John Payne has more than paid his dues in the rock business over the last twenty five years having worked with a number of high profile artists such as Roger Daltrey singing backing vocals on Roger s album Under A raging Moon. He was also briefly the vocalist with ELO II. However for fifteen years John Payne was perhaps best know as the vocalist and bassist with British Rock Band Asia. In that time John wrote and produced seven studio albums that found success across the world including the albums Aqua, Aria, Arena, Aura and Silent Nation. Different Worlds is the latest release from John Payne and is a career spanning compilation album covering all aspects of John s career and features performances from a stellar cast of musicians.
Following on from the previous evening’s performance at Wimborne Minster, Travis & Fripp decamp to Broad Chalke. Around 50 or so people gratefully exchanged the sweltering heat outdoors for All Saints’ cool stone walls and lofty wooden rafters. Working in a productive mixture of agreed areas (such as a key or a “feel”) and complete improvisation, the performance is a delicately tightrope walk between two worlds. Perhaps due to differences of venues, times and the occasion (this was ostensibly a fund-raiser for the local school), the music seemed lighter in tone compared to the more sombre mood struck the previous evening.