Asia - Classic Asia (2009)

Prog rock didn't die, thanks to the English supergroup Asia. The history of the band is unique. How four musicians with the appearance of far from superheroes were able to keep the tops of the charts in many countries in good shape in the 80s. Asia is not music for dance floors and dating. Even the name is not rock and roll - Asia. From the point of view of the cunning mind of a producer with such a logo, you can only open a cafe somewhere on the outskirts of Reykjavik, and it's not a fact that people will come there. And only Queen, Rod Steward, as well as the post-punks Blondie and The Police, who had become opopsovevshie by this time, could reach the top of the Billboard charts in 1982.
However, Asia has managed the impossible. Their first single "Heat of the Moment" reached the first position on the Billboard rock chart and reached the 4th place in the Top 100 in the summer heat in early July. The album of the same name stayed at number one on the Billboard Albums chart for nine weeks and was recognized as the album of the year in the United States. In Britain, the band's successes were much weaker, but then the radio format was not taken seriously among the snobbish audience of art rock. But the prim English four got to the point of the American AOR format. In the same year, they tried themselves in the genre of the Uriah Heep radio standard, but their "Abominog" looked much paler in 56th place. Although Mick Box has assembled, perhaps, the strongest line-up in the history of the group. The first two Asia albums of the same name in 1982 and "Alfa" in 1983 are considered reference in the genre of prog-rock in the AOR format.
The first album has sold in excess of 10 million copies and is still not out of print. The initiator of the creation of a supergroup in the prog rock genre, John Wetton, is directly related to Uriah Heep, he recorded with Hansley and the company two classic hard rock albums "Return to Fantasy" (1975) and "High and Mighty" (1976). Bassist Wetton was accompanied by the author of the canonical hit "Video Killed The Radio Star", keyboardist Geoff Downes from The Buggles, guitarist Steve Howe from Yes and drummer Carl Palmer from ELP. In this line-up they released two albums, the following works, despite the fact that many of the greatest rock musicians played in the band, including Greg Lake from ELP, had a more restrained reception. At the same time, Asia has become one of the best concert bands in the history of rock. In 1983, Greg Lake replaced John Wetton, who suffered from alcohol addiction, at the "Asia in Asia" concert at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo.
"Because Geffen Records offered me so much money, I couldn't refuse. I worked with them a little bit and didn't want to go in this corporate rock direction. I didn't believe in such music, so I didn't continue," Lake admitted. In addition to the magnificent compositions that sound on the albums of the golden composition of the group, Asia can be credited with the revival of interest in prog rock, which was going through difficult times in the early 80s. Then, in fact, many of the founders of the style completed their careers, except perhaps Genesis and ELO, who outlived all sorts of musical difficulties. The team of Wetton and Downs not only revived interest in art rock, but simply did not let it die, marking the beginning of a new generation of musicians, such as: Spock's Beard, Glass Hammer, etc. The secret of Asia, most likely, is that they found a balance between art rock and a popular song, while retaining the charm of the psychedelia of the 70s with its synthesizer shimmers and solemn vocalizations.