LIVE IN MASSACHUSETTS '83

Like "Live in Buffalo" and other similar Asia ´ CDs that I added to the Progarchives database 6-7 years ago without listening to them before doing that, the status of this release is unknown, because I saw them in legit record stores in my city (at sometimes very expensive prices, being shown and sold there with an "Import" sticker on the cover) and also sold in legit Internet record stores like Amazon and others. But after listening to them I realized that they sound like being live recordings which are traded on the web among fans, categorized as "bootlegs" or "unofficial recordings". So, maybe these CDs are sold with the approval of the band by a legit record company (Voiceprint), like "semi-official albums" in legit record stores and Internet stores. Anyway, in contrast to "Live in Buffalo", which is a very good live soundboard recording from their 1982 tour, this recording sounds more like an audience recording which I have seen in some websites dedicated to list, classify and to review the live recordings of Asia, and sometimes they consider it as a soundboard recording too. It is not a bad recording. In fact, despite sounding somewhat "distant", I think that it is a good audience recording from their 1983 tour, recorded at The Centrum, in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 19-August-1983.In contrast to the "Live in Buffalo" recordings, the performances of the songs are better, with better lead vocals by John Wetton and better backing vocals by Geoff Downes and Steve Howe. The set list includes six songs from their first live album and seven from their "Alpha" album, which they were promoting in their 1983 tour, plus Steve Howe´s acoustic guitar solos, Geoff Downes´s keyboard solo and Carl Palmer´s drums and percussion solo. (In other 1983 tour dates they also played "Daylight", a song which at that time only was released as a B- side of their "Don´t Cry" single and as a bonus track in the cassette version of "Alpha"). Being a better concert performance than their 1982 Buffalo concert, it has some very enjoyable moments, maybe making it a good choice to be released on CD, but still not being as good in sound as the Buffalo concert recording or as an official professional recording. I consider it as a good companion to the Buffalo release, because together both represent Asia in their 1982 and 1983 tours with the original line-up still intact.