Review of Asia: The Ultimate Anthology

Introduction

Who?

Well dear readers my reaction was the same. Even though I am often known as music trivia man, I couldn`t name a single song by this band, or a single member of the band. They seem to have totally passed me by. Let me pass on what I`ve learnt.

Their biggest days were in the early 1980s, with a debut album that shifted over 15 million copies. The DVD sleeve screams that they were "the worldwide rock phenomenon of the 1980s", but I`d like to differ with that! Like many such bands they seem to have mutated many times over the years, with original band members coming and going every year

This DVD features performances from 1990 and 2002 only (seems odd to me) most of which were recorded (mostly live) at one of three locations - Central TV studios in Nottingham, Moscow and Trenton, New Jersey. There`s also a couple of promo clips from a single release that never happened.

The tracklist is located up above.

Video

We get full frame pictures, although you might have expected widescreen for the material recorded in 2002. For the most part it looks just like 1990s video footage, even the 2002 material.

It`s nothing to write home about, just some blokes on stage getting older and looking like a stereotypical 1980s rock band.

Audio

A choice of dts and DD5.1 soundtracks. Whichever you go for, they both sound like average remix jobs (although the 2002 one may have been recorded with DVD in mind). They mostly use the front three channels, and there`s not much audience in the mix either. On the whole these are ok, but nothing special.

Musically the band sound like many rock bands sounded in the 1980s - think Marillion, Whitesnake, Rainbow and a bit of Genesis.

Features

Not a thing.

Conclusion

Like many music discs, this one is very definitely for fans only. Asia`s particular brand of 1980s rock didn`t thrill or excite me at all and I won`t be rushing back to listen to it again.

If you are a fan then you might be interested in this collection of songs, but the limited selection of sources seems odd. There are a couple of tracks to tempt you - a version of Go America which has only been released in Japan, and an unreleased track, Who Will Stop the Rain.

The picture quality is average, but the sound is what you`re after. The dts and DD5.1 tracks are not bad, but you suspect more could have been made of them. So if you`re a fan then you might want to pick this up on the cheap. It won`t win any new converts though.