Asia, rock's first important super-group of the 80s - featuring
members from Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, King Crimson and The
Buggles – have a new album of original material – Omega.
Geoffrey Downes, Steve Howe, Carl Palmer and John Wetton, the
four original Asia members, reunited in 2006, twenty-three years
after all four had last played together. The much publicised
reunion resulted in highly successful world tours, a double live
LP and DVD (entitled Fantasia: Live In Tokyo) and an accled
studio album.
Formed at the dawn of the MTV era, Asia's first release was the
best selling album in the world in 1982 and sat at the number 1
spot in the USA for 9 weeks, powered by the classic rock anthem,
"Heat Of The Moment," and four other radio hits. Asia's 1983
sopre album, Alpha, also went multi-platinum and enjoyed
several hit singles, including the #1 smash, "Don't Cry".
Be during the summer 2009, the writing and sessions
of Omega, immediately showed inspiration and good feelings. "We
were looking to create something different with Omega," says
keyboardist Geoff Downes. "Of course, the sound of the 4 band
members of Asia will always have a certain hallmark when we play
together. That's a given. But we approached the song writing with
a mind to getting a degree of variety into these compositions.
Hence, you will hear areas of textures where arguably we have
never gone before."
Lead vocalist/bassist/guitarist John Wetton: "Asia is an English
prog-rock band with a pop edge, always has been, and hopefully
always will be. Accessible, melodic, anthemic songs with great
playing, luxuriating in a bed of lush orchestration, with lyrics
that strike a sympathetic chord in even the most cynical heart.
There you have it, Omega is a themed album in Asia's fine
tradition, without the millstone of a concept."
Steve Howe adds, "the whole process has been inspiring
and rewarding, and I'm very excited about the result". "I would
say these are all strong individual songs," says drummer Carl
Palmer. "It was a very smooth experience, and arguably one of our
best records."
For the first time since the debut album, Asia worked with an
outside producer, Mike Paxman (Uriah Heep, Status Quo) who
managed to create a truly special sounding album with the highs,
lows and lots of dynamics. He helped the band to put together a
tapestry of sound, which demonstrates the rich strata of Asia's
music. Paxman was able to achieve this through the songs, which
spun real stories of actual events and experiences in locations
around the globe. "The songs always have a message, hopefully
positive," says Wetton. "My songs are almost always
autobiographical, so there is hope and experience in there, too.
The lyric will never leave you on a negative thought."
As with the most popular of Asia releases, the cover art
specifically designed for the project by accled artist Roger
Dean. The concept of the title (Omega), and the 'Year of the
Tiger' referencing of the cover art underline the fact that this
is real Asia. John Wetton explains: "The title 'Omega', as any
fan of the band will tell you, is 'very Asia' (as is the album,
by the way). It no more means 'final' than 'Alpha' means 'the
first' (which it wasn't). It's a great sounding/looking word, and
a bookend to 'Alpha'. In many ways, musically and conceptually,
the two albums share commonality."