Artist: GPS
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2006
Rating: 3/5
GPS? What’s that supposed to be now? That miracle gadget that lets even a blind man find a needle in a haystack? GPS – Govan, Payne, Schellen! Guys – hardened musicians who were, not very nicely, quickly and unceremoniously “booted” out of Asia by Geoffrey Downes, the moment a reunion of Asia in their classic “multi million seller” original lineup of Wetton/Downes/Howe/Palmer was in the cards. So Asia with Payne no longer exists. But what about the music? For GPS, the three laid-off workers drafted in Spock’s Beard keyboardist – the brilliant Ryo Okumoto, who with his diverse talents was supposed to be a fitting replacement for Downes.
And what happened? Take the last Asia album “Silent Nation” (2004) as your reference and compare what GPS took from it and carried over to “Window To The Soul”. The atmosphere, Payne’s unique vocal approach, big vocal multi-harmonies and the very AOR structure of the arrangements, sparkling in big, gorgeous melodic choruses that work “right out of the gate”. That’s the foundation! Now for the deviations. The riffing is pushed even further forward in the production, Okumoto often comes across as a complete extra, building the atmospheric backdrop of the sonic picture, so most of the sonic space is now filled by guitar riffs and Jay Schellen’s explosive and wonderfully versatile drumming. Attention is also pulled away from the keyboards by Payne’s singing, which is instantly recognizable, and Okumoto didn’t really have to strain himself to play his part, since the other three do most of the work. At the same time Okumoto sticks to fairly one-dimensional sounds, covering the background between the riffs, and the production doesn’t hide that he simply lacks the splendor of Geoffrey Downes, which you can tell a mile away. The album is, as already said, even more wound up than “Silent Nation”, and this time Govan is placed noticeably up front among the instruments. Okumoto is not Downes. Again and again you’re struck by the unevenness, passivity and monotony in how the sound is built in the main motifs, thanks to the minimalism of the keyboards. Guitar riffing now dominates those parts. Okumoto does try to make up for this by bringing in long solos (e.g. in New Jerusalem) in the instrumental passages, which is something completely new. Downes never “squandered” notes. Okumoto is totally used to it, though, since he comes from Spock’s Beard. That’s how GPS pick up a slight hint of raw “jam fusion” that Asia never had, or if they did, it was wrapped in an extremely sophisticated and refined disguise. Okumoto is definitely not as at home with AOR tricks and is too raw to imitate Asia, but if we forget anything to do with Asia for a moment, he did his job at a high level. And last but not least, do GPS even want to be Asia? The answer here is a definite no. This album’s production is in no way going to please the “eighties” AOR audiophile purists! It carries a measure of rawness and liveliness. What the hell kind of nitpicking is that! We’re not in the eighties anymore!
Let’s look at the gains! Without Downes, those are of course a greater freedom of genre, reflected in the inclusion of juicy, richly seasoned progressive “jams” in the middle instrumental passages and in the intros and outros of the songs. Payne sings angry and raspy like never before, while his sensuality remains flawlessly intact. Govan’s guitar has grown in every respect compared to “Silent Nation” (in Gold he deliberately brushes up against Steve Howe’s well-known tricks), and Downes would probably have had a very hard time agreeing to one more novelty! The oriental chorus in The Objector – a song that is otherwise a refined experimental mix of classic AOR moves and oriental spices, in which the masters offer a bone to chew on for spoiled music gourmets, as well as accessibility, in the sense of melodic fluidity, for every pair of ears that loves directness.
The album surprises with its heaviness right from the opening title track, which is full of anger and disappointment. Payne is at times downright furious and the vocal is as raspy as never before on the albums he recorded with Asia. New Jerusalem is a track with a Soul Survivor “main beat”, but dressed in typical “Payne era” Asia form. So there was obviously a deal between Downes and the members of the current GPS lineup, allowing the latter to use written material that was meant to appear on the successor to Asia’s “Silent Nation”, because the similarities between the last Asia album and “Window To The Soul” are glaringly obvious. The creation of the “Silent Nation” atmosphere is recognizable once you have Payne in the band, and this once again underlines what an important carrier of expression Payne was for late-period Asia. “Window To The Soul” is an extremely melodic album, with songs that get under your skin immediately and polished choruses, while the songs are again cleverly, but more noticeably than ever in “Payne era” Asia, dosed with prog rock moves. So GPS love to break the rhythm now and then as if for a laugh, which Asia never did, or at least never so markedly (for instance the middle section of Heaven Can Wait, or even the jazzy Written On The Wind, then there’s All My Life).
Alongside the novelties, the album carries the clearly recognizable substance of “Payne era” Asia, with its one-of-a-kind recognizable atmosphere largely preserved, and so “Window To The Soul” is the legitimate successor to “Silent Nation” – probably more legitimate than any future Asia album in the now renewed original lineup will ever be. Well, there you go. We’ve got a great new band and a great new album that will please all “Payne era” Asia followers. And now we can wait with interest to see how Asia in their original lineup respond. “Window To The Soul” is a new beginning. It’ll be interesting to watch where GPS head in the future. Will they keep the legacy of “Payne era” Asia alive, or will they steer toward even more turbulent, experimental-progressive waters? Oh, right, the guy on the cover of “Window To The Soul” is John Kalodner.
Line-up
John Payne – vocals, bass guitar
Ryo Okumoto – keyboards
Guthrie Govan – guitar
Jay Schellen – drums
Production
John Payne
Tracklist
1. Window To The Soul
2. New Jerusalem
3. Heaven Can Wait
4. Written On The Wind
5. I Believe In Yesterday
6. The Objector
7. All My Life
8. Gold
9. Since You’ve Been Gone
10. Taken Dreams
Album length: 64.18
