ASIA – Aria [Reissue]

After leaving the spotlight in 1985, Asia surprised everyone by resurfacing in 1992. Aqua reintroduced Asia to the people with a whole new lineup, with John Payne replacing John Wetton, and Al Pitrelli replacing Steve Howe, although the latter was a sort of a guest on that particular comeback album.

With Aria, Asia was to follow up an album that provided many positive surprises. By this time, Steve Howe and Carl Palmer were definitely out of the picture. With Al Pitrelli, just leaving his Alice Cooper career behind as the sole guitarist, and session drummer Michael Sturgis on board, Asia was down to a four-piece.

Asia is, and has always been strong on pompous choruses, timeless keyboard sounds, and guitar riffs. On Aria, songs like “Anytime” and “Are You Big Enough” prove that. Also the more mid-tempo songs like “Summer,” are just as brilliant.

“Don’t Cut The Wire (Brother)” is one of the album’s definitive highlights, with a strong chorus and great vocals from John Payne. Another one, pompous and powerful, is “Military Man.”

Asia was to produce another great album during the 90s with Arena — which had yet another new lineup to offer. Nevertheless, Asia survived the 90s pretty well, thanks to great songwriting, and Aria is probably the best one out of the three albums released in the 90s.