Disco de Asia: “Live at Budokan”

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.

Yes, that IS INDEED Greg Lake on vocals! (If the gossip was correct at the time, John Wetton was suffering from "musical differences with the band.") This is the only recording I know of with Lake as Asia's vocalist, as Wetton returned almost immediately. Lake was the perfect choice to replace Wetton, blending right in with old bandmate Palmer, as well as with Downes & Howe, and the performance throughout is top-notch. It's a must for Lake fans, Asia fans, or anyone who just wants to know what people were screamin' mad for in the earliest days of MTV.

Asia In Asia, as it is usually referred to, was the only professionally-released live document of Asia's early days for a very long time. Over twenty years, in fact. The fact that John Wetton had decided to (temporarily) leave just months before the show is highly unfortunate, as this could have really blown the doors open for the band much more than they had in '83. Alpha's sales of a mere 2 million (Ha...) were seen as a failure, and with the rise of make-up heavy Euro-pop groups, Asia was living in hard times.

There's better recordings of the "Asia In Asia" mini-tour of Japan in '83, and they sound way better than this. Not only is the audio on this straight from the video, but whenever Howe or Lake would mention Westwood One or MTV, they'd edit it out of their between-song dialogue, rather abruptly too. However, musically-speaking, everything sounds fine.

Geoff Downes/Yes fans will enjoy his Oriental-style Fairlight keyboard solo (never heard this piece again on later recordings, solo or otherwise), as well as an early version of Steve Howe's "Sketches in the Sun", which later popped up in studio form on GTR's self-titled disc. Carl Palmer sounds good, although his solo was the same one he'd been doing since 1973. And still is. Greg Lake was no John Wetton. That much was clear. Lake's timbre doesn't exactly fit some of the songs, but on a few, namely "Here Comes The Feeling", he really brings a genuine passion and wistfulness to the words he's singing. Oddly enough, this marked lineup change is probably what confused fans tuning in, and when it was a different singer, they likely bailed and reached for their Duran Duran albums.

Sadly, to get the full effect of this concert, you still need to seek out bootlegs. Not only that, but they had additional songs in "Cutting It Fine/Bolero", "Time Again", and "Daylight". Some bootlegs also have "Don't Cry". The original TV broadcast began with "Time Again", but I have no idea why it was cut from the video, as the band plays with a lot of passion and sounds awesome playing it.

Packaging for Live At Budokan is okay. The quirky dragon cover is kinda cool, and there's some brief liner notes about the show. Nothing to write home about.

All in all, this is a case of mixed results. I'd recommend that only dedicated Asia fans purchase it (better yet, seek out a bootleg called Your Eyes Will Tell...); curious Yes/Crimson/ELP fans are better off staying away from this slight misstep.

I personally only like the two first albums of ASIA.This Live performance features songs, only from those two...Heat of the Moment, Sole Survivor, Wildest Dreams,The smile has left,...

The sound quality is medium, quite poor at the beginning and gets better-or I got used to it-through the songs...On the whole it isn't a bad performance and there are some great moments(Heat, Sole, Wildest, drum solo).

It is written on the booklet that it is Greg Lake singing and playin bass...how can that be?Did he replace John Wetton?

Anyway I keep listening to the album and my mind goes yes it is Lake!...No it is Wetton!Those guys sound so much alike...I don't know, but it is HOWE, PALMER and DOWNES.