Why do so many Yes fans seem to hate Asia?

[Soundchaser413]

If the title was "why the indifference towards Asia" it wouldn't have received as much attention. Everyone knows provocative titles get more attention. Anyway, the main point is many of you don't care much for Asia regardless of whether you want to say hate, are indifferent to or "don't like that much." I think they were/are a good band. I don't expect Styx, Led Zeppelin, Boston, Deep Purple, Genesis, Santana, The Who, Pink Floyd, ELP or whoever else to sound like Yes and I never expected Asia to sound like Yes either. Did Circa sound like Yes? Did The Moody Blues with Patrick Moraz sound like Yes? Do the solo albums by any Yes members sound like Yes(maybe some but not all)? Enjoy things for what they are. If you don't like it because you just don't like it fine but I get tired of people complaining they don't like it because they expected it to sound like classic Yes.

[Ash Armstrong]

Not always the best lyrics. Yep, I have to agree on that. BUT, that being said I never seemed to care with Wetton Just me I suppose. Wetton could sing happy birthday and i was good with it. Lol. And I think he did song with great feeling in KC also - Starless is excellent!

Almost all of the lyrics on the three King Crimson studio albums that Wetton was on were written by Richard Palmer James, a very good lyricist.
As far as I know he's still around.

[Homemade Parachute]

Almost all of the lyrics on the three King Crimson studio albums that Wetton was on were written by Richard Palmer James, a very good lyricist.
As far as I know he's still around.

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…

[Gtkgasman]

Almost all of the lyrics on the three King Crimson studio albums that Wetton was on were written by Richard Palmer James, a very good lyricist.
As far as I know he's still around.

Yup. Great stuff on that trio of albums. Lyrics and Music. Love the dichotomy of ‘soft, hard, slow, fast’ through out that trilogy. And I hold firm he, Wetton, sang with great feeling. And he only got better over time.

I only know Palmer-james from those albums. I confess I never delved into his protects prior, of which Wetton was involved. I really should!!! Especially being a JW. More familiar with his collab later with JW.
fan. I need to remedy that. 😊

[Ash Armstrong]

Yup. Great stuff on that trio of albums. Lyrics and Music. Love the dichotomy of ‘soft, hard, slow, fast’ through out that trilogy. And I hold firm he, Wetton, sang with great feeling. And he only got better over time.

I only know Palmer-james from those albums. I confess I never delved into his protects prior, of which Wetton was involved. I really should!!! Especially being a JW
fan. I need to remedy that. 😊

Palmer James was an original member of Supertramp.

[Ash Armstrong]

Yup. Great stuff on that trio of albums. Lyrics and Music. Love the dichotomy of ‘soft, hard, slow, fast’ through out that trilogy. And I hold firm he, Wetton, sang with great feeling. And he only got better over time.

I only know Palmer-james from those albums. I confess I never delved into his protects prior, of which Wetton was involved. I really should!!! Especially being a JW
fan. I need to remedy that. 😊

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.

[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!!!

[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....

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.