Aqua (Asia album)

Occupation

• Geoffrey Downes - keyboards, vocals
• John Payne - bass, vocals, guitar

Aqua is the fourth studio album by the English AOR-/Progressive-Rock-Band Asia, from the year 1992.

Background

After the end of the last Asia Tour in April 1991 the band was ( John Wetton, Geoff Downes, Carl Palmer, Pat Thrall ) fallen apart. After returning to England, Geoff Downes decided to retread with the support of manager Sir Henry Cowell and the ARC management, Asia with a different concept. Downes was careful not to let fall into the nostalgia corner the band, and therefore wanted to take some younger musicians in the band. His aim was, however, to carry out the generation change abruptly as possible not to alienate so few supporters of the old cast as possible. For since only Downes himself had escaped from the old lineup and replaced not only singer John Wetton, but also a new drummer and a new guitarist had to be found, he faced the problem, imagine and can market a new band at all credible as Asia. He therefore secured the collaboration of Carl Palmer and Steve Howe, but only as a guest musician and only for a few days. Although both were not thrilled to play again for Asia, because they worked at the same time on other projects ( Palmer took the reformed Emerson, Lake & Palmer 's comeback album Black Moon on, Howe worked on the Yes album Union and to his solo album Turbulence ), but consented to support the new Asia. This should not only facilitate the fans line-up changes, it would be beneficial also for the sales of the album.

As for the members of the band, Downes thought at first to win the last Asia- guitarist Pat Thrall again, but this was again returned to the United States, where he worked with Curtis Stigers. Downes did thereupon with bassist and vocalist John Payne together, he had 1987/88 met at the sessions on a project called Rain, where the previous Asia- musician Michael Sturgis (drums) and Scott Gorham (guitar), as well as Max Bacon, the former singer of Steve Howe's band GTR, had been involved.

Besides Downes, Payne, Howe and Palmer played on the new Asia album of heavy metal guitarist Al Pitrelli (ex - Alice Cooper), who recorded his contributions in less than a week, the guitarist Anthony Glynne and drummer Simon Phillips ( in the was the early days of Asias already acted as the drummer of the band), Nigel Glockler ( Howes former band GTR ) and Michael Sturgis.

Work on the new album Aqua were taken from June 1991. First, some songs from Downes ' Rain sessions were re-recorded for Aqua, including Who will stop the Rain? , After which the project was named, and Someday. Then five or six new songs that complemented the Rain- pieces, including A far Cry and Heaven on Earth, a piece that John Payne, had written along with the keyboardist his previous band The Passion, Andy Nye originated. By October, the rest of the songs, which were then taken up in winter originated.

The album should appear first in England on the label FM Revolver. But when the company refused to pay a promised advance, the band joined the label Musidisc, which released the album in Europe. In Japan, they retained their old record company Warner Music Japan, the United States took over Great Pyramid Album.

Title list

Comments

• On the plays Who will stop the Rain? and Someday, who were left even of the Rain Sessions Downes ' (1987) is the drummer Michael Sturgis, who briefly belonged in 1987 to Asia to hear.
• Was also re-used the song Love Under Fire, he came from Downes ' and Greg Lakes Ride the Tiger Project. The Ride the Tiger version was released in 1997 on Lake - album From the Beginning.
• In the U.S., the album without the song Little rich boy has been published.
• The former Asia guitarist Steve Howe can be heard as a guest musician on the pieces Aqua Part 1 Who will stop the Rain? , Back in Town, Someday, The Voice of Reason and Lay down your arm.
• Lay down your arm was 0 in the English animated film Freddie as FR 7/Freddie, used the Super Frog
• Heaven on Earth is a piece John Payne, had written along with the keyboardist his previous band The Passion, Andy Nye.
• Some pieces of aqua sessions did not come on the album, but were at the 1996 archive Compilations Archiva 1 and Archiva 2 released: Heart of Gold ( Downes / Payne ), Fight against the Tide ( Payne / Nye ), I can not wait a Lifetime ( Payne / Nye ), who was also a candidate for Arena later, and obsession ( Payne / Rodford ).

Cover

About the temporary contract with FM - Revolver, the Asia - musicians had come in contact with the band Magnum, which was also in this label. About them they learned the fantasy artist Rodney Matthews know, now responsible for the record cover in place Roger Dean. The band was looking for a picture from that showed a futuristic underwater scene, and from the concept of the album was just like its title: aqua.

Occupation

• Geoffrey Downes - keyboards, backing vocals
• John Payne - vocals, bass, guitar, backing vocals

With

• Carl Palmer - drums, percussion
• Al Pitrelli - guitar
• Steve Howe - Guitar

Guest musicians

• Simon Phillips - drums
• Nigel Glockler - drums
• Anthony Glynne - Guitar
• Scott Gorham - Guitar

Note:

This information has been compiled from the books Dave Gallants and the CD booklet. It is not to elicit, what musician on which work will be played, with the exception of Downes, Payne and Howe.

Style

The entire work of the band Asia moves in the context of rock music. However, Aqua marks a break with some characteristics of the first three albums Asia ( 1982), Alpha ( 1983) and Astra ( 1985).

The more the progressive rock of the 1970s -oriented style means had already been highly restricted to Astra, on aqua they were missing. Although Downes value put forward to emphasize with Steve Howe and Carl Palmer continuity with the first volume phase, the absence of Wetton fell as a songwriter preponderate. The now written mainly from Downes and Payne pieces went more in the direction of a mainstream hard rock, American-style, without the for Wetton and the productions Mike Stones ( the former producer of the band) typical pathos. For the first time in Asia blues and rhythm and blues elements were heard, albeit only modestly. The guitar was correspondingly more to the fore, they sounded compared to the first three albums clearly distorted and was attributed to the style of hard rock.

Tour

The sale of the new album should be promoted by a tour. For Downes, Payne and the manager Henry Cowell dedicated guitarist Vinny Burns, who had previously played in the rock band Dare the former Thin Lizzy musician Darren Wharton. They turned to the former drummer Carl Palmer Asia, but this was not because of his commitment to Emerson, Lake & Palmer available. Since Sturgis now played in 21 Guns, and was also unavailable, they hired Trevor Thornton for the tour. As a special guest Steve Howe joined them on their tour. However, he did not play the entire concert with the band initially played Asia without him some pieces of Astra and Aqua, then Howe stepped up and played the rest of the set with.

On 30 May 1992, the Aqua- tour started in Worcester, England, in a hall that took about 1,000 people. As with a renewed almost completely new band to be expected, the first concerts did not run well, but the Japan concerts in June presented a significantly better -rehearsed band. In July, Asia then returned to England, from where they traveled to Europe in February 1993, the United States and Canada.

During the tour all participants realized that Downes and Payne Asia saw as their sole project. Then first left the band guitarist Burns. He was replaced for some festival appearances in Romania, Estonia, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium by Keith More of the progressive rock band Arena. After this, he and Thornton left the band.

Achievements

Aqua appeared on 10 March 1992 in Japan, where the album sold 60,000 times, and thus quickly reached number 1 on the charts. However, Japan remained the only country where the album was such a success. Being single was Who will stop the Rain? coupled out for even a video was planned ( with a Western theme ). But it turned out that the record company Great Pyramid, the shooting could not afford.

Asias Management ARC also secured the use of piece Lay down your arm in the film Freddie as FR 0 7/Freddie, Super Frog, until then the most expensive British animated film. Once, however, it turned out that it was this was a film about a frog who worked as a secret agent, Asia were not unhappy that the film was not a great success.

At the end of Aqua Tour turned out that the new band stage was reasonably successful start: Aqua had sold about as well as Astra (1985 ), or the compilation Then and Now and the tour, although mostly in small venues, was good been visited.

Sources and links

• Forrester, George / Martyn Hanson / Frank Askew: Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The show that never ends. A musical biography. London 2001. ISBN 1-900924-17- X.
• Gallant, David: Asia. The Heat Goes On. The Authorized Biography Asia. Summerside, PEI, Canada, 2001. ISBN 0-9688584-0-6.
• Gallant, David: Asia. Heat of the Moment. New York 2007 ISBN. 978-0-9796881-0-2.

• Official website of the band
• Portrait at laut.de
• ELP History site with lots of information about Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Carl Palmer and Asia

• Album ( Progressive Rock )
• Album 1992