 |
|
|
Asia
Silent Nation
|
|
|
|
|
It is important to note that Asia never really was a “prog rock band”. More likely is that Asia was a hard-rock band (think Bad Company with heavy reverb) with prog pedigree. You wouldn’t call Foreigner a prog band and yet a founding member was in King Crimson for many years (for those playing the home game – Ian McDonald). For many years the band has stepped farther into the prog realm and, to their credit, tried on new styles and sounds. “Aura” marked the presence of almost a fusion-jazz feel, a 10cc cover and a guest appearance from original guitarist Steve Howe... What it did not have was the feeling that Asia knew who they were.
It is then with some relief to say that Asia is “back”, even though they never really left. Not playing as sad imitation of former glory but as recognized rock music performers, “Silent Nation” does recall a sound the listener will recognize most instinctively as the band’s. John Payne, vocalist since the fourth studio album “Aqua”, has not sounded this comfortable up to now, usually coming across with a more theatrical delivery. Tracks like “Blue Moon Monday” could have gone all Andrew Lloyd Webbery were it not for Payne’s forceful, but not melodramatic, singing. I was actually taken by surprise by it, as I was by his real signature track on the disc “Gone Too Far”, where he hits those thick chorus harmonies like “the old times”.
The new wrinkles, and there are a few, are that some of the best tracks have the voice step back and allow the music to really build. Both “Blue Moon Monday” and “Gone Too Far” do this and caused me to want more when the tracks were done, a good quality when there are a lot of songs out there that can’t end soon enough. Another new asset is guitarist Guthrie Govan who has a handle on what made Asia so originally striking, the versatility of the guitar to stomp through one section and then waft through another with an almost classical, acoustic air. He’s been referred to as “a real find” and I hope founder Geoff Downes (keyboards) and Payne hang on to him a while.
For me however, the big pleasures of “Silent Nation” are the instantly engaging tracks “Ghost In The Mirror” and “I Will Be There For You”, a song that sounds so at home on, perhaps, the “Alpha” album it is almost scary. Neither is anthemic or world changing, but both just sound so eager to please and unabashedly pop (in the best sense) that it’s not hard to be charmed.
There are a couple of problems with the disc, though I bring them up because they’re hard to avoid. While I did just praise the album for not being pretentious with the lyrics, some of them are a bit of the old chestnut variety... “Nowhere to run, no place to hide” has been done to death and “Anything you want, anything you need – every single day, every little way” probably could have been finessed a little more. The upside is that even if some of the lines fall flat, there isn’t a sore-thumb clunker on the disc; the song that shows up from nowhere without any context, wit or sense and leaves the listener asking “where the hell did that come from”? This has plagued the band’s releases for many years but, this time, they dodge the bullet. The second problem is that drummer Chris Slade is a competent timekeeper but has no personality. There are several spots aching for a fill, or some interesting percussion or cymbal roll, or something... But we’re left with a gaping hole or lifeless tom-tom demonstration. There are probably reasons for this that I am unaware of, and these tunes may open up more in the rhythm department when they’re played live, but on the disc versions I wish Slade would have cut loose more often than he did.
With all this said, fans and newcomers should consider this a fine entrance into the John Payne era of the band, with lots of hooks and easy to like, unassuming songs. This is one of those ‘hair away from four star’ kinds of CDs, but some of the flaws forced my stinginess. Even so, Asia is back and they’re good.
Release Date: August 31, 2004
Tracks: 10 - Time: 58:23
Produced by: Asia
Format: CD
Website: www.asiaworld.org
Track Listing:
What About Love / Long Way From Home / Midnight / Blue Moon Monday / Silent Nation / Ghost in the Mirror / Gone Too Far / I Will Be There For You / Darkness Day / The Prophet.
Asia:
John Payne - Vocals / Bass
Geoff Downes - Keyboards
Guthrie Govan - Guitar
Chris Slade - Drums
|
|
|
|
|
