RARE

Beware, this is not a true Asia album. Although released under that name, only Geoff Downes and John Payne performed on it. It is thus "rare" only because it did not sell well, not because it contains long sought after gems by Asia.

The music was created to provide music for a documentary film and video game, and as such is entirely instrumental musak. The tracks, of which there are many, tend to be short or very short, and therefore the album requires to be heard as a complete piece rather than Individually.

Taken on that basis, it's actually quite pleasant, if undemanding. Downes keyboards dominate throughout, moving through piano, synths, etc.

Ironically, given that there is nothing of the true Asia style or sound here, the album is probably the most prog release to bear the band's name!

I've seen this album listed as a proper studio album by Asia rather than as a compilation, but it is probably best left out when listing Asia's "regular" studio output in virtue of the radically different nature of the music found here. Even though this was released as under the Asia name it actually has a lot more to do musically with Geoffrey Downes' solo career and his New Dance Orchestra releases in particular. Like Downes' The World Service album which was released in the same year, Rare is an all instrumental album. It consists of many brief instrumentals, some of which were originally intended for a nature documentary and the others for a computer game. I'm guessing that the two tracks The Journey Begins and The Journey Ends mark the start and the finish of the nature documentary material and the rest of the tracks are the computer game tracks, but I'm not sure about this.

The only two musicians credited are Geoff Downes and John Payne. There are no lead vocals at all but Payne does add some choir vocals. There are some occasional drums and guitars.

While I do find some value in at least some of these compositions, the fact that this music was intended to be accompanied by pictures is evident and it rarely stands on its own feet. It is not bad as background music, but it does sound somewhat incomplete and even unfinished at times. Some of Geoff Downes' solo albums are much better examples of his instrumental side. Rare is for fans only.