Rain sessions

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Rain was an attempt by the record company Geffen Records to set up a supergroup with former members of Asia and GTR . The musicians Geoffrey Downes , Michael Sturgis , Scott Gorham (previously with Asia), Phil Spalding , Max Bacon (previously with GTR) and John Payne (later with Asia) as well as the songwriter Johnny Warman were involved . Rain tracks have later appeared on albums by Asia, Geoffrey Downes and Max Bacon.

Rain
General information
Genre (s) Rock , AOR
founding 1987
resolution 1988
Founding members
Guitar , vocals, keyboards
 Geoffrey Downes
Michael Sturgis
Scott Gorham
Max Bacon
Bass , vocals
 Phil Spalding
John Payne

prehistory

In 1986 and 1987 the former Asia keyboarder Geoffrey Downes produced two albums for the band GTR , the second of which has remained unreleased to this day. After GTR ended, former Asias singer and bassist John Wetton worked with GTR singer Max Bacon on Tom and Mel Galley's Phenomena project. There Wetton met the drummer Michael Sturgis and the guitarist Scott Gorham (ex- Thin Lizzy ) know.

Wetton and Downes had been one of the most successful songwriting teams of the 1980s as the creative heads of the art rock band Asia. Hits like Heat of the Moment , Only Time will tell , Sole Survivor , Wildest Dreams , Don't Cry and The Smile has left your Eyes from the highly successful albums Asia (1982) and Alpha (1983) go to her account . In 1987, two years after the end of Asia, the two began again, songs together, but without specifically considering a new project.

In the same year there was an attempt to revive Asia. Downes and Wetton began to practice old Asian pieces with Sturgis and Gorham. But when only JVC Japan wanted to sign the band, Wetton left the band in frustration. In the short time, only a few new tracks had been written, including Summer (can't last too long) and Kari-Anne , which were later released on Asian albums, and a song called Boys from Diamond City .

Rain

Downes, Sturgis and Gorham subsequently teamed up with Phil Spalding , the former bassist, and Max Bacon , the former GTR vocalist, at the suggestion of John Kalodner , A&R representative for Geffen Records . They started writing songs for a project called Rain . Also involved was the songwriter Johnny Warman and from the beginning of 1988 also the singer and bassist John Payne , whom Downes had met through Spalding. The musicians named their new project after the song Who will stop the Rain? which was one of the first to emerge.

During these sessions, Who will stop the Rain? and Boys from Diamond City had at least five other songs sung by both Bacon and, later, Payne. Even John Wetton, with whom Downes kept in touch, sang on some of the Rain demos, including Someday , which later appeared on the Asian album Aqua , and Boys from Diamond City .

Initially, the Rain project, mediated by Kalodner, was to become Geffen's new supergroup in Asia. But the plans to release the songs in the form of an album failed. A number of Rain tracks later appeared on albums by Asia, Geoff Downes and Max Bacon. This makes it possible to reconstruct the Rain album, which never came about.

Rain song releases

  • Boys from Diamond City was left over from the previous attempt to restart Asia, and the version sung by Bacon was released on his solo album The higher you climb (1996) and later on From The Banks Of The River Irwell (2002). A version sung by John Wetton exists but has not been released. A version sung by John Payne was released in 1996 on the Asia rarities album Archiva 1 .
  • Who will stop the rain? was released in the version sung by Bacon on his solo album From The Banks Of The River Irwell (as Who Can Stop The Rain ), a revised version sung by Payne was released on the Asia album Aqua (1992).
  • Someday was released in the version sung by Bacon on his solo album From The Banks Of The River Irwell , a revised version sung by Payne has been released on Aqua .
  • Tears only appeared on Archiva 1 in 1996 in a version sung by John Payne. The song also appeared as Tears in my Eyes on Bacon's solo album From The Banks Of The River Irwell .
  • Moon under (the) Water was sung by both Bacon and Payne, and it was first released in a different version on Downes' solo album Vox Humana (1993). A version with John Payne was released in 1996 on the Asia rarities album Archiva 2 . The song also appeared on Bacon's solo album From The Banks Of The River Irwell .
  • Satellite Blues was sung by both Warman and Payne, and it was initially released in a different version on Downes' solo album Vox Humana . A version with John Payne was released on Archiva 2 in 1996 .
  • The higher you climb was sung by both Bacon and Payne. Bacon's version then appeared on his solo album of the same name in 1996, and Payne's version was released on Archiva 2 in the same year . In 2002 the song was also featured on Bacon's second solo album, From The Banks Of The River Irwell .
  • Take no Prisoners , which was written by Downes, Spalding and Bacon, probably also belongs to the time of the Rain sessions. It was released on Bacon's solo album From The Banks Of The River Irwell in 2002 .
  • Dusty Road (originally under the title Burning Chrome ), a Downes / Bacon composition, was also created around the Rain sessions. It was sung by John Payne in January 1988 and released in this version in 1996 on Archiva 1 .
  • Crime of the Heart by Aqua is also a Downes / Warman composition and could therefore come from the Rain sessions.
  • Don't call me , also by Aqua , is another Downes / Warman composition and could therefore come from the Rain sessions.

It is not known whether other previously unreleased Rain tracks exist.

After the end

Almost at the same time as the Rain project, Downes turned to the idea of ​​turning the theme of his Buggles hit Video Killed the Radio Star into a musical, but this project also failed. Downes then worked with former King Crimson drummer Michael Giles and former Asia singer Greg Lake . The year-long collaboration between the three musicians under the project name Ride the Tiger resulted in eight new songs, some of which have remained unreleased to this day.

Bacon worked with Mike Oldfield on his album Earth Moving in 1989 , Sturgis and Gorham founded the band 21 Guns .

swell

  • Dancha, Kim: My own time. The authorized biography of John Wetton. Schnecksville, PA (USA) 1997. ISBN 0-9654847-1-8 .
  • Gallant, David: Asia. The Heat Goes On. The Authorized Asia Biography. Summerside, PEI, Canada 2001. ISBN 0-9688584-0-6 .
  • Gallant, David: Asia. Heat of the moment. New York 2007. ISBN 978-0-9796881-0-2 .
  • Booklets for Archiva 1 and Archiva 2