Asia is bad? Can’t be!

I don't think they're bad, they dont have to be prog to be good

I enjoy most of their songs, its not bad to be 'catchy'

 

  I agree that Asia is not prog rock, it is shamefully commercial and, considering the band members, one would expect some unbelievable masterpieces, yet it is decent music.

  In an era dominated by endless lame pop-dance hits, no wonder some legendary prog names gathered and came up with something that would reflect the popular pressure. Nonetheless, the Asia albums never went so low as Phil Collins solo horrors. And, on almost all the tunes, the virtuosity is impressive and that makes the overall work at least respectable.

  Sole Survivor and Who Will Stop The Rain beautiful songs, and I still like them even after years of listening.

 

 

Goose said:

At least they don't put out naff music at the same time though eh?

Erm.....erm.......erm...oh bugger you got me there goose........................but they did release the poll tax...and that was def out of tune with everybody

This isn’t the first time there’s a topic appearing about how bad Asia is. Really, I don’t understand the fuss.This issue should have been discussed in 1982 not in 2005, but I supposed there was a similar discussion back then. Being a teen at the time, Asia showed me the way to prog music and after that a whole new musical world opened. To my humble opinion they did a great job with introducing young people to this kind of music. I especially liked the first two albums. True on some moments it does sound more like aor than prog but what the hell. On other moments they play an accessible version of this kind of music. This is just what Yes did at the time, remember ? Prog music is not just about complex compositions, classical themes or extended instrumental  interludes. It’s also about creating a symphonic landscape of different instruments playing their parts at the same time to create a symphonic wall of sound and that’s just what these guys did. Songs like “Here comes the feeling”, “Wildest dreams”, Without you”, “Cutting it fine”, “Daylight”, “The smile has left…” , “Time again”, “Ride easy, “After the war”  and maybe on or two others are pure prog. Most of their other tracks could be classified under the file of “aor with symphonic tendencies”, the last category is pure aor : the 4 hitsingles, Too late, Countdown to zero, ….

 

The 90’s Asia are sounding even more aor but the prog elements are still there. Just listen to some stuff of the Arena album or the bonus tracks from Aura.. But I do prefer the Wetton era with special remarks for the debut album.  Although it may have something to do with nostalgic feelings, I do like Alpha very much as well, just listen to a track like “Eye to eye”, it  may sound very eighties but it’s still very enjoyable and the keyboard and guitar parts are awesome even if the composition is rather simple. Funny how the quality of the music seems to go downhill subsequent release. But their latest aor album Silent Nation was a very decent effort. But it’s no prog by any means. Does this mean this is bad music ? Not for me !  I suppose a lot of people were expecting a lot when they noticed the name of the 4 members on the sleeve of the first album. You shouldn’t compare Asia to what these guys did in the seventies, this was a different era. If you wanted a track of 15 minutes on an album in 82, you wouldn’t get a record deal. When compared to the music of that time, this wasn't so bad.

Bilek wrote: ASIA SUCKS!!!!! there's nothing much to say about this, becasue everything that needs to be said is said. Just make a brief search in the forum. There are several threads on this, and one colloborator had even given some historic facts about how the hell Asia was formed, and what happened since then (with record companies, etc...) I suggest freakmeeko to keep the hell out of Asia! Not knowing this awful band is far better than knowing it and hating the individual members for this crappy project, despite the great work they put forward before!

Yup.  And so gimicky!  Let's start the name of every album with "A," whether it's a good name or not!

Like I said, the album name should have been "Alimony," cause I'm sure that's why the album was made! 

ASIA SUCKS!!!!!

there's nothing much to say about this, becasue everything that needs to be said is said. Just make a brief search in the forum. There are several threads on this, and one colloborator had even given some historic facts about how the hell Asia was formed, and what happened since then (with record companies, etc...)

I suggest freakmeeko to keep the hell out of Asia! Not knowing this awful band is far better than knowing it and hating the individual members for this crappy project, despite the great work they put forward before!

Love the first two albums. It's not prog but is good 80's Rock.

As an AOR band, Asia is great, one of the best bands. As prog-rock, they are probably the greatest deception of all time.

To be honest, I REALLY like Asia...but they're not Prog. I don't mind - I like to let my hair down once in a while.

Edited by Rob The Good

Tiresias wrote: If you blend Crimson, Yes and ELP alumni, but make them play pop, they are gonna suck

Actually...that’s not the problem. The line-up certainly had the ability to make good pop music. But they chose not to, or rather, didn’t care to. It’s the difference between Genesis’ Duke and Genesis’ Invisible Touch. Prog snobs who pretend anything vaguely poppy is crap will tell you there is no difference, but that’s not true.

The problem with Asia was that their hearts weren’t in it. They didn’t make the music they made because they enjoyed it. They made it because they were thinking, “this will put another Rolls Royce in the garage.”

The sad thing is, they were absolutely right. There’s nothing wrong with music that just happens to be commercially successful/viable if the people making it genuinely enjoy the music they’re making; that will communicate itself to the listener. It’s when someone makes commercial pop music purely as a moneymaking venture that it becomes tragic.