Asia: Anthology [Bonus Track]
![Asia: Anthology [Bonus Track] (2005)](http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/2015/asiaanthology1mp.jpg)
Quick, how many Asia tunes can you name? If you're like most people, "Heat Of The Moment" and "Only Time Will Tell" will come fairly quickly to mind. If you're a big listener of 80's arena rock, you might also recall "Don't Cry" as well. Only an Asia fanatic is going to be able to recall much more than that; after the band's second album, Alpha, reached #6, the band's commercial fortunes plummeted in spectacular fashion; it's a rare group that debuts with a number 1 album, follows it up with a top-10, and disappears so thoroughly from the map after that. What might come as a surprise to those who tuned out is that Asia has released albums right up through the 00's, still titling them with single words beginning with "A" (a trick borrowed from America, who named their albums with H-words). Not only that, they have released mountains of arcana, from live albums to studio outtakes, a grand total of 26 studio, rarity, and live albums since 1982. The band was already a dinosaur when it was founded; a prog-rock band comprised of veterans of Yes, King Crimson, and ELP, it appeared just when prog-rock had gone out of style. Thus, while many dismissed their albums, they did manage to retain a few prog-rock fans who had relatively few alternatives in the 80's; presumably it is they who are the intended buyers of all their releases. Anthology is a chance for anyone else to catch up with the band; the tracks span most of their career, from 1982-1999, and at 17 tracks, it isn't larded out with filler. Anthology originally appeared in 1999 on Original Masters, the bonus track is a live version of "Time Again".
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Article comments
1 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
i lend my support to the Fall set. thats just some wondrous sessionry right there.
in other news, i'm currently stunned by Snoop Dogg motherf**kin his way through a greatest hits set at 6:30 PM on BBC1 on a saturday evening!!!! the times have surely changed!! the pistols never got off wi that!
2 - Duane Gordon
Just a comment on the Dolly Parton review. I don't know why the collection chose not to include many of her Columbia recordings, but it wasn't because of licensing issues. Sony, Monument and Columbia's parent, merged a year or so ago with BMG, RCA's parent, so all of her RCA, Columbia, and Monument catalogues are owned by one company, the same one which issued this compilation. It makes sense that licensing issues may have kept them from including more from her Trio recordings with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris (the CD has only one track from their two projects on the Warner Brothers family of labels) or her recent Sugar Hill recordings (since it also has just one of those tracks as well).
3 - uao
Thanks for that info, Duane; I didn't realize the ownership overlapped. I'll remove that line of speculation.