Asia Album: “Then & Now”

The "Then" material is fine with all four of Asia biggest commercial hits ("Heat of the Moment", "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes", "Only Time Will Tell" and "Don't Cry") and the excellent "Wildest Dreams" (featuring a nice Palmer solo in the middle of this song). The "Now" side is weak. "Days Like These" is fun and energetic. But, "Prayin' 4 A Miracle" struggles. "Am I In Love?" is too sappy and "Summer (Can't Last Too Long)" sounds like Asia trying to immitate A-Ha (Yuck!). And, of all the songs on the "Astra" CD to put on this release for the "Now" side, Geffen or somebody else picked "Voice of America". Why in the world would anybody use this song when they could have used the excellent "Go" instead? Don't commit to this CD. Buy the new "The Very Best of Asia - Heat of the Moment -(1982-1990)" instead if you want to see how good this group really was in the 80s. Nice cover art though.

Then and Now is good. It could have been better, though. While I think that what's on it is decent, I also believe that it doesn't have enough meat to it. There should have been more songs included from the previous three albums. The songs that are included are good, though. "Sole Survivor" and "Here Comes the Feeling" should have been included. Just including two songs from Alpha wasn't good enough, either. More than just one song from Astra should've been included, too. It sounds like I don't like this compilation, but that's not completely the case. I like the four new songs that they recorded for this album. All four of the songs are listenable. "Am I in Love?" is a really nice ballad. "Days like These" is really energetic, too. Then and Now leaves out a few songs, but it is still okay (just a bit incomplete). The album cover is cool, also. Worth a listen.

The main reason to buy this CD is for the additional tracks on the second half of the CD; all of which feature Asia's incredible vocalist John Wetton. Studio albums released after Then and Now had other vocalists who did not measure up. The additional tracks are OK, but not the spectacular songs Asia put out in the 1980s. The best of the "new" tracks is "Summer (Can't Last Too Long)" which is very catchy and reminiscent of their early masterpieces. The rest are adequate. There are no lyrics to these new songs in the CD booklet. "Voice of America" being on the "Now" side always seemed strange to me. It is off their very underrated third release Astra. I am not sure why it is considered a "Now" song here except that it came out later than the other "Then" tracks. The songs on the "Then" side are the singles that most people already have (especially the first two) and "Wildest Dreams" off their smash debut album which is a fan favorite although it is my least favorite track on that album. John Wetton fans need this CD for the "Now" tracks, but record buyers who just want an Asia greatest hits package would do better looking for one with more tracks off of Asia's three excellent albums released from 1982-85.

This one has always bothered me. Generally, I dislike it whenever new & old material are mixed. It always feels like a rip-off! In this case, we have 6 "oldies"-- hardly a "complete" set of hits. (No "Sole Survivor"? No "The Heat Goes On"?? No "Go"??? And surely they could have included the leftover "b" sides!) Then we have 4 new songs. "Days Like These" is one of the BEST songs Asia ever recorded-- and the other 3 aren't bad either! Had these appeared on the ASTRA album, it would surely have been more highly regarded. In earlier days this might have been a highly-regarded 4-song EP (remember The Beatles' LONG TALL SALLY ?). As it is...

I've only recently learned that between 1986 and 1989 Asia went thru a variety of line-up changes and recording sessions-- none of which were released at the time. Apparently at the time of THIS "album", original members Palmer & Wetton decided to stage a "reunion", leading to a tour (and the terrific LIVE IS MOSCOW album). Too bad they couldn't have put more time into doing a more "complete" album here.

I've seen a lot of Asia compilations over the past 20 years. Many have more songs than this one and even include stuff from the John Payne version of the group, but they just meander too much for the casual fan. Personally, I don't even consider any of the recordings from Aqua to Silent Nation to truly be Asia. They sound nothing like the original group, and only have one of the founding members, Geoff Downes, as a full time participator. So, compiling tracks from both versions of Asia is meaningless. For those who just want the familiar hits or just a nice overview of what true Asia sounds like, Then and Now is still the best bet. It contains six popular previously released songs from the first three albums and four songs done specially for this compilation, which are some of their best recordings and essential to any Asia fan's collection. It might be argued that "Here Comes the Feeling" is curiously missed, but even so, for the initiate this is a great place to start. And while you're at it, check out Phoenix, the album done by the classic line-up from just a couple of years ago. It's the true sequel to the "new" tracks on this comp.