O/T ASIA DEBUT

[DarrenUK]

Just listening to the debut Asia album again and 25 years on it sounds so fresh....i guess talent never ages........


HERE COMES THE SAME OLD FEELING ETC ETC ETC.....

[Angiekay]

I love playing air drums to Without You...what a GREAT album

[jimmy19029]

In early January of 1981, I first heard that Steve Howe had left Yes. I was shocked. No more Yes? I was one of the few who'd liked(or admitted to liking) Drama and it had gotten much airplay in Philly. The next thing I knew, I heard that Steve and Geoff Downes were getting together with Carl Palmer and John Wetton to form a new group, Asia. I already knew of John from U.K. and he'd also played in Uriah Heep, Roxy Music and King Crimson....and hadn't he just joined Wishbone Ash? Boy, he sure got around!
I remember it was March of 1982 when the Heat of the Moment video first debuted on MTV. I remember falling asleep in front of the TV and waking up as my sister came home just as it was starting. Perfect timing! At the same time, WMMR radio in Philly was playing Sole Survivor. At first I was a bit surprised that the songs were not keeping to the prog direction set by Yes's Drama album. Wetton had a Greg Lake kind of tone to his voice but these compositions were not the lengthy epics of ELP either.
Tickets were announced for Asia's Tower Theater appearance here(for May 1st) and sold out within minutes just on the names of the band members alone! And this was even before the album's release!
In early April, my boss's girlfriend, Joyce, came to visit him at work and handed him Asia's first album that she'd just bought for him. I loved the Roger Dean artwork and was glad that Howe had called him back to do the cover. His covers had been very much a part of Yes's mystique. I bought my own copy and loved every track!
I headed down to the Tower the night of the show but was not successful in aquiring a ticket. Even the scalpers had none! There were alot of people hanging out outside looking for them too. Many of these people didn't even seem to know who exactly were in the band. Their imaginations ran the gamut from ex-Led Zeppelin to former Pink Floyd members. I think the announcement in 1981 of a proposed joiner of Yes and Zep members as XYZ Band was what was adding to the confusion(XYZ was a nonstarter)
I was bummed! But then......Asia announced a second show for the Spectrum for June 22nd! I raced into the city the day they went on sale only to find that Electric Factory Concerts wouldn't have any until Monday since the Ticketron outlets were given first crack at them. I ran into a nearby sporting goods store knowing they had a Ticketron. They had tickets! I ended up with seats in the first level on the far corner. Not too bad. And only a $1.50 service charge! No too shabby!
The show itself was quite awesome and sounded great as you all can imagine. They had the songs from the first album as the body of the show and added in two new songs, Midnight Sun and The Smile Has Left Your Eyes(both of which would appear on their next album) as well as their solos(Carl did his drum solo complete with spinning drum kit and Howe perfomed Clap and Mood For A Day from his Yes days) For the encore they came out smiling saying, "You don't really want another one do you?" Well, that was a stupid question.....and also just an act since we all knew they had not yet played Heat of the Moment. They roared into that and the audience went wild.
Because of the tremendous success of this first album and tour we all assumed Asia was set for a long stay. None of us knew that this would be the peak and that the road ahead would be so full of bumps and crashes.

[JOSEPH]

ASIA...sigh...GREAT, GREAT, UNDERRATED BAND!!!!!