I'm not going to call this album the band's magnum opus, because, in my humble opinion, the next incarnation of the band went on to make two such albums. It is, however, the towering height of both the Fish era and what some now call “neo prog” in the 1980's, a monster smash hit of an LP, which, in turn, spawned three incredibly big hit singles, a generation of girls by the name of Kayleigh, and all without face paint on as well!
The direction the band had taken in Fugazi, heightened commerciality fused with progressive rock, reached its zenith with this album. Whoever would have thought that a concept album revolving around an autobiographical account of life's ups and downs and societal ills would have been so popular in the era of post punk and new romanticism?
Side one has the hits Kayleigh, Lavender, and Heart Of Lothian. The first is pure pop/prog joy. The second is a great poem set to music, although the only minor gripe I have about Lavender is the fact that the single version (which was extended from the album version) features one of the most achingly beautiful guitar solos ever committed to vinyl of all time, let alone by Steven Rothery, and was absent from the album. Hearts Of Lothian is a simple barnstormer of a song, with Fish wearing his heart on his roots sleeve and the band playing as if their lives depended upon it. By this time, they were so massive that the pop video even featured TV celebrities doing star turns. The end of the track slows down to a sensitive backing track with Fish baring his soul to us all.
The other tracks on side one are Pseudo Silk Kimono, a slow and thoughtful introduction to the work as a whole, and Bitter Suite, which is a superb progressive ballad and leads nicely into the Hearts track.
Side two can comfortably be called the more progressive side, and proceeds to give Fish's, at times, exceptionally bleak view of the world. I remember more than a few letters in music papers at the time bemoaning the fact that at least Roger Waters was old enough to moan about all in sight, whilst Fish was a mere stripling. I find it utterly brilliant, with a relentless pace virtually unchecked throughout.
Waterhole leads into a massive rocker, Lords Of The Backstage, one of the finest tracks the band ever recorded. The main epic of the album, Blind Curve. Nine minutes of dark and lyrically poetical symphony. Childhood End and White Feather close the album, in which all the demons are finally exhaled.
There are no standout performances on this. This is the sound of a band playing together at the top of their game and all in the same direction. It all culminated in a fantastic festival called Garden Party held at Milton Keynes Bowl with, amongst others, Jethro Tull supporting to a massive audience. As most of the band have said since, they should have stopped there and rested for a couple of years.
This is an essential album. There is not a weak moment on it, and for those who do not own it, it is extremely important to the understanding and appreciation of progressive rock at the time of its release.
An album which marked a departure from the phase that had begun with Permanent Waves and ended with Grace Under Pressure, this was Rush in by now full-blown 1980's power pop/rock territory, and, inevitably, it was a phase which divides opinion amongst fans and critics alike.
I think the first thing to say about this album is that it is very good, well performed, with the trio sounded as tight as ever, and, perhaps more importantly, trying out new ways of recording and playing without ever wishing to "sell out", as some of its protractors would tell us.
It features three of the finest tracks the band have ever recorded. The opener, Big Money, as good an example of power rock as you were likely to get in this period, Marathon, featuring perhaps Geddy Lee's finest musical contribution to the band (which is saying something), and, the absolute highlight, the album's closer, the intense, sublime, and exotic Mystic Rhythms.
Elsewhere, amongst tracks which strike one as being a little bit too close to mediocrity for comfort, only the brooding, and intensely played, Manhattan Project comes even close to hitting the three aforementioned tracks heights.
In hindsight, this album can, perhaps, be viewed as one of the band's works which marks a transition, and, hence, them seeking to find comfort in that new direction. Certainly, its successor, Hold Your Fire, would find the band sounding and looking far more comfortable and consistent.
As I have said before, this is a good album, but nowhere near consistent enough to mark it out as an excellent piece of work. The highlights, though, do make it a purchase worth having in your collection.
It's 1985, and the wheels had well and truly begun to fall off the mighty commercial bandwagon that was the supergroup, Asia. Steve Howe had left in a huff, only returning for guest spots when Wetton had gone into the sunset, until the much-vaunted recent reunion. He was replaced by a bloke called Mandy Meyer, of whom it could be politely said that not many people outside of his immediate family had truly heard of at the time. My research for this review uncovered the ultimately uninspiring fact that he also recorded an album later with Krokus. To state that he was not much of a replacement for a genius is putting it somewhat mildly.
This album is a mess, and that is being rather kind, and a long-term future of ever more bland, commercially unsuccessful, releases, twinned with a massive catalogue of completely unnecessary live releases, beckoned.
There are perhaps three tracks on this album which come a little bit close to recreating the glories that were evident in spades on the debut, and sporadically on the second. These are the anthemic openers Go and Voice of America, whilst Rock And Roll Dream is also a good pomp rock track.
There seemed to be a great deal of confusion as to where the band wanted to take themselves, which is surprising given the ego fuelled rows that saw Howe leave under a cloud, disillusioned with a lack of song writing input. On Countdown To Zero, we even have a hilariously bad attempt at cod Gary Numan type monotones by the once great Wetton.
The remainder of tracks are instantly forgettable pap, and the other feature of this album is just how poor the production is. At times, the band really struggle to make themselves heard coherently, which is a shame, because certainly Geoff Downes' keyboards are rather good amongst the dross recorded. These are highlighted to best effect on the closer, After The War, which is, I am afraid, no more than a poor man's Wildest Dreams.
This album marked my personal disillusionment with Asia, a phase that was to last until the reunion album Phoenix. It is very forgettable, and one wonders at just how three superior, vastly talented, people such as Wetton, Downes, and Palmer could allow themselves to be so let down by a finished product.
This is one that is most definitely for completionists only, and I am being a little bit generous in stating this.