ASIA - review added 5th October 2010
Live Album Review: ASIA - Spirit Of The Night Live In Cambridge 09 (Live) (2010)
For fans of: Prog Rock... and doing it in Cambridge
"Spirit Of The Night - Live In Cambridge 09" is, as the title may suggest, a(nother) live release from ASIA. The release itself comes as a CD, a DVD, or both. We are just looking at the CD here.
The recording sees the original ASIA line-up - John Wetton on bass and lead vocals, Steve Howe on guitars, Geoff Downes on keyboards, and Carl Palmer on drums - rolling through a variety of tracks. The songs come, not only from ASIA's awesome back catalogue, but from other parts of the various member's histories, and from the then (2009) latest ASIA album Phoenix.
The result is what you'd expect really: a bunch of songs performed live. There is nothing outstanding here, but nowt terrible either. John Wetton's voice doesn't sound in the best form ever, but I've heard worse. The musicianship is all ample, and the production has left the live feel well and truly in tact. The only real bugbear I've got is that the best song on the album isn't by ASIA, it's Emerson, Lake & Palmer's 'Fanfare For The Common Man', obviously played because Carl Palmer is there.
Not a bad release, but not brilliant either, the "Spirit Of The Night - Live In Cambridge 09" CD is ideal for ASIA completists or people who don't own one of their other live albums. It's probably worth checking out the DVD version though for the full effect. Failing that, the studio albums are a truck load better than this, so just stick with them.
Check out... The ELP track...
Track List:
01. Only Time Will Tell
02. Time Again
03. An Extraordinary Life
04. My Own Time
05. Open Your Eyes
06. Fanfare For The Common Man
07. Here Comes That Feeling
08. Never Again
09. The Heat Goes On
10. Sole Survivor
11. Don't Cry
12. Heat Of The Moment
13. Midnight Sun (Bonus track)
Label: Frontiers Records
Artist's website(s): Asia , MySpace
