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Kingsnake View Drop Down
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Points: 1578 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: The (John Payne era) Asia appreciation thread
    Posted: December 16 2016 at 05:00
Let's focus on the material Asia put out with John Payne at the helm, in this thread.
One of the longest serving vocalists (and bassist) of the band, and a very important songwriter.
 
In the Payne/Downes era the band put out these albums:
 
Aqua
Aria
Arena
Archiva 1
Archiva 2
Aura
Silent Nation
 
As Asia featuring John Payne, John Payne put out these albums:
Militairy Man (ep)
Recollections (cover album)
 
As GPS, John Payne put out an album with Guthrie Govan and Ray Schellen:
Window to the Soul (wich can be seen as a follow-up to Silent Nation)
 
To me, the albums Aria, Arena and Aura are amongst the best pop-rock-neoprog albums ever released.
Great production, great musicianship with topnotch musicians (Al Pitrelli, Mike Sturgis, Aziz Ibrahim, Elliott Randall, Guthrie Govan, Chris Slade, Simon Philips, Ian Crichton, Steve Howe, Pat Thrall, Vinnie Colaiuta, Tony Levin, Luis Jardim, etc.)
 
The sound and nostalgic feel really appeals to me. Aria and Aqua are also great, but sound colder and more distant.
Arena and Aura sound warm.


Edited by Kingsnake - December 16 2016 at 05:03
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Points: 6777 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 16 2016 at 10:47
It's been a while since I listened to any Payne-era Asia but I remember liking a few tracks off of Aqua quite a bit. Possibly my favourite Asia album after the debut.
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Points: 15916 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 16 2016 at 22:21
I have Aqua but haven't listened to it for years. When I visited Singapore during the early 90's, I got the cover art of the Aqua album printed onto a T-Shirt. Still have it, but it doesn't fit anymore.
Cool that Pitrelli was in Megadeth for a while.

Edited by Tom Ozric - December 16 2016 at 22:22
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Points: 1578 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 17 2016 at 02:05
I really like Arena, because of the two guitarist involved (Aziz Ibrahim and Elliott Randall).
It has a reall nostalgic feel to it.

Also Payne and Downes combined are so much better songwriters than Wetton/Downes.
Payne also has more soul in his voice.
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Points: 12 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 22 2017 at 02:00
Aura is a really good album in my opinion, as is Rare and half of Arena. Aqua had a lot of potential but never seemed to fully realize it, but I do think this period gets a lot less credit than it deserves... Aura in particular.
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Points: 41259 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 10 2017 at 02:10
Originally posted by Tom Ozric Tom Ozric wrote:

I have Aqua but haven't listened to it for years. When I visited Singapore during the early 90's, I got the cover art of the Aqua album printed onto a T-Shirt. Still have it, but it doesn't fit anymore.
Cool that Pitrelli was in Megadeth for a while.

Pitrelli was in Savatage as well and briefly was Alice Cooper's guitarist at some point. 

Aqua is my favorite Payne era album.

I don't think the Payne-Downes collaboration released anything weak. 
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Points: 6743 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 10 2017 at 22:12
Originally posted by Cristi Cristi wrote:

Originally posted by Tom Ozric Tom Ozric wrote:

I have Aqua but haven't listened to it for years. When I visited Singapore during the early 90's, I got the cover art of the Aqua album printed onto a T-Shirt. Still have it, but it doesn't fit anymore.
Cool that Pitrelli was in Megadeth for a while.

Pitrelli was in Savatage as well and briefly was Alice Cooper's guitarist at some point. 

Aqua is my favorite Payne era album.

I don't think the Payne-Downes collaboration released anything weak. 

Pitrelli is also a guiding force in Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and the guy can wail!  

I need to go back and listen to these albums, thanks for the reminder.
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Points: 1578 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 11 2017 at 04:58
Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

Originally posted by Cristi Cristi wrote:

Originally posted by Tom Ozric Tom Ozric wrote:

I have Aqua but haven't listened to it for years. When I visited Singapore during the early 90's, I got the cover art of the Aqua album printed onto a T-Shirt. Still have it, but it doesn't fit anymore.
Cool that Pitrelli was in Megadeth for a while.

Pitrelli was in Savatage as well and briefly was Alice Cooper's guitarist at some point. 

Aqua is my favorite Payne era album.

I don't think the Payne-Downes collaboration released anything weak. 

Pitrelli is also a guiding force in Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and the guy can wail!  

I need to go back and listen to these albums, thanks for the reminder.

Al Pitrelli even started out in Danger Danger.
Yes, he's done a lot, from progmetal to hairmetal.

Also mostly all guitarparts on Dead Winter Dead by Savatage were played by him, because when Jon Caffery joined the band (for the second time) the recordings were already finished.

I think when you want to really hear Pitrelli during his stint with Asia, Aria is the album to check out.
A very consistent recording, with no guest-musicians, just Downes/Payne/Sturgis/Pitrelli.
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Points: 20469 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 11 2017 at 07:13
I've been so disinterested in Asia that I don't even know who John Payne is! Seriously!
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Points: 41259 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 11 2017 at 07:16
Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

I've been so disinterested in Asia that I don't even know who John Payne is! Seriously!

John Payne was the replacement of Wetton. He sang and played bass in Asia for almost 14 years. 
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Kingsnake View Drop Down
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Points: 1578 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 13 2017 at 03:06
^ and ^^ 

Read the first post.

Payne was an important keymember and songwriter for the band.
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