Band Members:
Geoff Downes: keyboards, vocals
Steve Howe: guitar, vocals
Carl Palmer: drums, percussion
John Wetton: lead vocals, bass
Produced by Mike Stone
Tracks:
1. Heat of the Moment [Wetton/Downes] (3:50)
2. Only Time will Tell [Wetton/Downes] (4:44)
3. Sole Survivor [Wetton/Downes] (4:48)
4. One Step Closer [Wetton/Howe] (4:16)
5. Time Again [Downes/Howe/Palmer/Wetton] (4:45)
6. Wildest Dreams [Wetton/Downes] (5:10)
7. Without You [Wetton/Howe] (5:04)
8. Cutting It Fine [Wetton/Downes/Howe] (5:35)
9. Here Comes the Feeling [Wetton/Howe]
Notes: (***** HP/*** MP)
Asia was formed in 1981, but was curiously
prefigured
the year before by an intriguing quartet that could have changed
the course
of Yes's history. The story of that quartet goes back to 1976:
John Wetton
and Bill Bruford, the rhythm section
of the
then dissolved King Crimson, joined up
with
Rick Wakeman, then out of Yes. The
'supergroup'
came to nothing: Wetton and Bruford subsequently formed UK
instead and Wakeman rejoined Yes. When Bruford left UK with their
guitarist Allan Holdsworth, Wetton approaced Steve Hackett, then
recently out of Genesis, who declined. However, come 1980, UK had
ended and
Wakeman was back out of Yes, leading to a resurrection of the idea
that
they should work together. Geffen agreed to sign a new quartet of
Wetton,
Wakeman, Carl Palmer and Trevor Rabin.
Palmer
was another prog-rocker now bereft of the band that had made him
famous
following the dissolution of ELP. Rabin was an upcoming artist who
had
left behind a glittering career in South Africa to come to Europe,
but
whose solo career had yet to find commercial success. (Around this
period,
up until Rabin joined Squire and White to form Cinema (which
became Yes),
Rabin's name was involved with numerous suggested projects.)
This quartet had, however, never played a note together. (It is not clear whether they had even all met.) This worried Wakeman, who questioned Geffen's motivations, and when the four met to sign the contracts, Wakeman walked out instead, as he recounts in his autobiograpy Say Yes, earning him many enemies in the music industry (according to Wakeman). In a Jan 2017 interview, Hackett also said there were plans for a band with him, Wetton, Wakeman and Palmer: unclear whether this was before or after the Wetton/Wakeman/Palmer/Rabin plan, although before seems more likely.
While there are no direct links between the Wetton/Wakeman/Palmer/Rabin plan and Asia, they both seem to have been the product of the same connections and Geffen's desire for a supergroup made out of those leftover from the progressive rock of the 1970s. In 1981, with the Drama line-up of Yes having now ceased, Steve Howe started collaborating with Wetton. Writing together proved successful: the pair worked with drummer Simon Phillips, before forming a permanent band to support their songwriting partnership. Wetton brought in Palmer and Howe brought in Downes, with whom he been working recently in Yes, and the band signed to Geffen. Wetton and Downes rapidly struck up a writing partnership, which ironically soon eclipsed the Wetton/Howe partnership on which the band was formed (cf. Asia's second album, Alpha).
Before this new quartet started recording their debut Asia, the band considered expanding to a quintet. The fifth member who got nearest to joining the band was none other than Rabin again. Two 1981 demos exist ("Here Comes the Feeling" and "Starry Eyes", an early version of "Only Time will Tell") on which Rabin shares lead vocals with Wetton. However, it was not to be: the band have said they felt a fifth member was not needed, while, as Rabin describes it, he had already turned down the offer anyway in favour of that from Squire and White.
Made by four former members of the leading progressive rock bands of the 1970s (Yes, King Crimson, ELP), Asia's more mainstream sound was a surprise to many fans of Yes, ELP and King Crimson, but the new sound proved hugely popular commercially with a new audience. The initial leg of touring in North America to support the album had been booked into comparatively small venues, which proved woefully inadequate for Asia's rapidly expanding fanbase. Asia spent 9 weeks at #1 in the US, although it only made #11 in the UK. Two singles were released: 'Heat of the Moment' (US #4, UK #46) and 'Only Time will Tell' (US #17, UK #54).
(HP, 12 Jan 02; updated 19 Feb 17)