Asia - 2026 - Live In England

(61:00; Frontiers Music)

In April 2025 the latest incarnation of Asia performed over three nights at Trading Boundaries of Sussex, featuring an album a night, with the first night being dedicated to the debut. Now, no-one can ever say that the 1982 album was not a classic,  and indeed Charles Snider in ‘The Strawberry Bricks Guide to Progressive Rock’ ends that wonderful tome with that album, the only one from 1982 which is included (we both feel to get the few picture of prog album you need this book plus mine).

However, Asia is a band with a tumultuous history and a fractured line-up, and the version of the band which had been put together for these shows bears no resemblance to what has gone before apart from keyboard player Geoff Downes, as it is now completed by Virgil Donati (drums – ex-Planet X), John Mitchell (guitars – Arena, It Bites etc.) and Harry Whitley (bass and vocals). Virgil Donati rightly has a stellar reputation, while I have known John Mitchell’s work for years in Arena and other projects, but Harry Whitley is new to me, and he does a fine job standing in for the much-missed John Wetton with strong vocals and a deft touch on bass. But perhaps that is what is good about this album, but also what is very wrong indeed in that the sound is very close to what has gone before, too close. This set contains the first Asia album, in sequence, then we get “Ride Easy” (which was the original B-side to “Heat of the Moment”), “Video Killed The Radio Star” (which has nothing to do with Asia) and  “The Heat Goes On” (which was originally on the second Asia album, ‘Astra’).

With three new members and only one original, little variation from how the originals sounded, audience sound cutting in and out between songs and very little band/audience interaction, one truly has to wonder what was the point? Yes, I sang along to every song when I was playing it in the car and I did also think it was remarkable how close they got to the original sounds and was massively impressed with Whitley’s singing, but I could have just as easily have played the original album and somehow felt I should have. The musicians truly seemed to want to stay as close as they could to what had gone before and felt unable to expand on it at all, so consequently this felt much more like a nostalgia trip than something vital. If I had been at Trading Boundaries that night I know I would purchase this release, but I am also sure that after playing it once or twice it will be put away on the shelf and in future if I wanted to hear the songs I would turn again to the original from 1982. 

Kev Rowland, April 2026

Links:
https://originalasia.com/
https://www.frontiers.it/