ASIA

Listening to this album is like seeing a beautiful shiny apple, and then biting in only to discover a rotten interior. On the outside, this looks like a thing of a beauty, Roger Dean cover, and a line-up to make you drool. Who wouldn't want to hear Steve Howe, Carl Palmer, John Wetton and Geoff Downes in a line-up? Well after hearing this record, me!

You see, this album is a pile of commercialised rubbish. There's nothing but pop/AOR tracks to greet the listener, with barely a hint of prog to reward the listener. It just seems as if all who previously cared about progressive music had given up trying and went for the 'easier option'. Somehow, the fact that established bands like Genesis and Yes were doing this doesn't seem quite as bad as this. Getting four of prog's biggest names together to make something that is trying not to be prog is just unforgiveable. Yet this is what happened.

With the biggest blow being the lack of prog, there are many more factors that make listening to this album quite annoying. 1) The album is not produced very well, having the sound quality of a live album. 2) This album is too long: 45 minutes is far too long to spend listening to boring pop tunes. 3) The songs themselves are also too long: most of the songs are about 5 minutes, leading to a lot of padding out, making the songs drag even longer. 3) None of the musicians seem that good. I've heard these guys at their best, and they are brilliant, but they just seem to be shadows of their former selves on this record. Palmer's drumming on Heat of the Moment is a case in point! 4) At times, there will be something slightly interesting on the record, but this is usually stopped after 15 seconds. This gives you false hope, and makes you wonder why they didn't carry on being interesting!

There's perhaps just one reason to buy this record, and that's to hear the opening track Heat of the Moment, the band's biggest hit. It's a very catchy song, and the only Asia track worth listening to in my opinion. Also, it's much shorter than the rest of the songs on this album, being the only one to come in under 4 minutes.

I seriously don't understand how this album could come from some of prog's biggest masterminds. It's as if they were trying to deny their past, as if it were all a mistake. I do not recommend this album, as there is next to nothing enjoyable about hearing it.

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