Album: Omega
Artist: Asia
2010 Frontiers Records s.r.l. (King Records in Japan)
CD: FR CD 455

Band Members:
Geoffrey Downes: keyboards
Steve Howe: electric, acoustic and steel guitars
Carl Palmer: drums, percussion
John Wetton: vocals, bass

Produced by Mike Paxman
Recorded by Steve Rispin at Liscombe Park Studios, UK, Oct 2009-Feb 2010
Mixed by Mark 'Tufty' Evans at Wispington Studios
Mastered by Secondwave
(P) & (C) Asia Music Ltd. under exclusive license to Frontiers Records

Management: Martin Darvill
Assisted by Patzi Cacchio, Daniel Earnshaw, Maria Lundy
Marketing & PR: Bruce at Pilato Entertainment
Webmasters: Dave Gallant, Michael Milbourn

Photography: Michael Inns
Artwork: Karen Gladwell @ Mixed Images Ltd.
Cover, logo and inside painting: Roger Dean
Computer work and cover design: Martyn Dean


Tracks:
1. "Finger on the Trigger" [Wetton/Downes] (4:30)
2. "Through My Veins" [Howe/Wetton] (5:08)
3. "Holy War" [Wetton/Downes] (5:59)
4. "Ever Yours" [Wetton/Downes] (4:04)
5. "Listen Children" [Wetton/Downes] (5:56)
6. "End of the World" [Wetton/Downes] (5:39)
7. "Light the Way" [Howe/Wetton] (5:09)
8. "Emily" [Wetton/Downes] (5:12) [Wetton/Downes] (bonus track with first pressing DigiPak in US/Europe only)
9. "Still the Same" [Wetton/Downes] (4:43)
10. "There was a Time" [Wetton/Downes] (5:58)
11. "I Believe" [Wetton/Downes] (4:42)
12. "Don't Wanna Lose You Now" [Wetton/Downes] (4:45)

Notes: The Japanese release included an additional piece, "Drop a Stone" [Downes/Howe/Palmer/Wetton] (but not "Emily").

The making of this album appears to have dragged on longer than expected. On 25 Jan 2010, Wetton posted to his website forum:

I can tell you this-I've never felt so detached from a record, ever. That's not pointing any fingers, but between record company and producer, I feel almost no connection with this album, despite having injected a fairly considerable slice of myself into its fabric. It's like it is evolving by other hands, and it's a weird feeling.

Followed by:

I'm not trying to scare-monger, or point fingers at all----Mike Paxman is working incredibly hard on this record (as is our tireless engineer,Steve Rispin), I'm just expressing my lack of connection with the recording, the distance between myself and what's happening, and the fact that I will never record like this again.

He explained further on 27 Jan: "Oh, it will be good, alright---I don't want you to get the impression that there are any bad vibes, there aren't. Everyone is working super hard, engineer, producer, band, management, but I'm saying I've never felt so detached from an album, which really should have been put to bed by Xmas." On 1 Feb, Wetton described the album and explained the name:

it is the natural balance to Alpha---the yin and yang now complete, nearly three decades later. Despite the title of  one of the lead tracks, it's a very up, optimistic  record----but then, so is Alpha. For anyone who thinks it means the last one, I would say "-but then  Alpha was not the first".

Mixing began on 8 Feb. Wetton also described a song about sapphism being rejected for this album by Frontiers Records, although he would like to use the song elsewhere at some point. A Feb 2010 report described Howe as "VERY enthusiastic" about Omega.(1) is a remake of the Icon song on Rubicon—in Wetton's words, "Fact:Finger On The Trigger is Frontier's Boss Serafino Perugino's favourite Wetton/Downes song EVER by a country mile.I think we do it well, but I'm biased." (HP, 24 Apr 10; updated 10 May 10, thanks to RR for info)

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