Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Asia
Label: Geffen Records
Release: 1985
Duration: 44:47
Rating: 3/5
“Astra” is the third album from AOR supergroup Asia, and also their last attempt to climb back to the heights of former glory that their cult 1982 debut had reached. The assault on the top of the airwaves fizzled out completely, since by then Asia were already a pretty pale shadow of that legendary band of prog rock heavyweights who had filled stadiums as if it were nothing and cranked out one hit after another. “Astra” is a telling cross-section of a once high-flying band in artistic decline, with only rare reminders of what they were capable of in their original incarnation.
The creative slide began mostly after the departure of guitar maestro Steve Howe, who left because of seriously bad blood with singer and bassist John Wetton. After he left, the term supergroup was only partly justified. Howe was replaced by the little-known Mandy Meyer, a former guitarist of Swiss hard rockers Krokus. Hard rocker Meyer, who didn’t last more than a year in the band, brought a completely different playing style from jazzer Howe, which suited Wetton’s songwriting vision of the time perfectly. The harder-rocking, more compact song structures didn’t sit well at all with his “best friend” Howe, so, even with the Geffen label coaxing him, he refused any involvement in the album.
Thanks to Meyer, Asia had never sounded so punchy, which fit with Wetton’s plans to win over some of the hair metal crowd. There he miscalculated badly, because “Astra” met with an extremely lukewarm response and played a big part in the (temporary) breakup of the band in 1990. Most of the songs on the album were written by Wetton and keyboardist Geoff Downes, laying the foundation for a long and successful songwriting partnership. Given their songwriting and instrumental reputation, and Palmer’s, they could have done a lot better than the final result, which was pretty average by their usual standards, but without proper inspiration and motivation it was hard to come up with anything better. One rare welcome change for the better was that the lyrics on “Astra” leaned noticeably less on all sorts of love affairs.
“Astra” does have a few shining moments that show the Asia collective was still capable of making quality melodic rock, even if with more of a hard rock than prog rock flavor. The first half of the album is noticeably better than the rest, where it sometimes feels like they suddenly ran out of gas. Among the few songs on the album that still deserve the attention of music connoisseurs and the title of Asia classic, the opening energy catalyst “Go” stands out. Downes’ introductory still life on organ is followed by a dramatic transition into a building section dominated by determined guitar passages. At the front is a bombastic chorus that, with its melodic directness, lodges itself in the auditory receptors of AOR gourmets in an instant. The interplay between polished synth lines and punchy riffs is superbly executed through the main motif, while the rhythmic dynamics are driven by mighty drum fills. Like most Asia hits, “Go” came with a flashy video at release, starring a hot babe in a futuristic setting. She resembles the figure on the great cover art, once again done by the legendary Roger Dean.
The power ballad “Voice Of America” also has those recognizable epic-bombastic Asia ingredients and refined instrumental flourishes that won them most of their fans over the years, with its rousing chorus, despite lyrics that are hopelessly naive, not to say senselessly dopey, glorifying the power of the “democratic” medium. You could say this solid but slightly pathetic number also became the template for Wetton’s later solo ballads. “Hard On Me” is another relatively interesting AOR heart-rate booster, with a teasing melody courtesy of an extremely catchy chorus, paired with a cleverly built interplay between hard rock guitar phrases and bombastic synth lines. The romantic “Wishing” is almost a stereotypical Wetton ballad, in which a broken-hearted knight sails between simple guitar phrases and melancholic keyboard inserts.
All the more interesting is the epic “Rock and Roll Dream”, one of the few moments where the prog rock roots of the legendary trio light up for a short while. It may even be the best song on the album, peaking with a bombastic exit into an epic chorus. This excellent epic is dynamic enough to earn all the sympathy of fans of the band’s original incarnation, while also packing enough AOR finesse that, even at almost seven minutes long, it’s quite a surprise it didn’t make a bigger splash on the radio waves of the day. There’s also plenty of room for a great Meyer solo, while some of Downes’ keyboard motifs, led by the epic orchestral arrangements, rank among the best of his career. The same goes for Wetton’s singing, into which he poured all his charisma and emotional authority.
The Cold War-themed “Countdown to Zero” is a pretty average blend of hard rock guitar passages and new wave synth lines. The heavy mixing of synthetics, heavy rock punch and electronic samples somewhat recalls some of the later work of German prog rockers Eloy. “Love Now Till Eternity” could be called one ballad too many, since in quality it doesn’t differ in the slightest from the two before it. The exception is the multi-voiced chorus with its syrupy lyrics and a “Christmassy” keyboard motif. “Too Late” leans mainly on bombastic keyboard lines and massive drum entrances, while the chorus is pretty indistinct. The experimenting with vocal harmonies in the middle is barely worth mentioning and does nothing to lift the mood of this thoroughly average song.
The power ballad “Suspicion”, with its many orchestral motifs and building vocal drama, promises a lot, but in the end doesn’t live up to its potential, since it lacks a vivid chorus that could have anchored it among the Asia standards. The closing epic “After the War” delivers a small pleasant surprise, impressing with its pronounced rhythmic dynamics and unexpected transitions between motifs. The epic atmosphere is backed by Palmer’s fiery drum marches, punchy guitar passages and subtle harmonies, while storm effects can be heard in the background. At the same time, this song is a nice proof that, even then, a spark of prog rock experimentalism still smoldered in Wetton and Downes.
“Astra” is a vivid reflection of the artistic and emotional state of the members of a famous band that, by then, was already past its expiration date. Today the album as a whole is far from sounding as wrong as it seemed at release, when it caused huge disappointment among many fans, but plenty could have been done much better had the right creative drive been there. The following years were a period of instability and constant lineup changes for Asia, so nobody was surprised when they decided on a (temporary) break in 1990, except maybe at how long they managed to hold together under Wetton’s command. After Wetton left too, many predicted a sad end for them, but with the arrival of singer and bassist John Payne and Downes taking over the baton as band leader, they miraculously picked themselves up and entered a new creative spring. Wetton only returned to the band in 2006, when the classic and most beloved Asia lineup was restored.
Lineup
John Wetton – vocals and bass guitar
Geoff Downes – keyboards, backing vocals
Carl Palmer – drums
Mandy Meyer – guitar
Production
Mike Stone
Track list
1. Go
2. Voice of America
3. Hard On Me
4. Wishing
5. Rock and Roll Dream
6. Countdown to Zero
7. Love Now Till Eternity
8. Too Late
9. Suspicion
10. After the War
