It's been forever since the original group of four musicians that formed the true progressive/rock/super group Asia have made a record.

I was skeptical when I heard about this project and even more skeptical when I picked it up and gave it a listen.

I had to grind through listening to this album from start to finish without skipping ahead, skipping through songs or turning it off all together. This was some sad malaise of slowdown ballads and lukewarm songs I really didn't want to listen to and really didn't like.

I originally wanted to title my review of this album as, "MalAsia", if that gives you any indication of what I thought of it.

Curiously, the next day I had snippets of songs floating around my head and bits of melodies and lyrics I couldn't shake - and I could not figure out right away where all of these musical pieces-parts came from. 

Oddly, it dawned on me this music swimming around my brain were from this Asia album, Phoenix.

To appease the mental tickling in my head, I played Phoenix through again in it's entirety.

To my surprise - I liked it.
I liked it a lot.

The trite melodies and lyrics suddenly made sense to me within the scope of the album. The slow, lumbering songs suddenly captured me and I enjoyed the travel through them. The upbeat, rocking songs still sounded solid.

All in all, the group of these four men was tight and they certainly had their bits together and had put together something quite good.

What a surprise.

If you are an Asia fan at all, try this.
If you like Steve Howe, Carl Palmer, Geoff Downes or John Wetton, try this. 
Don't give up on it quickly, it my grow on you.

I now remember why I liked Asia in the past - they do what they do really well and no one else does what they do.

Asia homepage.

This album was released on my birthday during my first year in high school.
My Mom took me to the mall record store to get it for me for my birthday.
It was on sale, too.

There must have been thirty copies of this record in the bin when we walked into the store.
The next time I went to the same record store in the mall (in those years of my life I probably made that trip the next weekend) there were still about the same number of copies of this album in the bin.

There was good reason for that-
Alpha was a good album, but it was not as good as Asia's first album that had come out the year before and motivated me to chase down their second album when it was released; add to that the fact that pop music was beginning to jet into a completely opposite direction that progressive/rock super groups thanks to Duran Duran, Adam Ant, The Police, etc.
This album fell off the side of the musical and cultural road.

Asia's first album worked for me because it rocked with a big, broad, full, full, layered force.

This second album of theirs was also big, broad, full and layered but just didn't rock as much.
It also felt a bit more over-produced. Maybe this album was too pretty, too glossy, so much so all of the big, broad layers failed to punch you in the gut.

Alpha is a collection of completely fine songs that are well-crafted, well constructed and well played. It's a lot like a guy who has shined up his old-school Trans Am so it looks great but when you take a ride in it, it feels like you are cruising around in a Chevette.


Alpha is a good ride in a gleaming car with only a little bit of rumble, not a full growling turbo.

Asia homepage.