The decision for a new album was made in the heat of the moment.

Wait - they're doing a cover version of an entire Dan Fogelberg album?

DarthBrooks: Wait - they're doing a cover version of an entire Dan Fogelberg album?

Jeebus you're old.

/So am I... I have that record.

You know how I know you're gay?

Wait - they're doing a cover version of an entire Dan Fogelberg album?

They prefer to think of it as a tribute album.

If I ever get to lead a band I am going to make the rest of the group join me in covers of ludicrously out of genre pop songs.

I have a CD or two of Steve Hackett leading a band containing Wetton and some other old prog names doing Genesis, Asia, King Crimson, etc. songs.

ZAZ: If I ever get to lead a band I am going to make the rest of the group join me in covers of ludicrously out of genre pop songs.

I would pay cash money to hear an Incubus album of TV show themes.

ZAZ: If I ever get to lead a band I am going to make the rest of the group join me in covers of ludicrously out of genre pop songs.

You mean like the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, a Fat Mike (of NOFX) side project where they do punk covers of 60s pop songs, show tunes, country, etc...

/voting?

ZAZ: If I ever get to lead a band I am going to make the rest of the group join me in covers of ludicrously out of genre pop songs.

Like Dread Zepplin?

Only time will tell.

Don't cry.

/obviously have nothing

OlafTheBent: ZAZ: If I ever get to lead a band I am going to make the rest of the group join me in covers of ludicrously out of genre pop songs.

Like Dread Zepplin?

I've read this damn book 22 times, Charlie and I still don't understand a thing...

ZAZ: They prefer to think of it as a tribute album.

If I ever get to lead a band I am going to make the rest of the group join me in covers of ludicrously out of genre pop songs.

I have a CD or two of Steve Hackett leading a band containing Wetton and some other old prog names doing Genesis, Asia, King Crimson, etc. songs.

Hey! Don't knock The Tokyo Tapes! That's great album. GTR on the other hand....passable.

And Steve Hackett rules. Definitely on the short list of musicians I want to see in concert.

Guys, this means yacht-rock is back with a vengeance!

/jk
//Wetton actually rules

Asia is so forgotten that the local classic rock station doesn't even play any of their songs.
I don't even remember their songs because they were just part of all the arena rock bands I didn't pay any attention to.

Asia wasn't bad, they were just a letdown. There's so much underused musical talent in that band.

Good lord, that man is ugly.

/I mean, seriously, Asia? You framed an Asia poster? How hard did the people at the frame store laugh when you brought this in?
//Know why you're gay? Because you like Asia.

Roger Dean is deader than dead.

FTFA-
In addition, artist Roger Dean -- the artist behind the band's signature album art in the early 80s -- will return to create the Phoenix cover.

Maybe this will be what all the fans of the members' previous bands hoped it would be.

/probably not

noheadphones: Roger Dean is deader than dead.

FTFA-
In addition, artist Roger Dean -- the artist behind the band's signature album art in the early 80s -- will return to create the Phoenix cover.

...and I'm wronger than wrong apparently...he's alive

RIP Ace, however.

noheadphones: noheadphones: Roger Dean is deader than dead.

FTFA-
In addition, artist Roger Dean -- the artist behind the band's signature album art in the early 80s -- will return to create the Phoenix cover.

...and I'm wronger than wrong apparently...he's alive

RIP Ace, however.

On the third day, he rose again.

Twenty-five years after "Alpha" and six months after saying there's no new album coming, Asia's founding members set to release "Phoenix"



Already been done.

Torc: Asia wasn't bad, they were just a letdown. There's so much underused musical talent in that band.

Absolutely. It wasn't until I heard King Crimson that I realized that Wetton actually could play the bass, let alone how awesome he is at it. Howe and Palmer were also pretty underused in the band, too (although Howe's solo on "Midnight Sun" might be one of my favorites of his). Downes, on the other hand, hasn't been responsible for anything remotely good since "Video Killed the Radio Star."

GypsyJoker: Downes, on the other hand, hasn't been responsible for anything remotely good since "Video Killed the Radio Star."

I think I'm the only Yes fan on the planet who actually liked Drama.

Torc: GypsyJoker: Downes, on the other hand, hasn't been responsible for anything remotely good since "Video Killed the Radio Star."

I think I'm the only Yes fan on the planet who actually liked Drama.

Nah, Drama was OK. (It was certainly better than Tormato.) I wonder, though, how much Downes really contributed to it; I know he and Horn were listed in all the song credits, but I'd bet it was more a Howe/Squire album than anything else. (I could be wrong.)

Looking at the rest of Downes' output, though, turns up a lot of schlock.

Wow. The first two LPs I ever owned were "Asia" and Billy Joel's "Glass Houses". I haven't listened to either in about 25 years, but I could probably sing along with all the songs right now, that's how much I listened to them.

I may pick up "Phoenix" out of pure curiosity. It'll be available on vinyl, right?

Gimme a holler when there's a U.K. reunion.

This is cool news and yeah I'll admit it, I can't wait to hear it.

Gulper Eel:

Gimme a holler when there's a U.K. reunion.

Sort of.

Torc: GypsyJoker: Downes, on the other hand, hasn't been responsible for anything remotely good since "Video Killed the Radio Star."

I think I'm the only Yes fan on the planet who actually liked Drama.

BROTHER!

chickyraptor: Gulper Eel:
Gimme a holler when there's a U.K. reunion.

Sort of.

Oh good grief. Jobson was the least important member of the band. He kept asking Holdsworth why they had to play something different in their solos each nite.

I had a front row table to see the original UK in Baton Rouge after meeting them in a little record store a few hours beforehand. Didn't know who they were. Sat mesmerized by Bruford all night, although I'm a keyboardist.

Wetton was godlike in the 73-74 version of Crimson, but - as you see on Tokyo Tapes - he doesn't seem to want to play bass anymore. Some recent YouTubes of him playing with others show him to be very out of shape and not in very good voice. I'd approach new Asia with a LOT of caution.

Also, Palmer's been stuck in a ham-handed 1-2-POW-rest mode since latter ELP. No finesse any more.

And, besides UK, I caught Asia as they made the rounds. GREAT stage, with a second tier with Downes up above Palmer. Cool.

Rock and roll juggler opened for them. High point, IIRC, was him doing "Reign Oer Me." Pretty cool.

But, if you want great Downes, catch him and Bruce Wooley and Trevor Horn here (new window). This nearly always makes me tear up at its significance.

I still remember my favorite review of Asia's first album. It went something like "Based on the talent involved, I was determined to enjoy this record. But after three songs about why they like their girlfriends, two songs about "surviving," and then another four songs about why they don't like their girlfriends, I knew I simply wasn't up to the task."

/my other favorite was written in El Marko on the cover of the copy at my college radio station: "ATTENTION. NEVER PLAY THIS RECORD."

//bring back King Crimson, for shiate's sake. And I mean the Fripp-Belew-Levin-Bruford incarnation.

GypsyJoker: Torc: GypsyJoker: Downes, on the other hand, hasn't been responsible for anything remotely good since "Video Killed the Radio Star."

I think I'm the only Yes fan on the planet who actually liked Drama.

Nah, Drama was OK. (It was certainly better than Tormato.) I wonder, though, how much Downes really contributed to it; I know he and Horn were listed in all the song credits, but I'd bet it was more a Howe/Squire album than anything else. (I could be wrong.)

Looking at the rest of Downes' output, though, turns up a lot of schlock.

Drama has too much of a new wave influence that the previous Yes albums didn't have. Also worth noting was that there was a reworked version of Into the Lens on the posthumous second Buggles album. These fact point out that it probably was more of a collaboration than we give them credit for. The Downes bashing is somewhat undeserved, he's a compotent keyboardist who can adapt to many styles. If he was around during prog's heyday, he porbably would have been in better projects. What I also don't get is bashing Downes for not doing anything since Video Killed the Star (I disagree, Drama was a very good album), but not bashing Patrick Moraz for not doing anything great sicne Relayer (or maybe his first solo album). I hear many prog fans talk about how great that guy is, but not liking the vast majority of his work.

dmax: chickyraptor: Gulper Eel:
Gimme a holler when there's a U.K. reunion.

Sort of.

Oh good grief. Jobson was the least important member of the band. He kept asking Holdsworth why they had to play something different in their solos each nite.

I had a front row table to see the original UK in Baton Rouge after meeting them in a little record store a few hours beforehand. Didn't know who they were. Sat mesmerized by Bruford all night, although I'm a keyboardist.

Wetton was godlike in the 73-74 version of Crimson, but - as you see on Tokyo Tapes - he doesn't seem to want to play bass anymore. Some recent YouTubes of him playing with others show him to be very out of shape and not in very good voice. I'd approach new Asia with a LOT of caution.

Also, Palmer's been stuck in a ham-handed 1-2-POW-rest mode since latter ELP. No finesse any more.

I saw that same tour when U.K. played in Oklahoma City at an outdoor concert. All of the other bands sat on the sidestage (including a young Eddie Van Halen) in awe of Holdsworth. I agree that Wetton went too poppy in the later years, and being in Uriah Heep probably didn't help much. I did kind of like that solo album he put out in the early eighties. It was better than anything Asia did.

Downes is a brilliant keyboardist, not the level of Wakeman or Emerson, but damn good nonetheless.

Downes and Wetton put out an album a few years back that they wrote together, good stuff, shows they haven't lost it.

And anyone notice that Steve Howe:



Looks a lot like Filtch from Harry Potter:

Fark Me with a Chainsaw:
And anyone notice that Steve Howe looks a lot like Filtch from Harry Potter:

And that's actually a good photo of Howe.

Saw Howe a couple of years ago, and he looked mentally ill, really. Played The Clap, I think, and then retreated to the back corner of the stage, and Jon Anderson really had to coax him out to the front to take the bow. Weird. Never seen that before.

In fact, on the Going For the One tour, during the Clap, he played a line or two at the beginning and then looked up at the audience and waved at them to clap along and continued back into the tune. Much more animated then.