Downes on the road again

[bugglesmate]

Earlier tonight/yesterday really I suppose :)

http://img87.exs.cx/img87/5605/geoff10wx.jpg
Asia in Manchester

Cracking set :)

[henny]

I was at the Wolverhampton gig last week... with Dare and Barclay James Harvest.

None were that great.

When Asia played, the sound was FAR too loud.

I'm not much for John Payne either. He's turned the whole thing into a mere rock band.

[bugglesmate]

He's turned the whole thing into a mere rock band.

And they are then exactly what...?

A choir???

[henny]

And they are then exactly what...?

A choir???

Uhm, sorry?

I couldn't quite make any sense of your response.

Re Asia: When the project was first envisaged, it was an art-progressive supergroup. The songs followed the general conotations of a particular rock style - but the music was in no way simply generic rock n' roll. It had feeling, emotion - it was a fine blend of each member's quirks and signature sounds, Steve's remarkable playing, John's stunning voice and amazing Precision Bass sound, Carl Palmer's borderline rythmic/melodic/schizoid percussion, Downes'n enchanting keyboard parts.

Great emphasis was placed on melody, advanced composition. The stuff John Payne has done with the "band" has been of a wholely different thing. Tracks like "Awake" and "The Longest Night" sound like they've been lifted from a CD of royalty-free music.... John Wetton et al are of a completely calibre to Payne, IMO. He oversings, and I'm not much for his methods of stagecraft either, a la running about the stage, fists in air - chanting "Come on!! Yeah!!" whilst wearing a Metallica t-shirt.

Also, I don't believe a band should countinue with its name when a least 50% of the original members have left, let alone in this case when there is just Downes remaining!

Good luck to the guys, of course - But they aren't Asia. Sorry.

[yarstruly]

And only 40% of the original Yes line up is left...should they change their name?

[PO]

... running about the stage, fists in air - chanting "Come on!! Yeah!!" whilst wearing a Metallica t-shirt...

Yea, I dunno about that. Seems quite out of character.

When a band changes members, genre, and direction they might best consider a name change.

I haven't heard this lineup,. but it sounds like henny has.

[bugglesmate]

Yea, I dunno about that. Seems quite out of character.

When a band changes members, genre, and direction they might best consider a name change.

I haven't heard this lineup,. but it sounds like henny has.

So Yes would be shafted at the first hurdle then given the line up change.

I too have heard the Asia line up now and way back when.

IMO the new line up performs the old stuff in a 'respectably accurate' manner - Henny doesnt like them because John Wetton is no longer singing the songs - which is fine. I wouldnt like the Beatles if Will Young took over lead vocals ;)

As regards the band not continuing because only one member exists...


rubbish - I would rather see Asia continue with just Geoff than it not exist at all, and lets face it Yes will be like that eventually :rolleyes:

[PO]

So Yes would be shafted at the first hurdle then given the line up change....

Relax, and read more carefully.

Quote "When a band changes members, genre, AND direction they MIGHT best CONSIDER a name change.

"And" means to include all of the conditions. "Might" is self explanatory. "Consider" does not infer "must".

I can't be any more flexible than that.

Yes only changed members one at a time in the earlier years.

Many people did consider the changes in 1980 and 1984 to be enough for a name change, including the members of the band(s).

Odd how these things happen. I like AC/DC's current singer better than their original singer. By far. No accounting for taste, I guess. :winknudge.

Yea, henny may have an opinion, but he has seen the band live, too. So, it has merit.

[bugglesmate]

I was taking worst case scenario ;) So 'might and consider' didnt figure. BTW , for the yanks, Will Young is a third rate pop wannabee not fit to sing at one of my late night campfire howlings... :)

[smatt]

LOL, well a band can call itself whatever it wants. Who's to say what it is or isn't in the context of the art. it is art and the artist is the one who decides what he or she wants to call it. I don't see where a fan could possibly get off on telling somebody what to call their own band. But that doesn't change the fact that it's Geoff's choice. And if he wants to call it Asia then that's what it is. Now it is a bit different if the band hid the fact that the line-up changed, as Yes did for their first few Drama tour dates in the U.S.

[Vic Anderson]

would it be good for asia to tour with white and syn instead of steve

i hope not

[smatt]

would it be good for asia to tour with white and syn instead of steve

i hope not


No it wouldn't be good at all Vic. I've not seen Asia since their first 2 tours and more than likely won't be seeing them anytime soon, as I really lost interest in their direction. In retrospect the oridginal line-up of Asia took 4 really great musicians and made them look like 80's hacks. Then it got worse :lmao: But I won't fault the people who like their music, to each his/her own. I would certainly be welcome to hearing something of Geoffs that of more of a progressive realm though as I think that might end up being the case eventually.

[Buglunch]

I though Asia 'Aqua' had poor singing and some writing for Asia and great keyboards.
Asia has always been more hard rock and commercial than Yes, but Downes is more than that.
I don't consider Drama Yes proper real Yes, personally, nor even Cinema, just a side project with some Yes members.
Downes belongs with better and in a stabler, more truly open and creative group.

[cinderella]

IMO the new line up performs the old stuff in a 'respectably accurate' manner - Henny doesnt like them because John Wetton is no longer singing the songs - which is fine.



There was no bigger Asia fan in the world than me, but when John Wetton left so did I. I had attached myself to his vocals, and identified the band with him. Without him there is no Asia for me.

[kmcpro615]

In retrospect the oridginal line-up of Asia took 4 really great musicians and made them look like 80's hacks. Then it got worse :lmao:

This is a quote worthy of me.....I can't ditch the Sheila/Cindy sigfile that I have here, as I attach much sentimental value to it, but I may have to use this quote over at the "other place". This is classic. You rule Smatt !!!

KMCc:)

[Sonoacustico]

it's interesting, I've meet several people who are John Wetton fans and not Asia fans, I'm an Asia fan and a JW fan too, but there is a certain thing, Wetton always brought Asia music to the commercial/pop side, let's just listen to his solo efforts, there is nothing really prog there. of course there is good music there. For me the first really progressive track from Asia was the 1996 9-min epic The Day Before the War. Asia has had some other songs near the prog field, but they started doing prog songs in mid/late 90's. We have Awake and The Longest night as someone mentioned, just average songs in Aura, imho far better than any song in John Wetton's "Sinister" album. and we could also mention maybe the best Asia song ever "Free" also from the Aura album, a trully 100% prog masterpiece with 8 stunning minutes.
I dont want to convince you that you must like the "new" Asia (new? it's 13 years old oops) I just wanted to do a more fair comparison. imho Asia was never a prog band, and I dont thing they should be judged as one, their strength was melodic rock. and they did it great in that field. As for the name change, King Crimson should have get their name changed at least 3 or 4 times, since they changed direction, visual image, sound and Fripp is the only guy left, but everyone feels happy because they alwayskept doing adventurous music. Other thing, John Wetton left Asia because the band was not important to him anymore and didnt want to be involved with it. Should we be dissapointed because Downes kept the Asia flag in the air? I believe the important thing is that Downes and Payne at least want to continue writting Asia music, we may or may not like it, it's our choice. I believe it's pointless to discuss if we agree in what they've done is right or not, it's better to share our love for the music that bring us together. Just my opinion.

Greetings

Claudio

[altaeria]

WETTON ASIA had more of a pompous "Arena Rock" approach.
PAYNE ASIA has always had a bit of a Hard Rock "Hair Band" quality to it.

Arena Rock comes somewhat closer to classic Prog than a Hair Band would.
(Think Styx or Journey vs. Def Leppard or Bon Jovi)
That might explain why some proggers still enjoy early ASIA but can't get into the later stuff.

It also doesn't help later ASIA that John Wetton's voice was so associated with ASIA originally... and John Payne's voice is completely different from Wetton's.

[Scooty]

It was a fun show! I had no expectations going into it, but I must confess I had a great time, Geoff was fantastic! And a sweet guy, looking forward to seeing him again in a month!

Kurt (kmcpro615) and I got a cool photo from the gig: you will notice the cocktail in my hand, of course ;)

http://img324.imageshack.us/img324/2213/scootdowneskurt7vo.th.jpg (http://img324.imageshack.us/my.php?image=scootdowneskurt7vo.jpg)

[Rabin105]

And only 40% of the original Yes line up is left...should they change their name?
i have only listend to aqua part 1 from the more recnts realeses and it sounds very prog to me but i always felt Geoff shoud do other things i always felt he was trapped in asia but maybe he enjoys it ( i wouldn't mind seeing geoff in yes cause i feel he is the best of both worlds he know how to provide the rhythem stuff so steve could plasy some nice leads ala tony kaye but he can also play really sweet leads ala rick wakeman ) so yeah i never saw them live and unless i heard geoff was rejoining yes or ticketts were dirt cheap i have no real desire to go would i turn down asia ticketts no but eh

[Buglunch]

e.e. cummings lives!

But I agree.

[Hugh Shiebler]

Re Asia: When the project was first envisaged, it was an art-progressive supergroup. The songs followed the general conotations of a particular rock style - but the music was in no way simply generic rock n' roll. It had feeling, emotion - it was a fine blend of each member's quirks and signature sounds, Steve's remarkable playing, John's stunning voice and amazing Precision Bass sound, Carl Palmer's borderline rythmic/melodic/schizoid percussion, Downes'n enchanting keyboard parts.

Great emphasis was placed on melody, advanced composition.

Huh?

Re Asia: When the project was first envisaged, it was a pop/rock group with progressive supergroup names on the cover. It was generic early MTV era formula rock, from which each member's quirks and signature sounds had been completely squeezed out: Steve's remarkable playing was nowhere to be found; John's stunning voice was there but his amazing bass sound was but a distant memory; Carl Palmer's drumming had been emasulated and reduced to foursquare new-wave drum machine imitations; and Downes' enchanting keyboard parts could have been played by a blind chimp with two fingers missing.

How these three legends + a Buggles keyboard player managed to produce such a pointless piece of pre-fab pop - - and how any of it can even be mentioned in the same breath as Yes, Crimson and ELP is beyond me.

[The Whale]

Huh?

Re Asia: When the project was first envisaged, it was a pop/rock group with progressive supergroup names on the cover. It was generic early MTV era formula rock, from which each member's quirks and signature sounds had been completely squeezed out: Steve's remarkable playing was nowhere to be found; John's stunning voice was there but his amazing bass sound was but a distant memory; Carl Palmer's drumming had been emasulated and reduced to foursquare new-wave drum machine imitations; and Downes' enchanting keyboard parts could have been played by a blind chimp with two fingers missing.

How these three legends + a Buggles keyboard player managed to produce such a pointless piece of pre-fab pop - - and how any of it can even be mentioned in the same breath as Yes, Crimson and ELP is beyond me.

Because people like it?

[Rabin105]

Huh?

Re Asia: When the project was first envisaged, it was a pop/rock group with progressive supergroup names on the cover. It was generic early MTV era formula rock, from which each member's quirks and signature sounds had been completely squeezed out: Steve's remarkable playing was nowhere to be found; John's stunning voice was there but his amazing bass sound was but a distant memory; Carl Palmer's drumming had been emasulated and reduced to foursquare new-wave drum machine imitations; and Downes' enchanting keyboard parts could have been played by a blind chimp with two fingers missing.

How these three legends + a Buggles keyboard player managed to produce such a pointless piece of pre-fab pop - - and how any of it can even be mentioned in the same breath as Yes, Crimson and ELP is beyond me.
sole survior is probaly some of steve's finest eletric guitar rock moments (i said rock not prog gates and CTTe hold highest i mean come on steve did more in the opening solo of CTTE that many of todays guitarists will do in there entire career) Palmer and Downes sound superb on it and wetton is well wetton. anyhoo I mean i like it it is my favourite asia song and while downes was only in the 2 other band besides asia (buggles and yes) doen't mean that he shold be regarded as that guy from the buggles listen bto drama soley to the keyboard parts and you can see Geoff is more that just some guy from the buggles

[Hugh Shiebler]

sole survior is probaly some of steve's finest eletric guitar rock moments (i said rock not prog gates and CTTe hold highest i mean come on steve did more in the opening solo of CTTE that many of todays guitarists will do in there entire career) Palmer and Downes sound superb on it and wetton is well wetton. anyhoo I mean i like it it is my favourite asia song and while downes was only in the 2 other band besides asia (buggles and yes) doen't mean that he shold be regarded as that guy from the buggles listen bto drama soley to the keyboard parts and you can see Geoff is more that just some guy from the buggles

OK, that was a bit harsh; maybe I should never post so early, before I have has my coffee. Agreed: many people like it & more power to them.

The first "Asia" album is probably better than most of the other stuff that was on MTV or AOR FM radio at the time. And I admit that I would rather hear "Sole Survivor" than "Cold as Ice" or Journey or Styx for that matter.

Also: as a business proposition I give it the hghest marks. I never begrudge anyone, least of all musicains whose work I have appreciated, their right to go out there and earn real $ by creating a marketable product. Well done in that respect.

But personally, I can't listen to it - - maybe because it is just so far down the scale from the bands that gave it its bloodlines.

[Buglunch]

Guilty Pleasures©
That's my story and it's stuck to my face!

[Hill St.]

e.e. cummings lives!

But I agree.
Too Funny.Also, agree