•
Rating: Anyone familiar with this band knows perfectly well that with every album, they need to note the line-up changes... Once they returned with the solid "Aqua," in 1994 Steve Howe leaves (for the second time) as well as that bunch of A-list session men who were attached to the band... Like saying "come take a ride with us, but at the end of the line, you get off"... Carl Palmer also leaves, and the supergroup that was has definitively gone to ruin. Now, at least, if their records flop, one can console themselves with the fact that not a single big name, not a single 'infallible' remains. The regained vocation towards the (bottom-of-the-glass-flavored) prog of "Aqua" disappears once again along with Steve Howe, sacrificed yet again on the altar of 80s rock... And we are in 1994!
The writer here has no problem at all if the record is out of fashion, as long as it pleases them, and to be fair this "Aria" isn't really ugly. Particularly thanks to the choruses, mostly graceful and spot-on. To this is added the powerful vocals of John Payne, truly an excellent vocalist. Sure, there are tracks that, in my opinion, just don't work, like "Are You Big Enough?," a song that sounds as if it was recorded by Simon Le Bon Jovi, or "Sad Situation," space pop rock a bit too predictable, with keyboard parts that in '94 sound like they did in '82. Or again in "Remembrance Day," almost unlistenable solemn pomp rock, and "Military Man" (the titles already say it all), a return to the schemes and clichés of their early (and certainly not better) records.
As is usual for Asia, the opening track is the best, and "Anytime" fully respects the tradition; "Summer" has a delicate and semi-acoustic approach, but inevitably becomes pomp. Pitrelli tries to imitate Howe in the solo. Weakish verses and a nice chorus for "Don't Cut The Wire," noted for the fine final stretch where keyboard and guitar blend their sounds. As dark as the verse is, the chorus is that sunny, even with hands clapping in time, for "Enough's Enough." Sure, the keyboard solo in style of "The Final Countdown" fits just like a dive into a glass of sodium-free water...
For the epic rides, in search of 'prog sensations,' the interstellar journeys and the FM rock of a decade ago, in two episodes Asia prefer to offer something classical, lyrical. In the very shouted "Desire" Payne and his operatic choirs make the song. Geoffrey Downes instead attempts it by inserting keyboards that recall the strings of the Rondò Veneziano; "Feels Like Love" seems like an excerpt from a rock opera. Effective. I would rename this genre - considering my penchant for "pointless" names - "Arena di Verona Rock." The concluding title track is a 'piano and voice' on which are grafted the keyboards of the Rondò Veneziano and the choirs of "Desire" reappear, a track on which evidently Downes and company had high hopes.
Nice record that doesn't extend the breath of a band that, if it doesn't change its genre, or at least its intellectual approach to its music, if it continues to like itself as it is, without ever going too deep, will never be able to hope to reach-return to success. And for once, things went as they had to go.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Anytime (04:57)
As a child, we played the game
Fought the war, but felt no pain
Arm to arm, we left the skin
THen said the words, remember them
Oh, never a moments doubt
Oh, feel it, scream it loud
Chorus:
Anytime that you call
Anytime if you fall
Anytime I'll be there for you
Any moment of fear
Anytime say the prayer
Swear that our word is true
Should I go
Should I stay?
I won't turn my head away
Cross the line, the great divide
So kill the silence, where we hide
Oh, never a moments doubt
Oh, feel it so scream it loud
Chorus
If clouds fall, stand tall
As mountains climb from endless sea
Call out, fear not
Bring back that memory
Chorus
02 Are You Big Enough? (04:07)
Walked the streets at night
Head low
To cross the borderline
That only you know
Then inside your room
You'll show
The man you did not want to be
Chorus:
Are you big enough?
Are you losing your touch?
And if you walk away
Don't you know you'd better change
From these early days
Don't want to let go
You'd climb the stairs of change
To her room
Held those clothes so soft
Was it so good
To paint the face the scars of youth?
Chorus
04 Summer (04:06)
Her fingers feel the air
The mantle now so bare
From green then into brown
Lie scattered all around
We hope they will return
Like those before did learn
Now that their summer's gone
We have to carry on
Till we rise, I just can't wait
Now tell me, who are you
To judge my fate?
Chorus:
Oh, the rain burns on
Now that summer's gone
Oh, the wind blows strong
Now that summer's gone
Across the fields we ran
To emerald castles, banned
By rule of modern man
Who built a winterland
Then as the seasons change
He'll fly and hide away
Above a cloud of words
On wings of gold I heard
We must rise, it's not too late
Now tell me, who are you
To change our fate?
Chorus
10 Military Man (04:10)
The fighting's over now
There's nowhere left to run
My ammunition's out
I'd better put down my gun
And as I face this life of fear
I'd better keep my conscience clear
Inside my mind I'm out of it
And I ain't never coming back
Chorus:
So don't come running here to find me
'Cos I'm a military man
And as I spin this wheel of fortune
In my military world
I'm a military man
The architects of time
Are calling me
But I don't believe it
Necessarily
And as I face this life of fear
Break the chains
That bind me here
Inside my head I'm out of it
But I'm still never coming back
Chorus
I'm a military man
Just a military man yes I am
11 Aria (02:26)
As I look back
In that last act
Far beyond the call of duty
Did I stay strong?
Did I give more?
Far beyond the call of duty
And I know, you know... now
Loading comments slowly
