ASIA - Omega (2010
It was a very pleasant surprise to find this album delivered 3 days early when the postman brought it this morning! I first fell in love with rock music back in 1982 when I played Asia's debut album over and over in my student room! I was at Wembley that October where the band were distant heroes...tiny figures making a massive soundscape of noise. Asia, with other bands like Yes, Genesis and It Bites have been the soundtrack to my life ever since.
I knew the opening track from Icon II (Rubicon) and hadn't expected Steve's guitar to dominate this version...yet it did. In fact I was barely aware of keyboards at first. Holy War really catches the attention - a great prog track and again a very 'big' sound but each instrumental part is well-defined (at least throguh a good system) and, in this song (like the 2nd as well) the backing vocals are towering! John, in likening this new album to Alpha hints for us to find links...and Ever Yours is, clearly, The Smile has Left Your Eyes' counterpart. It was always my opinion that Geoff was a little out of place in Yes...but his perfect musical match is Mr Wetton...and thank God they found each other! What a team!
An earlier reviewer stated that John's voice was as strong as ever here and I have to agree...my teenage son (a fellow prog-head!) remarked that he looks younger with every album. When I stood with John at an It Bites gig last year I said the same to him and it is clear he is enjoying the new lease of life that sobriety and heart surgery has given him...long may it continue! (I find myself hearing his 'testimony' at the start of Icon I: "Stone cold sober - so glad it's over" as I write this...and reflecting on our conversation that day - the day heavy-drinking chef Keith Floyd died - that 'there but for the grace of God' he could have gone himself))
There is a great posititvity in the lyrics and feel of End of the World and the listener is reminded, yet again, of the high standards of musicianship these four men share. As is usual, I find, minor keys dominate this new recording...something that has been a common thread throughout Wetton's entire oeuvre. Light the Way is one of just two Steve Howe compositions here and his guitar leads into another bright song...Howe employing his 'Yes-sounds' more here (compare this to the Asia/Alpha albums back when these sounds were about all he had...I'm delighted he has found some good 'power-guitar' sounds in more recent years...he even makes a pretty good crack at Owner of a Lonely Heart these days :) )
Emily is more of a pop song - but that doesn't mean it is not very welcome at this point in quite a deep sequence of songs! Welcome, Emily, to that seemingly endless list of girls' names to become the theme of a Wettonsong! (Emma, Jane, Josephine, Shannon, Carol-Ann/Kari-Anne, Christina, Suzanne...have I missed any??) I like this song!
And I like the next too...the 6/8 rhythm making a change in I'm Still The same. Was it to make producer Mike Paxman (Status Quo) feel at home? ;) Some great chord sequences and harmonies in here...making me think of ELO at their best. Definitely one of the highlights!
There is a Renaissance - almost operatic? - sound to the next song There Was a Time. Songs like this one seem to suggest a blurring of the lines between Asia and Icon (maybe I can't help thinking along those lines with 'Trigger' kicking off this set?) but I kind of feel easier linking this song with the likes of The Hanging Tree and even Shannon than 'Asia'. However it does feature some beautiful piano playing from Geoff and Steve picks meanderingly in a style reminiscent of what he did on Queen's Innuendo. By the end the 'Asia' feel is more pronounced, however.
I Believe is the song most obviously in the style of Alpha, 27 years ago. It is the one of the tracks that would say 'Asia' to a casual listener acquainted, these days, with little but memories of the early hits...nice to revisit the past and, with tongue just, surely, a little in cheek, say "yeah...we can still do it!"
The final track...already! This must be the one John referred to as Beatle-y, the opening chords a heavier Day in the Life...chord patterns to remind us of Here, There & Everywhere, Beatle-y harmonies...ha-ha, there is even a rhythmic nod to I Am the Walrus (and, to save later additions, Penny Lane trumpet and overtones of Hey Jude). Yet - this is definite Asia product and a very nice way to end an excellent listen. This may turn out to be a 5 star album...I just don't want to say so now on first listen - nearly every album I've ever listened to has grown on me - and if this one does then those stars will be deserved indeed!
