Astra |
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Charted: December 7, 1985 Peak: 67 US, 68 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock |
Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.)
Total Running Time: 45:06 The Players: |
Rating:  3.104 out of 5.00 (average of 14 ratings)
Awards: (Click on award to learn more).
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About the Album: When Asia’s “debut album came out in 1982…they seemed like a repudiation of the new wave movement, the pop music equivalent of the Reagan revolution in politics. Like Ronnie, however, Asia ran out of gas around mid-decade.” WR After two albums with the supergroup lineup of John Wetton, Steve Howe, Carl Palmer, and Geoff Downes the group showed signs of wear. Howe left the group because of tension with Wetton. WK Howe said the record company asked him to play on the album, but he declined after hearing the material. WK The group brought in Mandy Meyer who’d previously wielded his axe for hard rock band Krokus. It wasn’t quite the same as having a future Rock and Roll Hall of Famer on guitar. “With less lyrics about love, Astra was a bit different from its predecessors,” WK but the band was “still constructing keyboard-dominated, heroic-voiced arena pop.” WR Unfortunately, “nobody cared anymore, or at least not enough customers to vault them into the Top Ten, and for this kind of band, it’s platinum or don’t bother.” WR The band did still land a top-ten album rock track with Go and songs like Voice of America, Rock and Roll Dream, and Countdown to Zero all felt like they should have been similarly embraced by radio stations focused on album rock, even if they didn’t quite feel right for pop radio. However, the ho-hum reception to the album signaled the end of the band as fans had known them. Wetton left the band soon after the release of the album and a tour was cancelled. They resurfaced in 1990 for a tour and a greatest-hits collection, but subsequent studio albums were really Asia in name only as Geoff Downes was the only consistent member. The credential-free singer John Payne stepped in for Wetton and Howe and Palmer made only occasional appearances. The four original members wouldn’t work together again until they reunited for a tour in 2006 and three subsequent studio albums. |
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First posted 4/19/2008; updated 8/6/2021. |
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