What are your 10 favourite Asia songs?

[soundchaser09]

For me, I'm not the biggest Asia fan, but I do enjoy listening to them every so often, they have some great and powerful pop tunes over the years. I think the original lineup work very well together. My ten favourites are all excellent to me:

Wildest Dreams- my favourite of all
Only Time Will Tell
Sole Survivor
Light the Way
Face on the Bridge
Without You
Never in a Million Years
Holy War
Tomorrow the World
Orchard of Mines

[Ceasar’s Palace]

Cutting It Fine
Time Again
One Step Closer
Here Comes The Feeling.

That’s it, I’m afraid.
And the last one is mostly because of the break in the middle.

[pianozach]

I don't know what to say. I don't think I could name 10 Asia songs without Googling.

[The Whale]

By a long shot, first and foremost are Midnight Sun and An Extraordinary Life (which I feel Yes should cover and play during a slide show of John W, Alan and Chris, at every show).

then I would say:
Sole Survivor
Cutting it Fine
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
Here Comes the Feeling
End of the World
Bury Me in Willow
Face on the Bridge
Heat of the Moment

[The Whale]

I don't know what to say. I don't think I could name 10 Asia songs without Googling.

[JMKUSA]

The reunion albums with Steve are excellent. I enjoy the earlier albums as well but think the reunion albums have some of Steve’s best playing from the last 20 years. There was a lot less of his playing on the old stuff, especially on Alpha which didn’t have enough guitar solos on it.

If you are a fan of Steve’s but don’t like Asia thst much, check out these songs:

From Phoenix:

Never Again
Parallel Worlds / Vortex / Deya
Over and Over (written by Steve)
An Extraordinary Life

From Omega:

Through My Veins (co-written by Steve)
Holy War
End of the World
Light the Way (co-written by Steve)

From XXX:

Tomorrow the World
No Religion (co-written by Steve)
Ghost of a Chance (with a haunting pedal steel solo by Steve)

That’s 11 songs, but I couldn’t narrow it down further.

[Sharp On Attack]

Heat Of The Moment
Sole Survivor
Time Again
Without You
Cutting It Fine

The Smile Has Left Your Eye
Eye To Eye
Midnight Sun

Countdown To Zero
After The War

[Soundwaveseeker]

That's a tough one, I like all the Asia albums from all eras. I'll just select ten that I really like:

Without You (Asia) - nice Drama-style instrumentation in the middle
After The War (Astra) - deeper cut from 3rd album that needs some love. I could picture John Payne singing this one.
One Step Closer (Asia) - very Steve, could have been a hit?
The Last Time (Aura) - from my favorite John Payne-era album, Howe guests
Alibis (Phoenix) - nice one from reformed Original Asia, catchy but with some elegance too
Under The Gun (Aura) - listen to this in a laid back mood in the evening w/ orangey skies, almost prog yacht rock
Day Before The War (Arena) - longest Asia song at 9 minutes plus, rather somber and kinda proggy
I Know How You Feel (acoustic-ish bonus track version, not the regular version) (XXX) - beautiful track, emotional, lump in the throat kinda stuff.
Cutting It Fine (Asia) - the Bolero section at the end: great, the rest not too shabby either
Open Your Eyes/Downes solo/The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (Live in Japan version 1983 w/ Greg Lake) - taken as one chunk = Asia magic!

Plenty of great Asia tunes, could have selected different ones but I'll go for these for now.

Asia gifted us with lotsa new material when the Original Asia reformed. If John Wetton were still with us there probably would have been another three Asia albums by now. He was on fire towards the end, I miss those golden vocals. I thought he got better as a singer as he got older, though he was fine with Crimson/UK etc.

[pianozach]

. . . Asia . . .

. . . prog yacht rock . . .

Hmm. Yeah.

[Gilly Goodness]

Yacht Rock. The finest of the Rocks.

1. Sole Survivor by miles. What a tune. Such Drama. John tripped. He nearly fell. That's right. He could have done himself a right mischief.

2. HOTM for Steve's koto work. And the film with Steve Carell.

3. Free. A great /AURA\ song w. added Howe.

4. The Last Time. See number3. From /AURA\

5. Only Time Will Tell

6. Ride Easy

7. Awake. Again from /AURA\

8. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

9. Wildest Dream

10. Here Comes The Feelin'.


Loads of bangers. Great band.

[Mr. Holland]

I don't know what to say. I don't think I could name 10 Asia songs without Googling.

Same here. I like Heat of the Moment, Wildest Dreams, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, Only Time Will Tell and Sole Survivor. I've heard some other Asia stuff, but it doesn't do anything for me.

[Old Frothingslosh]

I can come up with 7 that still hold up for me

Wildest Dreams (Asia)
Cutting it Fine Asia)
Time Again (Asia)
The Heat Goes On (Alpha)
After the War (Astra)
Countdown To Zero (Astra)
Face On The Bridge (XXX)

[pianozach]

Same here. I like Heat of the Moment, Wildest Dreams, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, Only Time Will Tell and Sole Survivor. I've heard some other Asia stuff, but it doesn't do anything for me.

Yep, those are the ones.

Asia was such a mixed bag for me. Some of the world's greatest Prog musicians release generic simplistic Arena Rock. I mean, the stuff wasn't bad, but it wasn't really inspiring either. It just seemed like a wasted opportunity.

I bought that first album. I was so excited; a beautiful Roger Dean cover, and four Prog legends - what could possibly go wrong? I played the album and felt cheated, like a "bait and switch" had been pulled on me. I rarely played the album, and never bought another. I heard the radio songs. Nowadays I'll pull up some random Asia songs on Youtube occasionally.

In retrospect, they weren't a bad band at all, but that sort of musical genre still doesn't really do it for me. So I'm pretty much unfamiliar with their catalog.

Oh, I did love it when Greg Lake filled in - such a great voice he had back in the day . . . .

[downbyariver]

I think this is actually my first time doing this, so don't consider this list carved in stone, but here's what I came up with:

1. Heat of the Moment
2. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
3. Wildest Dreams
4. Parallel Worlds/Vortez/Deja
5. Go
6. That Season
7. Here Comes the Feeling
8. Two Sides of Moon
9. Wherever You Are
10. The Closer I Get To You

Honorable mentions: Voice of America, Awake, Till We Meet Again