Bigger on the Inside

So this review was a long time coming. I have been so busy of late I let a lot of these PopMatters reviews pile up. I kind of wish that I hadn’t bothered with this one. It was pretty painful to write and even more so to listen to. What can I say, ASIA just don’t float my boat like they used to.

Saying that though there was a time when I would have been delighted to receive this in the post.

It is 25 years since Asia released the follow up to their successful eponymous debut album. Their sophomore effort Alpha didn’t especially set cash registers singing and was largely considered to be a disappointment. Soon after that release, original guitarist Steve Howe (of Yes fame) left and the band went through twenty-something years of line-up changes and lukewarm receptions to increasingly similar sounding (and similar titled) albums.

Asia: Phoenix < Music | PopMatters

And this would be the guys performing a cover of the ELP cover of Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man”