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This is the sound Asia became renowned for over the years and with Gravitas, it is clear they haven’t fallen too far from the tree. This becomes apparent with album opener and first single Valkyrie. Chugging guitar riffs, a powerful drum pattern and the constant ringing of rock organs all get thrown in to the mix to brew up that familiar ...
Mar 19, 2014 · Asia’s post-reunion music grew incrementally in terms of both confidence and stature, from their 2008 comeback Phoenix – the first to reconvene the dream team of bassist/vocalist John Wetton, Howe, drummer Carl Palmer and keyboard wizard Geoffrey Downes – and up to 2012’s sorely under-rated 30th anniversary set XXX, which offered one of their most exquisite compositions in Face On The ...
- Dave Ling
It will unfairly be compared to their classic debut album from 1982 as well. Such is the life of the band Asia. Gravitas is a subtle album. It is personal. It is pretty much a John Wetton/Geoff Downes album. Like most Asia albums of recent years, it is well produced, sounds great and has a few great songs and several okay songs.
ASIA. Category: Progressive / Rock. Album: Gravitas. Stars: 3.5. Blurb: Presenting fine musicianship, catchy songwriting, and a relaxed atmosphere in equal measure, the latest album from ASIA falls just short of brilliance, but still offers no small amount of satisfaction. For over three decades, ASIA has been something of an anomaly in the ...
- Asia (1982) “The big hits “Heat of the Moment” and “Only Time Will Tell” give a good indication of ASIA, both album and band, overall. One can hear traces of King Crimson in Wetton’s elephantine bass sound and passionate vocals; there are moments that recall Yes when Howe interweaves his classically-tinged guitar lines with Downes’ beefy keyboard textures.
- Alpha (1983) “Its symphonic and highly creative. The lyrics are touching, the instrumentation is out of this world, the vocals oh so passionate and the album cover is just a thing of beauty.
- Astra (1985) “Astra has long been looked down upon as the weakest of the original three Asia releases. With Steve Howe officially out of the fold, the disintegration of the original Asia prog-rock-alumni-supergroup concept was well underway, and this would prove to be the last Wetton-era studio release (not counting 1990’s largely compilatory and contractually obligated “Then & Now”) for another 20 years.”
- Aqua (1992) “The songs on Aqua are fair to very good in quality, patchy taken as a whole, probably owing to their mixed pedigree and sometime reliance on hair-metal formula.
Mar 24, 2014 · "Gravitas" is the title of the new output provided by the legendary British supergroup ASIA, the remaining original members John Wetton and Geoff Downes are moving into the next phase of their extraordinary career with a brand new & freshly enthroned guitar player, the young Sam Coulson who had the…
The only musician in the band without a full time Prog Rock music background was Geoff Downes, who previously was part of a Pop Rock band called THE BUGGLES who in 1980 became part of YES for their "Drama" album, being recruited then by YES more as "urgent replacements" by their manager as they had contracted tour dates to be played and to ...
