Customer Reviews

Anthology

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

It's a good collection of the band's works during the 90s. I'd prefer the original release though, but do to a court order by John Wetton, the band had to remove the original songs and replace them with the re-recorded ones. I think the best moments on this disc are "Military Man" "Arena" "Two Sides Of The Moon" and "Who Will Stop The Rain". Universal is planning a collection of the Wetton years this spring, in case you don't like the John Payne era.

Anthology was my introduction to 90's Asia, and it won me over just by sheer value for what I got. Think about it...it has every Asia album (up to '97) sampled with a few songs each, plus two new cuts. What's not to like?

As others have mentioned, you do get re-recordings of 80's Asia classics ("Heat of the Moment", "Only Time Will Tell", "Don't Cry", "The Heat Goes On", "Go"), and while some bits of them are good, I still prefer the original recordings. I must say, though, Payne does a superb job with "Go". "The Hunter" is good, but again, I prefer GTR's original. The Asia version is just different. The other new track, "Different Worlds" is fantastic...one of Asia's most haunting and passionate songs, with fantastic lyrics.

The only missteps really are the lack of more tracks from the Arena album, a few typos, and a mis-printed track time for "Aqua Part I", which, by the way, is an edit. (The original had the sounds of rain and thunder at the end.) The CD booklet has small concert photos, and lyrics to all songs.

Musically, the 90's were probably Asia's mostly honestly "progressive" period. They started a little shaky on Aqua (1992), sort've bridging from their 80's to 90's sound (thankfully all of the best songs from Aqua are here on this disc), then moving to the more polished, operatic and hard-edged Aria (1994), and then doing a total 180-degree turn with Arena (1996), which was full of smooth 70's-style classic rock harmonies, Latin and Middle-Eastern rhythms, and dark 8-9 minute prog-metal mini-epics.

If you're curious about 90's Asia, pick this up. If you're new to Asia period and are on a budget, get this and Geffen's Heat of the Moment: The Very Best of Asia 1982-90, and you'll be set. If you have more cash to blow, get Anthologia and Axioms, both double-disc sets.

I bought this album having abandoned Asia for years since John Wetton left. I bought "Anthology" thinking it would be a good synopsis of the newer Asia material. Surprisingly, the half of the tracks weren't bad, and actually grew on me quite a bit after about 3 listenings. However, the re-engineered Asia songs from the Wetton era were horrible. It's not that Payne is a bad singer, either. The engineering was hideous. Each of those songs sounds as if it was re-recorded in a metal storage shed. It was if they were trying to duplicate the natural echo of Wetton's voice, but ended up with a corny echo of everything. The worst engineering and remixing of music I have ever heard. They should have abandoned the old stuff and created an anthology of the Payne era, which could easily have stood on its own without the brown-nosing attempt to lure original Asia fans.

Overall, this album is an excellent introduction to the Asia of the 90's for those who have only heard their 80's music. The re-make of the old GTR song "The Hunter" and the new "Different Worlds" track are also excellent, and almost worth the purchase price themselves. The other 90's songs on this album are a good sample of the best tracks from Aqua (1992), Aria (1994), and Arena (1996), although I wish that "Lay Down Your Arms" from Aqua had made it on here. Oh well, can't have everything I guess...

What mars this otherwise excellent album are the re-makes of the 80's hits "Heat of the Moment", "Only Time Will Tell", "Don't Cry", "The Heat Goes On", and "Go". I don't blame John Payne for this, I think he is a fine singer, at least the equal of John Wetton certainly. What messes these songs up is the engineering of them. "Don't Cry" sounds like it was recorded down in a well, and the other songs don't fare much better. The best sounding ones of the group are "Only Time Will Tell" and "The Heat Goes On". These sound pretty decent, if still not as good as the versions on Asia and Alpha. I understand that there were a few pressings of this album that made it out onto the shelves before John Wetton got his court order stopping Asia from using the original versions of these songs on the album, which was their original plan. I would LOVE to get ahold of one of those!

An interesting sampler on the newer Asia, the John Payne era with a twist...the band goes back and re-records the earlier John Wetton hits with Payne singing and playing lead guitar (instead of Steve Howe)...with not-so-good results. The story is that the band had to re-record the songs note for note and spirit-for-spirit as the original group and the old songs just don't measure up.This album does not even include all the best songs of the newer band, but does make for a great introduction to the new band's style, including a good new song, "Different Worlds", and a remake of the GTR song, "The Hunter" (written by Geoff Downes).

How can any Asia fan listen to this swill without stringing himself up from a shower rod? Asia is dead without John Wetton. Come back, John! PLEASE!

This is an awesome disc. This has to be the greatest band in the world.

Asia died after Wetton left the band. The old Asia songs on this album are actually rerecordings with the new lead singer. His voice is atrocious!!!!! Embarassingly awful.........

Asia has released a greatest hits cd that covers from their first cd to their latest. The songs fom their first three cds ASIA (5 stars), ALPHA (4), and ASTRA (2 1/2), have been excellently rerecorded, as well as the song "The Hunter" from GTR's only studio cd GTR (31/2). Lead vocalist Payne does a great job, on his songs and Wetton's. Payne's songs are of course taken from AQUA (4), ARIA (3 1/2) and ARENA (2). You can see how the group has changed over the years, gone is the over productuion of the past, and over the top playing, now it's simple good rock-n-roll. Check it out, a good place to start, to check out the old and new Asia. Only grip, not long enough, some great songs from both eras of the group have been left off. AQUA suffers from the omission.

This is a great compilation. John Payne is a passionate vocalist, and if you aren't already familiar with the original versions of the five remade 80s songs included here you will have no cause for complaint. I'm certainly glad that they chose to include a new version of the rocking "The Heat Goes On" rather than the limp top 40 ballad "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes".

Two previously unavailable but superb tracks open and close the disc, the rest being made up of a very good selection of cuts from the 3 90s albums. Unfortunately their best album "Arena" is only represented by two tracks, but to get the best of the Payne era you really need that album in tandem with this collection anyway.

As far as I'm concerned, the 80s and 90s versions of the band were almost completely different and to compare them is akin to comparing apples and apparel. Suffice to say that the 90s version, after a limp start blossomed into a tight unit making excellent music, much of which can be found here.