I don't even think Howe's session chops are anything to sneeze at!
This! He played on everyone from Lou Reed to Propaganda records as a session musician and it's always sounded like Steve Howe - IOW excellent - within more compact boundaries than he had in YES. His Asia playing sounds like this to me as well. I don't think I've ever heard the guy try to emulate late '70s - early '80s AOR gtr dudes like Schon or Ginn or whoever. He's in a class by himself.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 28 May 2020 07:11 (three years ago) link
*everything
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 28 May 2020 07:12 (three years ago) link
Few albums can transport me instantly to the summer of '82 (I was 13) like that first ASIA album. Shit is almost like a weird FM Radio Madeleine. This music was everywhere and , well, it was a perfect soundtrack at that age. Nostalgia aside, it still sounds great and *it shouldn't have worked*.
Re: Howe -- show me any other AOR rock guitarist pulling off a stylistic mishmash as gracefully as Howe's in "Here Comes The Feeling".
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 28 May 2020 07:30 (three years ago) link
this guy has opinions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtjTnAyWGdA
― budo jeru, Thursday, 28 May 2020 15:14 (three years ago) link
first asia album is great for what it is; the other 256 albums of theirs are trash.
― akm, Thursday, 28 May 2020 15:44 (three years ago) link
Oh wait! Greg GINN? I was thinking KIHN lol. Wow -- doubt whether Howe listened to any SST haha.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 28 May 2020 15:55 (three years ago) link
helping these broken down prog rockers get together
Wetton was 31, Downes was 28.
the other 256 albums of theirs are trash
You've certainly heard all of them! Or maybe just some? Would the three original lineup studio albums they put out between 2008 and 2012 be among those?
― timellison, Thursday, 28 May 2020 17:18 (three years ago) link
Here's a taster from 2014's "Gravitas", kudos to the lads for getting a fire/desire rhyme in if nothing else:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIpmYEYC2rU
― some infected evening (Matt #2), Thursday, 28 May 2020 17:45 (three years ago) link
I still haven't gotten into that album - Howe had quit by that point. But I always want to hear Wetton's tunes. And that's what *the Asia question* came down to for me - how much do you accept Asia as a genuine manifestation of his artistry. If you look at the overall arc of his career, the Asia records certainly seem like important ones for him.
― timellison, Thursday, 28 May 2020 17:50 (three years ago) link
You certainly are defending the indefensible, Tim. I love Wetton’s voice and bass playing. Outside of a few pretty generic sessions (the ABWH album sounds like it could be anyone), Howe is the guitarist version of “that guy could sing names in the phone book.” And “Only Time Will Tell” is a classic for me. But really, they have four songs.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 28 May 2020 23:16 (three years ago) link
Tim's love of Asia does intrigue me, probably enough to actually listen to a whole album of theirs.
― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r), Friday, 29 May 2020 00:09 (three years ago) link
And hey: I've never seen the Roger Dean cover that I didn't love! Cool shade of purple on that "Astra" cover.
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, June 10, 2004 12:22 AM (fifteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink
if nothing else, this otm
― budo jeru, Friday, 29 May 2020 03:51 (three years ago) link
The idea that they're indefensible is outrageous. I wonder if they hadn't had the Roger Dean covers, if they had found some way to brand themselves in a way that highlighted how down to earth, humble, and genuine they were about their music, whether such claims would be made.
Sund4r, the last album with Howe, XXX - that's an excellent album. I miss John Wetton.
― timellison, Friday, 29 May 2020 04:29 (three years ago) link
This is my favorite from XXX. It's quite beautiful how they came up with something so archetypically Asia-sounding on the last record they did together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bYBLfM7GCs
― timellison, Friday, 29 May 2020 04:38 (three years ago) link
I got to say clips of the reunion of the original Asia lineup in 2007 in Japan (of course) are really pretty darn good.
They do...
Fanfare for the Common ManRoundabout
Both takes are pretty good. It's a slower tempo but Greg Lake plays that bass line AND is having to sing Jon Anderson's line. Different vibe, but a pretty cool cover.
Carl Palmer blitzes through Fanfare on drums.
― earlnash, Friday, 2 October 2020 05:39 (three years ago) link
Lake wasn’t in the original lineup tho
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 1 November 2020 13:25 (three years ago) link