Phoenix (Asia album)
| Phoenix | |
|---|---|
| Studio album from Asia | |
|
Publication |
April 11, 2008 |
| Label (s) | Frontiers Records |
|
Format (s) |
CD |
|
Title (number) |
12 |
| occupation |
|
Phoenix is the ninth studio album by the English AOR band Asia , released in 2008. It reached number 58 in the German and number 75 in the Swiss charts .
background
In 2005, the Asia and former Yes keyboarder Geoffrey Downes should go on tour with the band White of Yes drummer Alan White , the Yes and former Asia guitarist Steve Howe and the band The Syn of Yes bassist Chris Squire . Although this tour never came off, Downes' renewed contacts with Howe and the former Asia singer John Wetton , with whom Dowens recently played under the name Icon , gave the chance to reform the original line -up in Asia at the end of 2005.
After a few preliminary telephone calls, the four Asia founding members Downes, Howe, Wetton and drummer Carl Palmer met with Wetton's manager Martin Darvill on January 5, 2006 in a suite at the Paddington Hilton Hotel in London , during which the reunification of the band decided has been.
The team around the four musicians then joined Darvill as manager, the experienced Phil Carson , Bruce Pilato (who had already worked with Palmer at Emerson, Lake & Palmer ) as PR manager and Barbara Skydel from the William Morris management agency, Asia had already represented in the successful 80s. Carson was one of the most important people in the team: some time before he had organized the comebacks of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes and Foreigner and, thanks to his good contacts in the USA, was predestined to establish Asia there a second time.
For John Payne , Guthrie Govan and Jay Schellen, the reunification of the original line-up meant the end of the Asian line-up that had prevailed up to then. The Asian project Architect of Time , which is currently in progress , was put on hold and the three musicians founded the band GPS .
Recordings
After a successful comeback world tour of Asia's original line-up (August 19, 2006 - spring 2007), work on a new studio album began in May 2007, but had to be interrupted shortly afterwards: One of the long-term effects of Wetton's alcoholism had become an only accidental discovery coronary artery disease caused by arteriosclerosis , which after much back and forth made heart surgery necessary in August of the same year. The triple bypass went well, but appearances announced for Asia and the Wetton / Downes project Icon in North America and Europe for the fall had to be canceled until further notice.
The Italian record company Frontiers Records signed Asia and by autumn 2007 Wetton and Downes were working on new song material. The first recording sessions for the 12 songs began in October, including An Extraordinary Life , a song in which Wetton processed his experiences over the past few years. At the beginning of 2008 the last work on the new album was finished. The new album was titled Phoenix , based on the phoenix bird from Greek mythology , which burns to rise again from its ashes (cf. the phrase "Like a phoenix from the ashes" for something that was already believed to be lost was, but appears again in new splendor). The album, which the band produced after the death of their ancestral producer Mike Stone in 2002, was released in Europe on April 11, 2008, in North America on April 15 (via EMI ) and in Japan (with various bonus tracks) on April 23 (via Kings Records). From March to May 2008 the band presented the new album at further concerts in England, the USA, Japan and Europe. Phoenix reached number 58 in the German and number 75 in the Swiss charts , in England it made it to number 10, but only in the indie charts there. It started at number 73 in the American Billboard Top 200 and reached number 10 on the Billboard Top Internet Charts.
Track list
- Never Again (Downes, Howe, Palmer, Wetton) - 4:53
- Nothing's Forever (Wetton) - 5:44
- Heroine (Downes, Howe, Palmer, Wetton) - 4:51
- Sleeping Giant / No Way Back / Reprise (Downes, Howe, Palmer, Wetton) - 8:09
- Alibis (Wetton / Downes / Howe / Palmer) - 5:38
- I Will Remember You (Downes, Howe, Palmer, Wetton) - 5:09
- Shadow of a Doubt (Downes, Howe, Palmer, Wetton) - 4:16
- Parallel Worlds / Vortex / Déyà (Downes, Howe, Palmer, Wetton) - 8:09
- Wish I'd Known All Along (Howe) - 4:05
- Orchard of Mines (Fayman / Pursey) - 5:09
- Over and Over (Howe) - 3:31
- An Extraordinary Life (Downes, Howe, Palmer, Wetton) - 4:56
In addition to an electronic press kit, the album contains a bonus track:
- An Extraordinary Life (Europe Limited Edition)
- I Will Remember You (Japanese Edition)
Remarks:
- The song Alibis dates back to 1982, but had never been played or recorded by Asia before
- Orchard of Mines is a cover version, the song comes from Jeffrey Fayman and Daniel Pursey from the band Globus and can be heard in its original version on their album Epicon (2006), on which Anneke van Giersbergen also worked, the singer of the Dutch band The Gathering , with which John Wetton had already worked
- In An Extraordinary Life , John Wetton processes his experiences with alcoholism and overcoming it
Cover
For the cover design, the fantasy artist Roger Dean was hired again , who had designed several covers for Asia in the 80s and 90s. The picture shows the phoenix bird from Greek mythology and the classic Asia logo.
occupation
- John Wetton - bass , vocals
- Carl Palmer - drums , percussion
- Steve Howe - guitar , vocals
- Geoffrey Downes - keyboard , vocals
style
With the reunification of the original line-up in 2006, a stylistic upheaval compared to the releases of the Downes / Payne lineup that existed up until then was to be expected. A return to the classic Asian sound of the first three albums, Asia , Alpha and Astra was suspected . However, this did not happen. The songs on Phoenix miss the pathetic as well as the melancholy melodies of classical Asian pieces. Instead of bombast rock and power ballads, the reunion album contains rather calm mid-tempo songs without excessive pathos.
Phoenix's production cannot be compared to that of the early Asian albums either. After Mike Stone's death, the band produced itself on Phoenix . The Wall of Sound production Stones was not taken up again. The massively duplicated vocal lines as well as the strong reverb of the keyboard and drum sounds are missing. The sound of Phoenix is thus far clearer, but also significantly thinner than that of the 80s albums and closer to the albums of the Downes / Payne era, but it sounds even drier than these.
Thus, Phoenix barely visible even as Asia album.
Critic reactions
The criticism of the song material mainly related to the many mid-tempo pieces, which are atypical for the band. Mostly "Never Again" and "Shadow of a Doubt" were positively emphasized, but none of the songs had the hit potential of many pieces from the early Asia. The flat and powerless sound (and thus untypical for Asia) was criticized during the production, which can be clearly seen in the sound of the voices and the guitar.
However, opinions are divided: Phoenix was far better received in the USA and Japan than in European countries.