Disco de Asia: “Aqua [Japan Bonus Track]”

Aqua is a musical masterpiece and placed ASIA back to the top of their game in the early 90's. "Who will stop the Rain" and many other tracks on the album are quite simply superb. Payne and Downes are an awesome combo and album after album have proved to be the best at what they do - writing great meaningful, sweeping, and powerul music. Buy the rest of their albums since (especially 'Aura') and you won't be dissapointed. Aqua is a must have album.

Though the album may claim to be from "Asia", the resemblance is in name only. Yes, Geoff Downes is still plugging away on the keyboards, but he's the only original member of the group who performs on all the tracks. Former mates Carl Palmer and Steve Howe make brief appearances on the album ("courtesy" of other record labels, no less), but their work is minimal, serving only to bridge the old with the new. That this is now Geoff's band is apparent from the first listen - heavy on keyboards, light on substance. New lead singer John Payne also fails to impress, offering little more than some hair-band shrieking to the already substandard material. The original Asia had a less-than-vaunted reputation with the critics to begin with; this album will give them no reason to change their opinions.

This was the first studio album with John Payne. He had started working with Geoffrey Downes in 1988 on session work. He was picked to replace John Wetton. Some fans weren't happy about this. I didn't even wanna know about this at first. My first copy was a French import (MusiDisc) I found. I wish I kept it, though it was scratched when I found it. Then I had the US edition (JRS/Pyramid/BMG), which had tracks rearranged and "Little Rich Boy" removed for some reason. Then I find this edition, with a bonus track that's already on "Archiva Volume 2". The sound was improved though. Then InsideOut released the latest edition in the West.

The albums open with an acoustic guitar solo from Steve Howe. Carl Palmer also returns for a while, making it another 3/4 of the original lineup. John Payne makes Asia his own, reinventing it for the '90s, though the touring lineup looked like glam metal. To boot, "Aqua" didn't even chart here (though it went to #1 in Japan), with grunge changing the rules. Asia prevailed to a loyal following since with Payne & Co.

Tracks...

1) Aqua I

2) Who Will Stop The Rain

3) Lay Down Your Arms

4) Heaven On Earth

5) Someday

6) Crime Of The Heart

7) A Far Cry

8) Back In Town

9) Don't Call Me

10) Love Under Fire

11) The Voice Of Reason

12) Aqua II

Originally released March 1992; on Jimco Records in Japan. I had the French import on Musidisc, which I got disc only for a song. However, it doesn't have the bonus tracks. I may wanna get them someday, and sell the other, which is scuffed up, so I settle on the original U.S. edition on JRS/Pyramid/BMG. This is the first with John Payne on vocals and bass. Steve Howe and Carl Palmer from the original lineup appear on a few tracks. However, in two decades, Asia have had more lineup changes than En Vogue and Destiny's Child! (even though they're another music field. You get the joke.) A promo photo for this shown them as power-ballad-hair-band-[stereotypes], which isn't really a good idea in 1992 if you don't know who you're up against! This has more power ballads than the old Asia, yet you won't be disappointed. At first, I didn't wanna bother with the 'new' Asia, being used to the old, but for a lark and a few pennies, I got this and got my money's worth.