Asia Enso Kai (Live in Tokyo) [Original recording remastered]

Asia | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 26, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1983
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Pilot
• ASIN: B00005B15X
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,065 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Heat Goes On

2. Here Come the Feeling

3. Eye to Eye

4. Only Time Will Tell

5. Open Your Eyes

6. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

7. Wildest Dreams

8. Heat of the Moment

9. Sole Survivor

Editorial Reviews

First time on CD for 1983 live release recorded at the Budokan in 1983 for MTV & previously only available on video in the U.S.. Tracks include, 'The Heat Goes On', 'Here Comes The Feeling' & 'Eye To Eye'. 2001 release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Could be 5 Stars but missing material!, March 22, 2002

By 

Dean and Lisa Reid (Dover, DE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asia Enso Kai (Live in Tokyo) (Audio CD)

When I rated the Asia live Moscow disk I lamented that it was the best ASIA live album only because ASIA had not released THIS show, featuring Greg Lake in front of the band at the Budokan in Japan. My, how times have changed! There are dozens of live ASIA albums out now. Some good and some...well, I'll be kind. Enso Kai is THE premier Asia live disk for several reasons.
1. Anyone who was an Asia fan in the early 80's recalls the MTV show this was drawn from...it was an event for the fan; and every ASIA fan from that period has dreamed of its release. Now we have it.
2. The guys are in top form. The untitled acoustic number is "Sketches in the Sunset". Its available on GTR's studio album, but the definitive version of this song is here on the Enso Kai disk.
3. The show displays how wonderfully incestuous the British Progressive movement was, with Lake stepping into Wetton's shoes just as effortlessly as Wetton had stepped into Lake's shoes in King Crimson a decade earlier.

So why only 4 stars? It's missing four songs from the show, nearly 20 minutes of material, including the exquisite "cutting it fine". The exclusion of this material is unforgivable. There was room enough for the material on the disk, and its inclusion would round out the show.

That being said it remains a gem of a disk...will get lots of airplay from me. Certainly more than the Moscow and Nottingham disks from 1990 and more than the horrific "Hallowed Halls" disk (also from the Alpha tour), and the schmaltzy post-Wetton (93+) live disks.

I would recommend purchasing Enso Kai, getting a copy of the bootleg version of the show (good luck) and pasting the missing tracks onto a new CD with the Enso Kai stuff. THEN, you'd have a 5-Star disk to be sure.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great Asia concert, September 27, 2007

By 

B.K. (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Asia Enso Kai (Live in Tokyo) (Audio CD)

This is a live album from Asia's MTV gig in Japan. The thing was, John Wetton left the band a week before the concert, so Greg Lake was brought it. Hearing his amazing voice singing Asia classics here is great. Steve Howe's guitar shines in this performance as well. Not to mention Carl Palmer, the guy is just an amazing drummer. Geoff Downes also adds a great keyboard solo, and overall his keyboards really add to the mix of the album. The entire performance sounds great with the remastering. It only gets four stars as the editing between songs isnt that good, and Greg Lake's voice isnt as good as Wetton's in certain parts. But overall, this is an amazing concert. Recomended to Asia fans.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars 2 stars is generous, August 21, 2007

By 

Padraic (East Lansing, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asia Enso Kai (Live in Tokyo) (Audio CD)

A live Asia concert broadcast in 12/1983 on MTV and radio in which Greg Lake flat-out couldn't replace John Wetton. This is an old CD, of a big show ... but these 3 to 4 star ratings are ridiculous. People {ELP fans}, on this CD can you not hear on the end chorus of "Wildest Dreams" Lake sounds like he's in a state of severe constipation? Forget music transfer or sound quality issues ... this ISN'T Asia. And the management and everybody tried to pull it off as if it was, at the time. The concert itself and the build up, up to it was one of the biggest scams the American music business had ever perpetrated on the public, particularly the people of Tokyo, who loved the band Asia so much they took it in whatever form they could get it. The last release, ASIA Fanstasia: Live in Tokyo ... is the 'real deal', has John Wetton at the microphone and on bass. (Btw I am a big fan of Greg Lake, and have his double CD Retrospective)