Asia

It's not easy being Asia, when you've the millstone of those early albums potentially sinking anything new. Whatever the band do these days will almost inevitably pale by comparison to those first three great records from the 1980s.
So, what do the quartet do? They ignore the past, pretend they're new to all of this and go their own way. The result is surprisingly impressive, a smoothly melodic ride that feels like a birth, or a rebirth…

Asia 2001 has been producing music since the beginning of the last century's decade and has actually been around since the expression trance music was first used. Asia 2001 comes from the south of France, where he produces most of his music at his private studio, "The Stargate". Behind Asia 2001 we find Martin Cooper, who is also known as Loren-X, with releases and albums on R&S, Polygram, F-Com, Distance and more. Martin Cooper has established Trans`Pact Productions back in 1992 with his wife Thaisha, and shortly after that, released "Fly in Rajasthan", that became a hymn at that time. Trans`Pact has released dozens of singles and albums, including Spectral's Trance O 10 C…

ARIA is the second album from the 'new' Asia with John Payne on lead vocals. Released during the spring of 1994, Aria expands a bit on the direction they started on the previous album, 1992's AQUA: harder edged guitars, powerful anthemic choruses, symphonic keyboards…

Recorded on November 7th 2012 at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, this new ASIA live CD / DVD and Blu Ray captures once again the band, in the original line-up, in front of an ecstatic audience during one of the shows that ASIA performed in support of the "XXX" album and which was broadcasted by AXS TV in the USA…

After reuniting for 2008's Phoenix, the original four members of prog-pop supergroup Asia (bassist/vocalist John Wetton, keyboardist Geoff Downes, guitarist Steve Howe, and drummer Carl Palmer) stayed together for three more albums including 2012's XXX…