Why do so many Yes fans seem to hate Asia?

[pjt]

I don't hate them, they're just bland MOR rock. Same as GTR was, and Yes West

Calling YesWest MOR rock is factually false. Bland is subjective though.
There's nothing MOR in Hearts, I'm Running or It Can Happen.

[rePete]

Hate is an awfully strong word. The first album was nice enough. The rest of it really wasn't that interesting imo. Certainly not anywhere near the calibre of Yes, ELP etc.

[RelayerI]

Alpha is extremely bland to me

Yup.

I'm not a fan of Wetton nor his songwriting and Steve was underutilised. All rather low wattage.

I preferred the Payne era lineup / output.

[soundchaser09]

The five “original lineup” Asia albums are a pretty nice body of work.

Alpha is extremely bland to me

[Frumious B]

The five “original lineup” Asia albums are a pretty nice body of work.

[madbear]

I don't hate them, they're just bland MOR rock. Same as GTR was, and Yes West

[pjt]

Hate is as a strong emotion as love is. I love Yes, but I never hated Asia.
I like prog, I like pop, I even like some electronica, I just don't like the pop Asia did.

Maybe because I also don't really like solo work from members of bands I like. I don't feel it fits them. It's not a rule, as is, I really like Steve Hackett's solo work, but only some by Banks, I don't like Rutherford's, not Mike+Mechanics, I was so bashed in the head with No Jacket Required, that I can't stand it any more.

I only liked liked solo material from Squire, how ever little there was, and some of Billy's.

[Mr. Holland]

I don't hate Asia, but I never really got into their music. All talented people, of course, but it just wasn't for me.



I mean, I could say the same thing about YesWest. lol.

This basically sums it up for me as well. Apart from a couple of tracks on the debut album there's nothing that appeals to me.

Here's the thing. To me they are neither fish nor flesh. Meaning that they're way to poppy for them to be a rock group, in my view. Rock for me is lots of powerchords and distorted guitars. Asia is very synth dominated. But they're not really pop either, because to me a lot of their songs miss the great earworm hooks some of the better pop music has. So it all sort of falls flat to me. Ive really tried, but most of the Asia catalogue leaves me cold and indifferent.

[Enlighten]

The vapidity of large chunks of the eighties kinda lines up with Asia. First album was good but when you have that much talent in a band and you’re dumbing stuff down to accommodate to the marketplace, that’s one reason to “hate” them. Love “Time Again” though, a barn burner that showcases what they were capable of. Pretty much a suckfest after that.

[auxfnx]

The reason is not because people are expecting them to sound like a prog band or to sound like Yes etc.
They are just a totally different band with a totally different sound. Many people who love the 70s output of bands like Yes might find very little to enjoy in an Asia album, UNLESS they also happen to be a fan of this very different type of music. Just because familiar musicians are involved doesn't mean anything - the music is just a totally different beast, end of.
They are an AOR / very 80s pop rock band. There is going to be very little intersection there with prog enthusiasts on the grand scheme of things.
I would even say that in many cases the things that people love about prog are very much in opposition to the things that makes stuff like Asia what it is.

[Somis Sound]

I had their 1st album when I was a kid. I still like a few songs on there. To be honest, the schmaltzy stuff turns me off. And the John Payne stuff I didn't get at all.

[pianozach]

Oh, yes, that Roger Dean album cover certainly sucked me in and raised my expectations as well. That was a very sly move on their part.

Still true. The awesome Dean cover was a Bait-n-Switch as far as I was concerned.

The way they completely sold out, they should have just gone full Love Beach with the cover.

[Soundwaveseeker]

Richard Palmer James is still around and lives in Germany, I think. His lyrical style in Crimson really wasn't too far from Sinfield, but a little less wordy and a little more worldly. Did he write lyrics while with Supertramp? I know he played guitar. Supertramp came into their own after Palmer James left, Crime Of The Century up to and including Brother Where You Bound is a great run of classic albums. Too bad Hodgeson, Yes, and/or Rabin never connected into something more concrete.
Palmer James also appeared with Wetton in a one-off, more rock oriented band called Jacknife in 1979 - the album is mostly covers but also has a couple original songs in the UK/Roxy Music vein.

[Ash Armstrong]

Kind of interesting that Crimson's had, what, six vocalists, but really just three lyricists, only one of whom, Belew, actually sang his own words… Sinfield was clearly his own thing, a very acquired (or not!) taste, Belew as well being more outside the prog tradition, and Palmer James the hardest to maybe classify in terms of a style or thematic approach? In some ways you kind of feel Fripp is just indifferent to the words, or at least letting them be outside his realm of concern…

Palmer James' words to The Night Watch are wonderful. I love that song, and the lyrics describe Rembrandt's painting so perfectly. I'll see it for real in Amsterdam one day, I hope. Probably spend an entire day looking at it, with those lines running through my head...

I think Fripp contributed a couple of lines to The Great Deceiver....

[Gtkgasman]

Incidentally, do you know the Unthanks rendition of Starless? It's on YT, and on their 2011 album Last. Beautiful album. I'm hoping to go and see them live later this year.

I do not. I will check it out!!!