AURORA (EP)

"Aurora" is essentially an EP of outtakes from Asia's first two albums, plus a track from their third. Released (in Japan only) in 1986 when the band appeared to have run its course, it opens with "Too late" from the "Astra" album. It is by no means the best track from that album, but its commercial orientation led to it being selected as a promo single. Think of it as "Don't cry, part 2" and you've pretty much nailed it.

"Ride easy" was the b-side of the single "Heat of the moment" from the first Asia album. It has all the right ingredients for an Asia track, but is rather weak compositionally.

"Daylight" was the b-side of the "Don't cry" single, also appearing on the cassette version of "Alpha" and later unlisted on some releases of the CD versions of that album. It's pretty weak in Asia terms, and rather labours the band's formula.

"Lying to yourself" has a real 60's feel. It's a mid-paced pop ballad which sounds very "Hollies" save for a brief 80's instrumental. The track first appeared as the b-side of the sublime "The smile has left your eyes" single from the "Alpha" album. It was probably best left off that album, but is something of a hidden gem.

John Wetton had a hand in writing all four tracks here, with Steve Howe and Geoff Downes contributing to two a-piece, and Carl Palmer to one.

This vinyl only EP now has considerable rarity value. All the tracks have however subsequently been made available elsewhere, most notably on the "Anthologia" collection which gathers together all the band's early material in a 2 CD package. Thus, this one is strictly for devoted fans only.

It has the next songs:

"Too Late" (composed by John Wetton /Geoff Downes / Carl Palmer): from ASIA's third album titled "Astra" (1985). This song also was released as a single "A" Side in the U.S. in 1985, reaching there a Number 30 in the charts. A good Pop Rock song from the "Astra" album, an album which was unsuccessful and which has more of the very typical eighties's sound (with a lot of reverb) and production than their previous albums ("Asia", from 1982, and "Alpha" from 1983). It has Mandy Meyer on guitars, playing in a very different style to Steve Howe's, who left the band in 1984.

"Ride Easy" (composed by John Wetton / Steve Howe): previously released as the "B" Side of their "Heat of the Moment" single (but not in the U.K.). Wetton said in their "Fantasia - Live in Tokyo" DVD / CD from 2007 that this song was in fact one of the earliest songs that he and Howe composed for the band. This studio version is more a Pop Rock song with some Prog Rock influences. It also has Howe on guitars. The acoustic version which was included in their "Fantasia - Live in Tokyo" CD / DVD is more "nostalgical" and maybe better than the studio version. I sometimes prefer the live acoustic version.

"Daylight " (composed by Wetton / Downes): a very good song which was previously released as the "B" Side of their "Don't Cry" single in 1983. It also was previously released as a Bonus Track in the cassette version of their "Alpha" album. Another Pop Rock song with some Prog Rock influences and also with a lot of reverb, and with Howe on guitars. One of the best songs from their "Alpha" album period. It was also played live during their "Asia in Asia" concerts with Greg Lake on lead vocals and bass in December 1983 (during a 6 dates tour in Japan, when Lake briefly replaced Wetton).

"Lying to Yourself" (composed by Wetton / Howe): previously released as the "B" Side of their "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" single in 1983, and with Howe on guitars. Another very eighties Pop Rock song with some Prog Rock influences. It maybe was the most commercial song that Wetton and Howe wrote together. Despite this, by 1983 the main composers (and more successful composers for the record label and management, at least in the singles charts) in the band were Wetton and Downes, and this song was destined to a "B" Side, with their "Alpha" album having only songs compoed by Wetton and Downes, and with Howe finally leaving the band in 1984.

I think that this Japanese EP has very good songs which were previously released as "B" Sides of some singles and which could have been very well included in their respective albums if they could have been originally released in the CD format in 1982-1983. Anyway, all these songs can be found now on CD in their "Asia Gold" compilation from 2005.