Live at Budokan [Live, Import]

Asia | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live, Import
• Label: Vivid Sound
• ASIN: B00005KKQP
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,583,216 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Heat Goes On

2. Here Comes the Feeling

3. Eye to Eye

4. Steve Howe - Guitar Solo

5. Only Time Will Tell

6. Open Your Eyes

7. Geoffrey Downes - Keyboard Solo

8. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

9. Wildest Dreams

10. Heat of the Moment

11. Sole Survivor

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sonic Blunder of the Greg Lake/ASIA, November 28, 2006

By 

PHILIP S WOLF (SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CA. USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live at Budokan (Audio CD)

Way back in December of 1984, MTV aired a special concert called: "ASIA in ASIA". Like lot's of other concerts {shown commercial free & un-edited} I taped this on a BETA tape and via a Digital Pulse Mod transfered the audio to standard cassette tape for my (unauthorized) private listening experience.

To see the release of: "Live at Budokan" on CD a few decades down the road with little product information made me wonder if it was to be the very same concert I had recorded, or was this to be another of many other shows that ASIA had performed in Tokyo since then. Well, this is the "ASIA in ASIA" show of 1984 but, there are a few problems of note: first: the sound quality is POOR. There is no way that the sonics you are gonna find here were taken from the original multi-track tapes. The original show as broadcast has way better sound and after a digital upgrade {as I did 22 years ago with my PCM} the sound is almost as good as any medium grade CD out there. With the digital transfer equipment available today it is a fact that the sound {if taken from the original masters } would be STELLAR... You will not find THAT sound here, I am sorry to report.

Second: As this is a single CD you do not have the entire concert presented here. this should have been a double disc set so as to be heard as it was originally presented. And with a proper remix from the multi-track source and proper liner notes to explain that this was not just another concert. This is the tour of the Far East with Greg Lake replacing John Wetton on lead vocals & bass guitar was unique. But, it NEEDS to be released in completed form and with the proper presentation and packaging.

I still have my BETA and a few Cassetes of the original: "ASIA in ASIA" show and I will continue to enjoy them...Not this CRAPPY RE-ISSUE that is out for the bucks!!! This DOES NOT give you the show as it SHOULD be heard...
BOO, ON THIS ONE!
TWO STARS.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Interesting piece of Asia history, poor sound quality, iffy vocals, October 3, 2007

By 

Mike Webb "nightVzn" (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at Budokan (Audio CD)

Historically, this is an interesting piece. A "big deal" of an Asia concert, during the brief period during which Greg Lake took John Wetton's place. Unfortunately, the results weren't really worth waiting this long for. Or buying at all, for that matter.

The sound quality, as mentioned in other reviews, is atrocious. There are many moments when it sounds like the recording was taken from a tape left in somebody's car parked in direct sunlight. The pitch will go completely off for moments here and there. Geoff Downes's synth patches sound weird and tinny. Not sure if he made poor sound choices or if it's just the source tape.

Deserving of some blame for pitch issues, however, is Greg Lake. He certainly did a good job with his main-claim-to-fame ELP, but he simply had neither the range nor the style to pull off John Wetton Asia. This CD is filled with painful Lake vocal moments, and some cases where he gave up entirely and just shouted out the lyrics rather than try to sing them. I never thought of John Wetton's voice as incredibly high (a la Brad Delp, James LaBrie, Geoff Tate, Steve Perry), but apparently it was too much for Greg Lake.

I have to give the guy some credit. He had to come in and pick up the vocal AND bass reins for a band awash in massive worldwide popularity, performing at one of rock's most storied venues, and who knows how much time he actually had to prepare. Note to promoters: if you've seen one British prog rock bassist/vocalist, you have *not* seen them all.

Sure, Wetton seems to be a bit of a prima donna. (In a recent interview, conducted after Asia's 2006 original-lineup reunion, he corrected the interviewer by insisting he had never "left Asia," even though Asia was quite prolific with bassist/vocalist John Payne from the early 90s through 2005/2006. In other words, Wetton doesn't consider that version of Asia legitimate or relevant.)

So I hate to put the man on a pedestal. But if you want to hear quality Wetton-era Asia performed live, you need Wetton. Live at Budokan doesn't have Wetton. Nor does it have even remotely acceptable sound quality. If you want live Wetton-era Asia, I personally recommend Live in Moscow.

Live at Budokan is worthwhile only from a historical standpoint, if you're really interested in all the subtle nuances of this band's career. Otherwise, don't waste your money or time.

3 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: Live at Budokan (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 release, ASIA Fanstasia: Live in Tokyo ... is the 'real deal' (Btw I am a big fan of Greg Lake, and have his double CD Retrospective).