Anthologia 20th Anniversary Geffen Years Collection 19821990 disc 1 Album Art

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Easy Livin
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

"Asia", "Alpha", "Astra" and "So and now" in 1 drove

This double CD collection contains all the tracks from Asia'south first three official Asia releases ("Asia" ,"Alpha", "Astra") plus the "And so and At present" compilation. It as well contains three boosted tracks, from the period, "Ride Easy", "Daylight" (which appears unlisted on some CD versions of Alpha), and "Lyin' To Yourself".

The tracks appear in the same guild as on the original albums, with the exception of the ones from "Then and at present" where they duplicate tracks on the other albums.

There's niggling point in reviewing the individual albums again here, but the collection as whole offers a convenient way of obtaining all the material on these early albums. The band of form recorded them when they were a "supergroup", of prog rock masters, who for the Asia venture, decided to record straightforward melodic rock.

I've ever found the sound quality of the "Astra" anthology, both on cassette and CD, to be poor, and while there is no testify of remastering here, the tracks from that album do sound somewhat better, if still a bit "tinny".

Given that the drove tends to sell for around the cost of a single full priced CD, it offers first-class value for those who are interested in the early work of this band.

Review by Muzikman
PROG REVIEWER

ASIA had 1 of the biggest selling debut albums in the 80s with their self-titled fine art- prog rock masterpiece. Their ascent up the charts was a phenomenon that many groups never feel during a career. They never attained that kind of success again. While ensuing releases had some solid work, their stunning debut proved too difficult to lucifer. The magical formula and achievements of their first recorded works began to dissipate with each successive release. Some of their songs were utter syrupy pop and nada but a shadow of the powerful cocked progressive stone-pop that they had crafted so perfectly on their first outing.

"This 20th Ceremony" prepare fills 2 discs with every song from "Asia", "Alpha", and "Astra" including B sides and some rarities. John Wetton's vocals always reminded of Greg Lake of ELP. He has i of the peachy rock voices with an immense history behind him. For me, that is why I was originally attracted to this group because I was really into ELP. Besides the fact that is all you heard on the radio and nearly everyone had the album or cassette, it was and is great music.

This was good for me to go across the kickoff album and actually listen closely. I heard some tracks that I truly enjoyed, like "Countdown To Zip" and "After The War." Although the keyboards remained predominant, the free energy was entirely different as y'all go from anthology to album, considering of shifting personnel.

As sweet every bit success tin be, it's even harder to maintain, and it doesn't affair what field you are in, information technology isn't specific to music alone. A modicum of success was maintained for several years then eventually the group faded to get another classic prog-rock historical metaphor. They are over again active with a recent release titled "Aureola", which is a very good anthology in my opinion; but don't exist too over broken-hearted about what you lot will hear.

If you are looking for an all encompassing "Asia" set up this is this i to pick up.

Rating: three.v/v

Review past patrickq
PROG REVIEWER

Anthologia is my kind of Asia compilation. Since it includes all three of the band's Geffen albums (Asia (1982), Alpha (1983), and Astra (1985)), plus seven other Asia songs released on singles and compilations between 1982 and 1990, it includes well-nigh every Asia vocal I like (and plenty that I don't). At the same time, Anthologia does non comprise whatever alternate takes or mixes, or any demos, early versions, or studio run-throughs - - it'southward fabricated upwards entirely of previously released material.

Not all of that previously-released fabric is bully, of course; Astra was weak, and none of the iv songs released on the 1990 compilation Then & Now were fifty-fifty every bit proficient as annihilation on Astra. But Asia and Blastoff, plus the non-album tunes "Ride Easy" and "Daylight," are worth the toll of admission.

I'd recommend Anthologia: The 20th Anniversary / Geffen Years Drove (1982-90) to anyone interested in accessible prog-rock.

___

P.Due south.: As far as I know, the just Asia song released earlier 1991 that'southward not included on Anthologia is "Gypsy Soul," released in 1987 on the soundtrack to the Sylvester Stallone vehicle Over the Top. However, that vocal wasn't released on Geffen, and to plenty of the band's fans, information technology wasn't a real Asia song anyway (it was written and produced past Giorgio Moroder; John Wetton's vocals were the only thing connecting "Gypsy Soul" to Asia).

Latest members reviews

Would it have killed Universal to simply RE-RELEASE all of the CDs individually???? No, instead, they ruin this by irresolute the fade-outs and silence between tracks. All to cram it all onto 2 CDs. In improver, the re-mastered FIRST album they released with MAJOR tape drop-outs on a couple of ... (read more than)

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