Customer Reviews

Astra

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When John Wetton was unexpectedly replaced by Greg Lake, I expected Asia's 3rd album to include him. Not only was the '83 live show not released as an album (only a video) but when their 3rd studio album materialized, Wetton had suddenly returned-- while Steve Howe had gone! Roger Dean's stark mechanoid cover painting accurately reflects the album's contents; guitarist Mandy Meyer brings a harsh, hard sound to replace Howe's warmth.

As with ALPHA, the first half of ASTRA are all among my favorite Asia tunes. The powerful "Go", the melodic "Voice Of America", the highly-charged "Hard On Me", the emotional "Wishing" and the epic "Rock And Roll Dreams". But Side 2 was a serious nosedive. Perhaps "Countdown To Zero" was a reflection of a band falling apart-- and "After The War" appropriately ends with the musical equivalent of a A-bomb being dropped. The rest is too downbeat, and oddly enough ASTRA reflects almost exactly ELO's final album, BALANCE OF POWER, released about the same time. But I guess half an album worth of greatness is more than most bands deliver, and that still makes this worth buying.

But what FOOL screwed up the track running order on the CD? (You have to "program" it if you want to play the 10 songs in the original order!)

Asia's debut was a landmark event in music history, not because of the music's excellence alone, but because it was the closest a true masterpiece came to receiving an proportional number of album sales. The follow-up, Alpha (which was still great, albeit comparatively light and repetitive), also fared well commercially. And then, well, one of the most unappreciated albums ever. . . Astra. . .

Asia's third album contains the same basic sound as had its predecessors, with a level of songwriting that ought to meet, quite possibly to exceed, expectations. (The recording quality, however, is not as good as it could be.) From the majestic keyboard opening of "Go" to the climactic ending of "After the War," this album is pure, quintessential Asia. Layers of symphonic instrumentation mesh with Wetton's pleasant, melodic vocals in a surge of euphony and harmony, energizing and elating the listener. Somehow, the music's eudaemonic tone prevails even through the resentfully mournful "After the War" and "Countdown to Zero," which nearly succeeds in its attempt at melancholy and acerbity. That diacritical Asia sound (see musically-ignorant pythia's vague definition) saturates every song, yet without the songs' sounding like facsimiles of one another. Despite the almost orchestral feel of the music, it is erroneous to apply the progressive rock label to Astra--the album being poppy and straightforward relative to the genre's typical associations. Even the longest track, "Rock and Roll Dream" (a fitting title), remains engaging throughout, never lapsing into pretentious nothingness. Astra (indeed, the Wetton-era Asia triptych as a whole) is best categorized as AOR in its most elevated form.

See the price? For ten virtually flawless songs, that is quite a bargain! (On the other hand, if you do dislike it--although I fail to see how you could--at least you won't have wasted a good deal of money.) Sadly, Astra was the effective end of the Asia I love, but what a phenomenal conclusion it was!

~pythia~

Astra is an often overlooked gem. It was the last in a trio of brilliant Asia albums featuring one of the best vocalists of all time, John Wetton. Astra is not as solid as Alpha and does not have the super hits like their self-titled debut, but it is still an excellent album with plenty to offer. It starts with the driving "Go." I did not like "Voice of America" at first because I thought it was a bit sappy but, upon further listens, it is one of my favorites on the album. It is very pleasant. Curiously, it is on the Then and Now 1990 compilation as a "Now" song even though, as far as I can hear, it is the same 1985 version. "Hard on Me" is a very catchy rocker. The verses just makes me want to move my feet, but the chorus is a little awkward. "Wishing" is not very memorable. "Rock and Roll Dream" is a slow, calm song during the verses and then bursts out in tempo during the chorus.

"Countdown to Zero" is a powerful track and is very 1980s Cold War with the spoken verses "Do you realise what's happening in Western Europe? Norway, Finland, Scotland, England. We'll be the first to go." The last spoken lines are kind of silly though: "Don't do it, Don't start the countdown to zero. We want to live. You've got your finger on the trigger. Take it off." "Love Now Till Eternity" is a little sappy and, unlike "Voice of America," I still think it is sappy, but there is nice acoustic guitar at the end. "Too Late" has an addictive rhythm like "Hard on Me." "Suspicion" has a spooky sound and then bursts out with a cool keyboard/guitar piece. It is also very 1980s-sounding (that is a good thing). "After the War" starts out like it is going to be an overdone track like "Wildest Dreams" but then settles down to a very pleasant melody. This album is closer to Alpha than Asia's debut as it keeps the excesses of progressive rock in check. Any fan of Asia's hit singles will enjoy this album, as it is just as accessible and catchy.

I never bought this album when it first came out in 1985. I was foolish enough to listen to what I heard "on the streets", as it were. Everything I heard was negative, it was bland, boring, bad, etc. So, even though I loved the first two albums, I gave this one a pass (hey, give me a break, I was still in high school at the time). That was the end of my association with Asia for a long time.

Flash forward to June, 2001. I had recently "discovered" the 90s Asia, and decided to go ahead and pick up Astra to complete the set. Oh man, was I misinformed! Astra is an excellent album, if not quite as good as Asia and Alpha (but then, what is?) Go, Countdown to Zero, Voice of America, Hard on Me, Too Late, After the War - Quintessential Asia songs all! I should have disregarded the reviews and picked it up back in '85 - I lost 15 years of appreciation for this gem. It's a little different sounding from Alpha, mainly because of the loss of Steve Howe and the acquisition (regrettably short-lived) of Mandy Meyer. I guess my only complaint about the CD is similar to what others have said - the recording quality leaves something to be desired. This album is crying out for a remaster. But, don't let that stop you from buying it! Yes, Go, Voice of America, and Too Late are all present (and much better sounding) on the 2000 Very Best of Asia release. But, there are other great songs on here worth a listen. Don't make the same mistake I did - pick it up!

Asia fans are familiar with the group's 2 multi-platinum smashes "Asia" and "Alpha", but I think "Astra" may be the best. As with the previous releases, Astra contains John Wetton's lead vocals and bass, Geoff Downes' harmonic keyboards, and Carl Palmer's booming drums. Mandy Meyer replaced Steve Howe on this album, but his lead guitar work is excellent. All ten tracks on this album are classic Asia: top-notch lead and background vocals and perfectly blended insturmentals. From the MTV hit "Go" to my personal favorite "Rock and Roll Dream", which includes an excellent sampling of Palmer's incredible drumming, this disc shines. Buy "Astra" and experience progresive Rock and Roll at its best!

Asia's third album in 1985 by prog masters is one of their finest achievements so far. Although it produced only top 50 hit GO, the album has full of excellent tracks that could not only represent John Wetton's excellent songwriting but rival some of the 80's melodic rock masterpieces such as Vital Signs (Survivor), Escape (Journey) and Isolation (Toto). GO is the typical Asia's pop hard rock anthem and Hard On Me, Rock And Roll Dream and After the War show their trademark dynamism deriving from their progressive rock background. Also excellent power ballads such as Suspicion and Wishing would satisfy Journey or Foreigner appreciators. Asia nearly disintegrated with John Wetton leaving the band and yet to regain the status during 80s. But since then they held on with huge support by Japanese and European melodic pop rock fans.

Recommended for 80's pop rock fans and particularly Survivor, Journey and John Wetton fans would enjoy.

Asia's third album is sadly underappreciated. Their first two records were strong 4-star efforts, but this one gets the full 5 stars. Gone is Steve Howe, which suits me - his replacement Mandy Meyer fits the overall style of the band so much better, and had the added benefit of a relatively small ego.

Of the ten tracks only two have anything wrong with them. "Voice Of America" feels like an "Alpha" outtake with the guitar barely able to be noticed for most of the song, and "Countdown To Zero", which is fine before you get to the "Don't do it" preachy bit.

Beyond those two (very minor) glitches the rest of the album is faultless - every track fulfils it's promise and leaves you wanting more. Absolute highlights are "Go", "Wishing", "Rock And Roll Dream" and "After The War".

Unfortunately this album failed commercially, leading to the death of the Wetton-era line-up. The 90s (and beyond) group with John Payne will never be able to match this album, although admittedly they did come mighty close with 96's "Arena".

I bought ASTRA back in November of 1985 when it came out and I was very happy with the results. I loved all of side one: GO, VOICE OF AMERICA, HARD ON ME, WISHING, ROCK AND ROLL DREAM. But I didn't love side two...though I liked it.
Over the years the songs on side two that hold up are TOO LATE, LOVE NOW TILL ETERNITY and AFTER THE WAR. The sound quality is a little eighties washy, but good enough if you let your ears adjust to it. I would love to hear the first three ASIA albums remixed and remastered to sound more twenty first century. It is some of the finest music ever recorded in eighties (or any decade), along with the great Deep Purple.

P.S. I love reading all the reviews and seeing all the different favorite (or highlight) songs,
I think this proves that overall it is a great record with ten solid tracks.

Astra has long been looked down upon as the weakest of the original three Asia releases. With Steve Howe officially out of the fold, the disintegration of the original Asia prog-rock-alumni-supergroup concept was well underway, and this would prove to be the last Wetton-era studio release (not counting 1990's largely compilatory and contractually obligated "Then & Now") for another 20 years.

So by all means, Astra "should" be relegated to the occasional-listen, obscure-80s-AOR pile. Yet it's actually one of my favorite CDs of all time.

Let me be clear: I'm not an Asia fan whose affinity for the group is limited to any one subset of their long and diverse history. I love music from both the Wetton and Payne eras, and I have just about all the releases. Maybe this frees me from harboring prejudice against anything with an Asia label that's not Downes/Howe/Palmer/Wetton. Maybe it's just personal preference. Either way, I think some of Asia's strongest material can be found on Astra.

Even without Steve Howe, Astra has an extremely distinct "early Asia flavor." That's because it burst forth primarily from the John Wetton/Geoff Downes songwriting nucleus which, it may be argued, was largely responsible for defining the group's epic-yet-pop-accessible sound in the first place. Howe's characteristic guitar style is noticeably absent, but for better or for worse, it would not have been emphasized enough in these compositions to matter. That said, Mandy Meyer does a perfectly good job of picking up the Asia guitar mantle for this release.

The version I'm reviewing is some kind of re-release, supposedly remastered. So far, I have not detected any discernible difference in sound quality from the original. But it was cheap, and I didn't mind picking up a second/newer copy anyway, since my old Astra CD is looking a bit worn. I can say that Astra always had very weak bass (typical 80s production style), and if anything, I'd like to see remastering fix that. Unfortunately, that does not appear to have been addressed with this re-release.

So how about the songs themselves? I normally wouldn't do a track-by-track review of an entire album, but it just so happens that I like every song on Astra, which is rare enough to justify the added thoroughness. (Note that the track order on this reissue is slightly different from that of the original release.)

The CD leads off with "Go" and "Voice Of America," probably the two best-known songs from this release, and apparent staples of Asia concerts in the years since. "Go" is an energetic anthem that lives up to its name, and "Voice Of America" showcases John Wetton on the layered-vocal-harmony sound for which he is perhaps best known.

"Hard On Me" is a fun song that, for whatever reason, doesn't get a lot of recognition. It's very typical Geoff-Downes-synth-driven rock, which isn't a bad thing at all.

"Wishing" is a powerful, moving, fast-ish-ballad-ish song with a timeless, bittersweet melody and lyrics, and I'm really surprised that it wasn't a big hit. It has everything you'd expect in a hit song: a catchy melody, touching romantic lyrics steeped in a feeling of loss and yearning, a nice arrangement and instrumentation, etc. I'm not sure whether it was even released as a single, so I can't say which factor(s) is/are to blame for this song not achieving greater popularity.

"Countdown To Zero" uses a very distinctly eighties-ish sound to discuss a very serious subject (World War III and nuclear holocaust), although lyrically (and perhaps instrumentally, depending on your tastes), it wear its cheese on its sleeve. Notice the insertion of "timely issue phrases" like the line about "stinging acid rain," which actually makes no sense at all in this context -- it was just an attempt at sounding current and hip with the big issues of the time. Well, call it a guilty pleasure, but I still like the song. The melodies and harmonies are solid, and the arrangement very effectively evokes the intended mood of impending doom. Plus I like the processing of Wetton's voice on the spoken part. He sounds very commanding and "god-like."

"Love Now Til Eternity" starts out sounding like, for lack of a better term, circus music; but it quickly turns into a melodically powerful romantic ballad. If you're looking for ultra-profound lyrics, you might not find those here, but the music does a beautiful job.

"Too Late" is a classic Asia-style rocker. Multiple layers of Wetton on top of organ introduce the chord progression, and then synth and guitars take over, with the help of some interesting Carl Palmer double-bass. On the chorus, this song reminds the listener that Wetton vocal harmonies and Downes keyboards combine to form a sheer wall of sound that few artists in the history of rock could rival.

"Suspicion" is one of my all-time favorite Asia songs. That's not because of the lyrics, which are fairly stock and even strange at times. It's because of the composition and instrumentation, especially from about the 2:25 mark through the end of the song, where (mainly) Downes does what he does best: an epic, bombastic, larger-than-life, synth-driven, more-than-a-minute-long outro (an approach also heard in "A Far Cry," "Enough's Enough," and "Free," among others). If I had to pick a favorite aspect of Asia's music, the "Big Geoff Downes Outro" would be it, and this song has it in a big way.

"Rock And Roll Dream" obviously has something to do with rock stardom, but it's not entirely clear what the lyrics are saying about the subject. The song has varying sections ranging in mood from ominous to epic and heroic. The ending is almost playful, featuring interplay between Wetton harmonies, guitar, and keyboards.

This brings us to the final track: "After The War." The lyrics seem to describe a post-apocalyptic fantasy world with some megalomaniacal madman to watch out for. Again, I'm not too concerned about the exact meaning of the words. They create a feeling that is well supported by the music. Carl Palmer gets to show off a bit on this track, and Wetton sounds as authoritative and commanding as ever. This song reminds me of part of why I like Asia: many of the songs are about more than the usual set of possibilities -- boy meets girl, boy gets dumped by girl, boy tries to lure girl back, etc. -- conjuring up interesting images and letting the listener wonder a little. In that sense, this song is an effective closing track.

After listening to Astra for many years, I feel that every song has something interesting to offer. I think it's unfortunate, in a way, that Asia saw such massive success with their first album (riding the wave of popularity generated by the song "Heat Of The Moment"), because it managed to overshadow just about everything that was to follow, especially as "creative differences" gradually split the band over the next few years. Astra was essentially the last musical gasp of that era of Asia, but by no means is it a collection of leftover scraps.

If I had to isolate a weakness in the album, it would be the lack of blatant instrumental virtuosity. Clearly, given their musical pedigree in acts such as Yes and ELP, these players (well, at least the original three -- no way to know about Meyer) are endowed with impressive technical skills. And sure, we all know Asia has always represented the "poppier" side of progressive rock, probably not qualifying as "prog" at all by some people's standards, but other Asia albums at least -- particularly the first one -- have exhibited slightly meatier chops and tighter playing. Yet given the typically "accessible" flavor of Downes/Wetton songwriting, the relative musical simplicity of Astra should come as no surprise, especially with Howe gone. I think it's an unfortunate omission, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying the music.

Solid composition and instrumentation, backed by Carl Palmer's distinct style on drums, Geoff Downes's epic synth ambience, and John Wetton's inimitable "wall of vocal harmony" -- with a more-than-competent guitar presence from Mandy Meyer -- make Astra a solid release deserving of as much recognition as any in Asia's catalog.

What we have here is a much-maligned effort that does not deserve the bad rap inflicted by some on this Web site as well as reluctant buyers of this LP over the years.

Sure, the band's inaugural "Asia" smashed its way into the best-seller charts three years before with a heavy dependency on lead guitar from Steve Howe. By the time "Astra" came along, Howe was gone and the capable Mandy Meyer took his place.

I applaud the band here, especially singer/composer/bassist John Wetton, for stretching the bounds of creativity. It's a drive that's marked his career, as he was always one to exit the safe, four-lane highway from time to time to challenge the riskier, unknown paths to the sides.

In "Astra's" far-reaching melodies, Wetton and his lineup break out of the claustrophobic confines of simple guitar-bass-keyboard-drums and add a wider range of sounds yet still keep their trademark Asia harmonies.

From the echoes in "Go" to the ballad-like "Love Now Till Eternity" to the anxiety-filled "Suspicion" to the end-game "After the War," this LP offers a much broader smorgasbord of sound than Asia's previous two efforts.

"Astra" didn't take the first few times I listened. But then something clicked -- or, rather, it cracked the veneer of Asia's previous predictability, and it's been near the top of my CD heap ever since.

Enjoy it for what it is, a nugget of quality music in a decade when such work was, by the standards of the '60s and '70s, elusive.