I’ve been looking forward to the release of the new live album by the original members of 80’s supergroup Asia for a while now. i mean, just look at the caliber and the musical history of the members of this group: John Wetton (King Crimson, UK), Steve Howe (Yes, GTR), Geoff Downes (Yes, Buggles) and Carl Palmer (ELP). to have these four men back together is truly a momentous occasion. the group started the reunion tour in 2006 and continues to tour around the globe for most of 2007. to commemorate the mammoth tour, they captured their March 2007 performance in front of a sold out crowd in tokyo. the CD is called Fantasia - Live In Tokyo: 2007 (2CD)
and is the first official live recording of the original lineup. it has been a long time coming and after listening to the new double CD set, they might have waited a bit too long unfortunately. instead of a well-oiled, cohesive group of musicians that have gelled from a year of touring, what is presented here on CD is a fragmented group of rock legends that aren’t listening to each other and seem to be just going through the motions and are just there to add to their retirement fund. part of the blame has to go to the muddy and highly compressed audio mix. i’m not sure what equipment was used to record the concert but i’ve heard bootlegs that sound better than this. Carl Palmer’s drums sound so squashed by compression that at times it sounds like he’s beating cardboard boxes! but once you get past the underwhelming sound quality, one can definitely hear sloppy performances that land a bit high on the cringe-meter. i do have to give props to John Wetton who for the most part is singing these songs in their original key. i think the biggest problem here in terms of musicianship has to do with Carl Palmer’s drumming. there’s no denying that Palmer can do some flashy drumming on his extra large double bass drum set but he fails at one of the key fundamentals of drumming which is keeping solid time (tempo). Palmer’s tempo is all over the place and because of this, John Wetton and his bass can’t lay down a solid foundation. without a solid foundation (created by bass and drums), layering intricate keyboards and guitarwork on top of this can be difficult which is evident in this recording where the group sound disjointed and sometimes just plain unsure of themselves. don’t take my word for it, just listen to “Time Again”, “One Step Closer” and “Sole Survivor” where you can obviously hear the tempo shifts between the drum/guitar runs transitioning into the main parts of the song. probably the most embarrassing part (at least for Carl Palmer) is at the end of Palmer’s drum solo when they have to come back into “the Heat Goes On”- Palmer counts off the song too fast and John Wetton realizes this and manages to bring down the tempo with his bass and his vocals. the transition just sounds awkward and unprofessional. Come on! I expect more from these legends of prog rock!!
it’s sad to say but Fantasia - Live In Tokyo: 2007 (2CD) is a big letdown. i’m sure seeing these guys live and in person is a totally different experience but for an official CD release, the performances leave a lot to be desired.
Fantasia Tracklist:
Disc 1
1. Time Again
2. Wildest Dreams
3. One Step Closer
4. Roundabout
5. Without You
6. Cutting It Fine
7. Steve Howe Guitar Solo
8. Fanfare For The Common Man
9. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
Disc 2
1. Don’t Cry
2. Court Of The Crimson King
3. Here Comes The Feeling
4. Video Killed The Radio Star
5. The Heat Goes On / Carl Palmer Drum Solo
6. Only Time Will Tell
7. Sole Survivor
8. Ride Easy
9. Heat Of The Moment
check out the new Asia in Asia 2007 japanese promo up on youtube.
for the official Asia website- click here
Tags: Asia