Disco de Asia: “Anthology [DVD]”

It takes a lot of nerve to call this DVD release by Classic Rock Legends the "Ultimate Anthology". That title suggests some kind of comprehensive look at a band whose various lineups and albums certainly deserves a serious video retrospective. Unfortunately that's not quite what you get here. The Asia Anthology DVD features a mix of concert footage and music videos from the various incarnations of Asia. It's a good idea in theory, but the end results are not so impressive.

The Good: The John Payne-era concert footage is not bad at all. I'm a big fan of the Asia albums with Payne on board, and this is the real reason I bought the DVD in the first place. Most of it seems to be from the Aura tour. I'd much rather have seen some Aqua material, but I'll take what I can get. There seem to be dozens of Asia DVDs on the market, but almost none feature the modern Asia lineup.

The Bad: The concert footage of the classic Asia lineup is a bit weak, and the audio is not quite in synch with the video (John Wetton's mouth is always moving about a second behind the actual vocals). The sound quality is not up to par either. It's a shame to present such great songs in such a manner.

The Ugly: The DVD jumps from old-school Asia to modern Asia to music videos with no order whatsoever, and the graphic interludes between each song are straight out of 1980's public access TV. Apparently the producers of this DVD - and you know the band couldn't have had much, if anything, to do with this one - didn't have access to a computer.

Bottom Line: Unless you're a die hard Asia fan, particularly a John Payne Asia fan, you'll want to avoid this dud. Everything but the price tag practically screams "low budget."