Asia

Emerging at the dawn of the 1980s, Asia projected the aura of a carryover from the prior decade’s era of supergroups and ambitious progressive-rock ensembles. Drawn from landmark art-rock outfits—John Wetton of King Crimson, Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Steve Howe of Yes, and Geoff Downes of the Buggles—the quartet included extended passages of indulgent instrumental work on its releases. At the same time, the band proved capable of an unexpectedly melodic approach, which propelled its self-titled debut album and the hit single “Heat of the Moment” to the summit of the charts.

The follow-up, Alpha, yielded further successes with “Don’t Cry” and “The Smile Has Left Your Eyes,” yet the next effort, Astra, failed commercially. After dissolving in 1985, the group reconvened in 1990 with John Payne stepping in for Wetton. Following the addition of two new tracks to a retrospective compilation, Asia resumed live activity, highlighted by a pair of sold-out Moscow performances before 20,000 spectators. Subsequent years brought intermittent touring alongside the studio albums Aqua (1992), Aria (1994), Arena (1996), Aura (2001), and Silent Nation (2004). The original configuration of Wetton, Palmer, Howe, and Downes reassembled for Phoenix (2008) and Omega (2010). In 2012 the founding lineup delivered the studio album XXX, led by the single “Face on the Bridge.” The next year Howe departed amicably to focus on other endeavors, after which Asia issued Gravitas in 2014 with guitarist Sam Coulson joining the lineup. John Wetton succumbed to colon cancer in January 2017 at age 67, roughly six weeks before the band’s planned extensive U.S. tour was to commence.