Emulating Asia

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Brian Doherty, Oct 17, 2021.

  1. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    To be honest I never bought any Asia albums.... for no specific reason, it just didn't happen.
    I thought Heat Of The Moment was a great single, and I probably need to give that debut album a try at some point. I think around this time I was still reading reviews, and I seem to remember this being roundly dismissed by critics as boring rubbish.... so it's probably very good.

    As for bands following on from Asia?... possibly not sounding the same, but Flying Colors seem to be using the idea of more accessible, semi-progressive music.
    Not sure if that works or not, but I think that was the idea for both bands.
     
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  2. Scottb

    Scottb Senior Member

    Location:
    Nanuet, NY, USA
    'Duke' is a great album but 'Abacab' has about 3 good songs on it. 90125 and Asia's first album are far superior to 'Abacab' one of Genesis' weakest albums.
     
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  3. CybrKhatru

    CybrKhatru Music is life.

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    It's weird. The one album I feel sounds like the Asia record came out BEFORE it... Journey Escape. Both have lots of reverb... BIG sounding everything. ...

    ...and it's the same producer --- Mike Stone. hm.....
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2021
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  4. Endymion

    Endymion Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Here's a song by Europe that sounds even more like Asia:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5gU5Vg2JokU
     
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  5. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Asia's debut doesn't have the really hard rocking songs which take the edge off Escape a little bit, for me. Both albums sound gorgeous though. I love Mike Stone's production style.
     
  6. souldeep69

    souldeep69 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maryland
    I absolutely love that song "Superstitious" by Europe. Well, I absolutely love Europe in general. But that song's one of their very best, and until you pointed it out, I never noticed the resemblance to Asia. Now I hear it, and it really sounds like them on multiple levels. Thanks for sharing that!
     
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  7. BDC

    BDC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tacoma
    I had that 1st Asia album (not positive if there was a 2nd one) There was radio songs, a lot of talk and magazine hype about this super group. I played the album for a while and mildly liked it.
    In the end it really wasn't my thing. Somebody stole the LP from me and I never cared to replace it. If I ever get curious to revisit, I'll go to You Tube.
     
  8. danielbravo

    danielbravo Senior Member

    Location:
    Caracas. DC
    Somehow or other, these guys from Asia knew how to shed their respective baggage and make that debut album. John Wetton once mentioned that as a band they just hoped to record a good rock album with an English spirit. And I think they succeeded more than anything, although everyone expected another ProgRock album and of course many did not understand that this was something else.
    Whether the way it was produced or artistically understood by the band when going to the studios was premeditated or not is hard to tell at this point

    Not even they could maintain that standard on the next album "Alpha", which without being a bad album after all did not achieve the same level of success as the debut.

    And of course, in some way, some producers and musicians of those years tried to emulate that formula (not the sound)... including, for example, Yes with 90125 a year later
     
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  9. curbach

    curbach Some guy on the internet

    Location:
    The ATX
    Well, this what I was gonna say. Why would anyone copy Asia when Asia was already copying the Journey/Boston/Foreigner sound? Asia was following a trend, not starting one.
     
  10. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    Mike Stone never produced Genesis.
     
  11. AntLantic

    AntLantic I63 B9B

    Location:
    USA
    It blows my mind that they were doing Only Time Will Tell in '81 as a five piece with Trevor Rabin singing (Mr. 90125) two years before Yes's album. I wonder if Howe remembers that? Maybe a small influence there. 3/ELP minus L w/Robert Berry seems downstream from Asia (and related to GTR).
     
  12. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Asia's debut sounds nothing like those bands, at least in my opinion.
     
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  13. rednedtugent

    rednedtugent Forum Resident

    Location:
    Funk, Ohio
    Oh you are right. My bad. :tiphat:
     
  14. curbach

    curbach Some guy on the internet

    Location:
    The ATX
    Yeah, and Journey, Boston or Foreigner don’t actually sound like each other either. Yet they collectively defined a popular sound from that era. Asia fits right in with that. They certainly weren’t breaking any new ground. And can’t you just imagine hearing Steve Perry singing “Only Time Will Tell” :)
     
  15. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    Can you hear John Wetton sing Oh Sherie?
     
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  16. curbach

    curbach Some guy on the internet

    Location:
    The ATX
    I definitely could :agree: Would have fit right in on the Wetton/Manzanera album.
     
  17. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    And Asia came at a time when a lot of prog musicians were reaching for a more commercial sound but weren't sure how to go about it. So some of them were duly impressed at how well Asia had pulled it off. I had a brief talk at the time with Jon Camp of Renaissance, who said something to that exact effect-- that Asia had succeeded in what everyone was trying to do.
     
  18. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    Yep. Wetton had the necessary rasp. I think the arrangement would have been a bit different but yes.
     
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  19. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Agreed that none of these bands sound alike, at least. :)
     
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  20. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Though the John Payne incarnation got awfully close to standard AOR on a few occasions, and it wasn't even great AOR.
     
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  21. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Not going to argue there. I'm guessing I like that incarnation of the band more than you but there were usually a few songs on each album that were close to bland and generic.

    That said, their cover of 10cc's Ready To Go Home would be one of the first I'd write down if someone asked me for a list of my favourite Asia songs. It's sublime.
     
  22. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA

    It's a very good song, but Graham Gouldman's own version with 10cc seems more heartfelt and does more for me. You're almost certainly right about liking that band more than I do, but I think they had their moments-- I'd put "Who Will Stop the Rain" up there with Asia's best. And oddly, I found John Payne's album of prog covers really enjoyable.
     
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  23. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Graham Gouldman's versions, either with 10cc or his Heart Full Of Songs project are certainly outstanding. It's just a wonderful song.

    I quite liked the first Dukes Of The Orient too. The second one, not so much. Haven't heard the prog covers album. I'll look it up.
     
  24. troggy

    troggy Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow

    Location:
    Benton, Illinois
    That's not much of a legacy. I don't think I've even heard the hit single from that since it left the charts 35 years ago.
     
  25. ampmods

    ampmods Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    Yeah 80s prog pop was a real thing. Even Rush got into the act (or inspired it).

    But even if you look at some of the hit songs from the 70s/early 80s... some of those came from bands with prog backgrounds... like Ambrosia.

    In the 70s you had Kansas, ELO, Moody Blues, Alan Parsons Project, Styx, Journey, Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, etc., etc. and they all ended up going for pop hits and had them in the 80s.

    Even the pop stuff that was not necessarily sprung from the prog world had a definite prog sense to it too... Todd Rundgren, Cliff Richard, Hall & Oates.

    I'd say 1977-1986 was a good run for prog pop music.
     

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