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| Asia - Axis XXX Live in San Francisco MMXII 2015 |
As it turned out, Asia wasn't interested in all that. They set out to craft unabashedly commercial songs that made prog palatable to the masses, choosing accessible concision over complex, multi-part arrangements, and their gambit worked. Asia's 1982 debut landed at No. 1 in the U.S. like a message in a bottle with a lovesick note inside, a grand romantic gesture that stole many a heart, even as critics mercilessly slagged their banal sentimentality and general blandness.
It was never cool to like Asia, as the movie "The 40-Year Old Virgin" so painfully articulated for anybody who even considered them a secret guilty pleasure. Still, some 30 years after their formation, here was the original lineup of John Wetton (King Crimson, UK), Steve Howe (Yes), Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) and Geoff Downes (The Buggles, Yes) broadcasting one of its last magical performances together at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on Nov. 7, 2012, on AXS TV in spectacularly vivid high-definition video and audio – now available as an entertaining two-CD/DVD release from Frontiers Music. They must have been doing something right all those years.
As triumphant and wistfully romantic as ever, Asia puts on a surprisingly vibrant show awash in nostalgia, as old favorites such as a pulsating and effusive "Here Comes The Feeling" and "Sole Survivor," with its silvery flashes of synthesizer, mix with the bittersweet rehashing of "Only Time Will Tell" and the melodic flourish of "Heat of the Moment" that closes the set. Drama and dissonance are found in "Face on the Bridge" and "Time Again," respectively, and more recent material like "Tomorrow The World," off Asia's 2012 effort XXX, races, while the obscure "Ride Easy," a b-side for "Heat of the Moment" and later included on Aurora, offers pleasant hooks with a touch of heartache.
Given the opportunity to display their musical chops, Howe and Palmer take full advantage, with the drummer showing both power and precision on his solo in "Holy War." Meanwhile, Howe, ever the ingenious guitar player, deftly negotiating a tricky acoustic guitar solo in "Pyramidoloy" with warmth and lush tonality that slides seamlessly into his jaunty sketching of "Golden Mean." Downes' piano is the best thing about "Don't Cry," where Wetton goes embarrassingly overboard trying to get the audience to sing along like some oily lounge singer, and his synths are majestic in raising up "I Know How You Feel." Not at all incendiary or untidy, Axis XXX Live in San Francisco MMXII, instead, pleasantly illustrates Asia's gift for both melody and melodrama, and it seems Asia has passed the test of time.
– Peter Lindblad
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