History Music / Asia

* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: In 1989, a talent agent named Neil Warnock invited Asia to reunite and tour with the Beach Boys after the song "Kokomo" put them back in the spotlight. John Wetton and Carl Palmer agreed to join, while Geoff Downes was preoccupied working with Greg Lake at the time. Alan Darby and John Young filled in for him and Howe for most of the tour. To their surprise, the audiences still recognized most of the songs that hadn't been played in years, and the tour gained them some of their biggest crowd numbers since 1982. This helped them realize Asia still had some life left in it, which led to the John Payne era reigniting the group's productivity a few years later.

* LiveAlbum: Hooooo boy does this band love them. As of 2020, Asia has released ''thirty-four'' official live albums, ranging from standard concert recordings to stripped back, MTV Unplugged-like acoustic performances of their hits. This band has so many live albums to pick from, there even exists ''multiple best-of compilations'' solely for these live recordings!

* DarkerAndEdgier: "Darkness Day" is an uncharacteristically eerie song that deals with the apparent end of the world, with heavy allusions to the Christian rapture included. It even opens with a deep, elegant yet foreboding choir that sounds like a religious chant, driving the spiritual imagery home even more.

** For the John Payne years: ''Anthology'' [[note]]Which includes re-recordings of 5 Wetton era songs[[/note]], ''Axioms'', ''The Best Of Asia - Archives 1988-1997'', ''The Collection'', ''Greatest Hits (2000), and ''Best of Asia (2008)''.

* CutAndPast Translation: The US edition of ''Aqua'' had a re-arranged track listing that dropped "Little Rich Boy" from the album.

* The Atoner: The speaker of "Forgive Me" seeks mercy, possibly from a higher power, after a crime he committed gets broadcasted to the public.

* Cut-and-Paste Translation: The US edition of ''Aqua'' had a re-arranged track listing that dropped "Little Rich Boy" from the album.

* Darker and Edgier: "Darkness Day" is an uncharacteristically eerie song that deals with the apparent end of the world, with heavy allusions to the Christian rapture included. It even opens with a deep, elegant yet foreboding choir that sounds like a religious chant, driving the spiritual imagery home even more.

* Ethereal Choir: "Darkness Day" features a particularly resonant one in the song's intro, sounding almost like an a cappella church hymn at first.
* Evolving Music: Some Asia songs have been through quite a journey. "Military Man" started as a shelved Geoff Downes demo in the late 80s, sung by GTR vocalist Max Bacon. In 1994 it was re-recorded and released on ''Aria'', with thicker production and a slightly slower beat. Then in 2009, Asia Featuring John Payne re-recorded it again for their debut EP of the same name with a similar sound.

* Minimalistic Cover Art: Some of the more low-profile releases like ''Anthology'', the ''Armada'' albums and some of the CD singles would have this, consisting of just the band's logo on a white background with the title beneath it.

** "Anytime", "Desire", "Summer", and the title track from Aria, and its bonus track "Reality"

* OneWordTitle: "Daylight", a B-side from ''Alpha''; "Go" and "Wishing" from ''Astra''; "Someday" from ''Aqua''; "Arena", "Heaven", "Never", "Falling", and "Words" from ''Arena''; "Alibis" from ''Phoenix''; "Gravitas" and "Valkyrie" from ''Gravitas''.

** "Heaven on Earth" and "Desire" were originally an unreleased demos made by John Payne and Andy Nye in the mid 80s, with the former being titled "Wasteland" with different lyrics. The latter sounded [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPcGIx4kOu8 significantly more hair metal-like]] than the finished version on ''Aria''.

** "Desire" was originally an unreleased demo made by John Payne and Andy Nye in the mid 80s, sounding [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPcGIx4kOu8 significantly more hair metal-like]] than the finished version on ''Aria''.

* WordSaladLyrics: John Wetton claims to have no idea what the song "Go" means. Quoted from "The Authorized Asia Biography":

* Putting the Band Back Together: In 1989, a talent agent named Neil Warnock invited Asia to reunite and tour with the Beach Boys after the song "Kokomo" put them back in the spotlight. John Wetton and Carl Palmer agreed to join, while Geoff Downes was preoccupied working with Greg Lake at the time. Alan Darby and John Young filled in for him and Howe for most of the tour. To their surprise, the audiences still recognized most of the songs that hadn't been played in years, and the tour gained them some of their biggest crowd numbers since 1982. This helped them realize Asia still had some life left in it, which led to the John Payne era reigniting the group's productivity a few years later.

* Word Salad Lyrics: John Wetton claims to have no idea what the song "Go" means. Quoted from "The Authorized Asia Biography":

* Hilarious in Hindsight: In the 70s, John Wetton replaced Greg Lake as one of King Crimson's singers. Then in the 80s, albeit very briefly, Greg Lake replaced John Wetton as Asia's singer.

* RearrangeTheSong: Some tracks from the early Payne years can trace their origins to Rain, a project Geoff Downes was working on during Asia's hiatus in the late 1980s. Songs like "Who Will Stop the Rain?", "Someday", "Military Man", and various ''Archiva'' cuts were first recorded by the group with Max Bacon on vocals, although none of them made it past the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GnwSiyLExs demo stage]] at the time. Once Asia entered the 90s, only then did most of these demos turn into finished songs.

** "Midnight Sun" and "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" first appeared during the band's original 1982 tour, to help fill concert space with only one album's worth of material to perform. The latter [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6I5w5aXxkM The latter sounded very different]] from the revamped version made for ''Alpha'' the following year.