Artist: Wetton & Downes
Label: Frontiers Records
Released: 2006
Rating: 1.5/5
Melodic rock icons John Wetton and Geoff Downes are putting out another live album as Icon – fitting name, that – this time “plugged in.” With these releases they’re simply testing the waters for a long-promised Asia reunion tour of Europe. Asia is 25 years old, and so is the hefty bunch of songs on this live record called “Never In A Million Years”.
Their debut “Icon” (2005) could boast a few ripe, thoroughly pleasant AOR tracks, but the other releases just can’t seem to grab much attention, and this live record in front of us flops across the board on that front too. By the way, the new Icon studio album drops in three weeks, and the studio is really the only reliable gauge of how much creative freshness Wetton and Downes have left, and of what we can even expect from a possible new “classic line-up reunion” studio release from Asia.
After the dreadful release of the acoustic live DVD and CD “Acoustic TV Broadcast”, now comes the “electric” live album on its heels. The recording is pretty raw. As such, it shows that the guys either didn’t spend much time on post-gig studio work or didn’t bother about the sound of the raw recording at all. Wetton’s vocals confirm once again how he’s lost his former power and range. Throughout the record the man literally makes a fool of himself with the sheer wreckage of his singing. The voice has faded, the tone is barely recognizable, and the fact that the power is gone is written all over the limping vocal delivery, where Wetton can barely hold the melody, not to mention that a few times he flat-out, well, “screws up” in a pretty sloppy way.
The songs just don’t have the real pulse and fire that live albums with good old John Wetton once radiated, whether solo, with U.K., with King Crimson or with Asia. The instrumentalists did their job to the max. Sure, Mitchell will never be Howe, and Christey will never be Palmer, but who actually misses an Asia copy? All we ask for is fire, punch in the performance and the right rock voltage, the kind that gives you tingles down the back of your neck. And that’s simply missing again. It also shows that Wetton hasn’t practiced or trained his voice in ages, and playing bass and singing at the same time gives him quite a few headaches, which show mostly in the sloppy vocal delivery, since the man isn’t able to devote himself to doing at least a decent job on both the instrument and the vocals at once.
There are a few bright moments, namely the ballad I Lay Down from Wetton’s solo album “Rock Of Faith” and the closer The Smile Has Left Your Eyes. This is already a pretty mellow live album as far as rock goes, given the setlist, and decently played versions of The Heat Goes On, Let Me Go and Open Your Eyes freshen it up a bit, but they simply don’t shine because of Wetton’s “worn-out” voice. So whatever this live record can’t hide, the new Icon studio album, due around November 20, 2006, will hopefully at least manage to. After listening to this energetically limping rock live recording, a serving of Iron Maiden and “Live After Death” (1985) hits the spot, so your head can get back to its AOR balance. “Never In A Million Years” could just as well be called “Never In A Two Million Years” and still nobody would miss it, except, of course, for the one and only crowd: collectors and die-hard fans.
Line-up
John Wetton – vocals & bass guitar
Geoffrey Downes – keyboards
John Mitchell – guitar
Steve Christey – drums
Production
John Wetton & Geoffrey Downes
Tracklist
1. Pane Bruno
2. The Heat Goes On
3. Only Time Will Tell
4. Voice Of America
5. I Lay Down
6. Days Like These
7. Bolero
8. Meet Me At Midnight
9. Never In A Million Years
10. We Move As One
11. Paradox
12. Let Me Go
13. Don’t Cry
14. Open Your Eyes
15. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
Album length: 60.27
