Steve Howe: electric, acoustic and steel guitars; harmony vocals on
"Wish I'd Known All Along"
Carl Palmer: drums, percussion
John Wetton: lead vocals, bass
Geoff Downes: keys

I've only listened to Asia's new album a few times, but so far I feel
the original quartet's comeback album lives up to the reunion's
potential. This is a good album: to try to put that in context, I'm
enjoying it more than any of the John Payne-era Asia albums, GPS, Icon
or John Wetton solo albums that have come out in the last 16 years. On
the other hand, I don't think it's as good as _Asia_.

Some of the surprise as to what an Asia reunion could do has been lost
given we've had two albums by Wetton/Downes and I rather assumed
_Phoenix_ would be like _Icon_ and _Icon II -- Rubicon_, but with
better guitars and drums. That wasn't far off and tracks like
"Heroine" and "I will Remember You" fit the model. The band have
sought to portray _Phoenix_ as picking off where _Asia_ ended and much
of the album has the early Asia feel too, both in terms of 1980s
leftovers ("Alibis" was demo'd as "Jodie" back in the day) and newer
compositions like "Never Again", one of only two _Phoenix_ tracks to
get played live. Basically, if you like Wetton's pop songs and Downes'
keyboard stylings, you'll like this album, and if you don't like
anything Wetton has done since UK, then don't bother.

What stands out for me on the album, as with Asia's live shows, is
Steve Howe. He is playing great: not overpowering but complementing
the compositions and other players, with Downes and Howe working
particularly well together. Howe has two solo songwriting credits on
the album. "Over and Over" is another piece resurrected from writing
in the 1980s and is similar to his work back then. For me, the
highlight of the whole album is his other contribution, "Wish I'd
Known All Along", a catchy but interesting, quirky pop song with some
lovely playing from Howe and Downes. Howe's lyrics are also strong.
Given _Phoenix_ is only one of three albums Howe has out in the first
half of this year (the others being the solo guitar album _Motif Vol.
1_ and the Steve Howe Trio's _The Haunted Melody_), I am impressed by
both the quality and volume of his output, and which shows how wrong
are those who say the Asia or Yes band members are winding down with
age. While online fan discussion about Yes's future has focused on
Anderson's and Squire's roles, I see Howe as the potential driving
force and the Asia reunion's experience as a model for how to sell
Yes.

Also in the second half of the album comes "Orchard of Mines", which
has an interesting story behind it. The song is a cover from Globus's
_Epicon_ album that came out last year. Globus is a film music spin-
off involving Larry Groupé, who did the orchestral music on
_Magnification_, among others. One of the key figures in Globus and co-
writer of "Orchard of Mines" is Jeffrey Fayman, who may be familiar to
you from his recent collaborations with Robert Fripp, but who was also
the drummer in a line-up of Peter Banks' unsuccessful Empire band (he
can be heard on _Empire Mark II_, recorded in 1977). So, I hope you
found that vaguely interesting, because the actual track I found
rather bland: not dissimilar to Wetton's pop songs, but not as good.
(I haven't heard the original, so I don't know how much Asia changed
it.)

Also notable on _Phoenix_ are two eight-minute tracks, "Sleeping Giant/
No Way Back/Reprise" and "Parallel Worlds/Vortex/Déyà". However, don't
be misled into thinking these are Yes-style prog epics, both are very
obviously in three parts. The instrumental "Sleeping Giant" and
"Vortex" by Downes are some of his better work, and the interplay with
Howe makes them vaguely reminiscent of "Children of Light: Lifeline"
and "Sign Language" on _Keys to Ascension 2_. However, I can't say it
is clear why "Sleeping Giant" is stuck before "No Way Back" or
"Vortex" after "Parallel Worlds". With both tracks, especially
"Sleeping Giant/No Way Back/Reprise", the individual parts are fine,
but the joins rather obvious and the musical connection unclear to me.

Maybe that's why I get a slight sense from the album that it is
curiously unfinished, as if it could have done with another go getting
it just right. Palmer's drumming is fine, but often feels reticent.
The band could sound that little bit more confident on much of the
album.

However, my biggest complaint would be the lack of interesting bass
playing. Wetton has long been focused on songwriting and singing, yet
he remains a great bass player, as the live shows have demonstrated.
Can't we hear more bass in the studio?

In all, Asia fans will be happy, and Asia's critics will be unmoved.
Sales have been good (with some, albeit limited, chart success) and so
the album is relatively cheap. For example, you can get it for $7.25
on Amazon.com <http://tinyurl.com/5kkngk>, £7.25 on Amazon.co.uk
<http://tinyurl.com/6jhsek> and CND$9.99 on Amazon.ca tinyurl.com/5sx5hh>. I bought the European limited edition with an
acoustic version of "An Extraordinary Life" bonus track, but don't
bother, it is little different from the regular version. If you just
want to try some individual tracks on digital download, go for "Wish
I'd Known All Along" because it's great or "Alibis" for the '80s Asia
sound.