asia-ish, but as you describe it, of course it is.
I wanted to like it when it came out, but just couldn't stand it. Asia's first one and 90125 are OK. Genesis' first two albums of the '80s are much better. I don't remember anything from Asia's second album at all.
I'm not a fan of the production or really, Wetton's singing - I think copying their sound doesn't work just due to the comparative musicianship and having Downes on synths, it sounds like a slightly new wave esque AOR thing with a handful of progisms I get why they did well, but I get why it didn't last long
Yes. Cutting Crew were already mentioned, but I immediately thought of Asia when they arrived. To some extent, The Outfield, too, although the vocal range was higher. Certainly GTR was sort of Steve Howe's vision of Asia-type music. Kansas' "Drastic Measures" album betrayed a big shift toward an Asia-type sound. Canada's Glass Tiger had a bit of that, too. And I thing you might be able to argue that much of Side 2 of the ELPowell album had an Asia feel.
I have Asia's first and it's alright, but I thought the second Alpha and the third Astra were better. I have Genesis albums as far as the '83 self-titled. I listen to the early '80s ones occasionally but between Abacab and that, only No Reply at All does much for me. I haven't heard 90125; I was never a fan of Owner of a Lonely Heart.
I don't have any desire to hear 90125 again, but I liked it enough at the time, and Yes was still a pretty formidable live act back then. Anderson, Squire, and White hadn't lost a thing.
Asia s/t and 90125 were bigger in the US than Duke and ABACAB but the opposite is true in the UK if you believe the charts. If you think that Asia was over after the 1st LP, I would suggest digging a little deeper. OTOH, I like the Wetton/Downes Icon CDs better than the Asia CDs. Mike Stone produced Asia and Genesis interestingly. (among others including Journey, Queen, etc) I think I'll pull my Asia DADC and give it a spin...
OK, this came a little later, recorded 1985 and released in '86 to be exact, but according to Wikipedia, "Written by Joey Tempest, it was based on a keyboard riff he made in the early 1980s." And if that's not enough to convince you that Joey may have been emulating Asia on this song, perhaps you might consider that he also may have been emulating Asia when he named his band after a continent. Europe - The Final Countdown
Disagree here. I'm happy to accept that the GTR album doesn't quite hit the heights of Asia but it's not too far away, I think. Plenty of great songs and strong musicianship.
Prog acts going pop - Genesis barely counts considering they didn't break up that entire time - their self titled was really taking in lots of influences thought I prefer Abacab, both great records. Yes got one of pop music's best producers and a guitarist that was made for this decade, it's not a favorite but it sounds fantastic and aged better than anything they did for another decade and some change GTR - I've never bothered outside of the hit single. Maybe with a different vocalist... the song itself is pretty decent
