Asia: Aqua
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| Posted on January 27, 2015 at 11:32:56 | ||
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Posts: 7331
Location: Bay Area Joined: December 11, 2000 |
 In June 1992, my junior year of college ended. For the summer, I returned home to San Francisco. Because of the following year's graduations, that summer of '92 would be the last my friends and I would be able to get together. Many of my friends were (and still are) partial to hard rock and heavy metal. As such, the grunge revolution made us brood with anger. We sought out as much non-grunge as we could. If you have been following my blog (listed here on AA as my "homepage"), you have been privy to the music of that summer of '92. Of that, let us turn our attention to Asia's Aqua. Not knowing anything about it, my friend Ken blindly bought Aqua on CD from the Stonestown Tower Records. Like prior Asia album covers, Aqua does not depict any of the band members. It turns out that for Aqua, founder and keyboardist Geoff Downes brought back drummer Carl Palmer. But he found a new bassist/lead singer, John Payne. He recruited guitarist Al Pitrelli, formerly of Alice Cooper. Interestingly, Pitrelli was a Berklee College Of Music roommate of keyboard whiz, Derek Sherinian (who would later find fame in Dream Theater). And finally, Downes even managed to snag old guitarist Steve Howe for a few tracks. During the Fall '92 quarter, I borrowed Aqua from Ken. And wouldn't you now it; for the first time since the 85-86 season, Central California got rain. As the days got shorter, and the rains brought cooler (but not cold) weather, one of my favorites, out of much strong material from the time, was Asia's "Who Will Stop The Rain?" That quarter, once I brought down all the products needed to form our Sony/Adcom/Pinnacle/AQ system, I stayed in Santa Cruz. I hardly ever returned to S.F. Thus, I held Ken's Aqua the whole quarter. Okay, I hate to sound mean, but John Payne should not sing. My housemates and I had no musical talent, but c'mon; we would sound no worse than Payne. Payne's vocals do drag down many of the songs, which, in all honesty, are mediocre. However, Aqua's instrumental opening and closing, "Aqua Part One" and Aqua Part Two," respectively, are well done. And the album's other good song is "Lay Down Your Arms." Inexplicably, another good song, "Obsession," was left off of the album. "Obsession" would not appear until 1996's Archiva Vol. 2. In 2004/5, InsideOut Music released a "Special Edition" version [top row in the photo above] of Aqua, which includes "Obsession" and two live tracks. The sound is much improved. In fact, this is a good example of what a rock recording should sound like. In 2012, Sony Music Japan International reissued Aqua, including the bonus tracks, on Blu-Spec CD [in the photo above, middle and bottom rows]. It comes in a crummy cardboard "mini-LP" sleeve. Why?! Furthermore, the printing on the mini-LP sleeve does not list the bonus tracks. Also included are the Obi strip, a booklet in English, and a booklet in Japanese. The Blu-Spec CD sounds terrible: slow, muddy, airless. Do not waste your time, money, patience, or hearing on this Blu-Spec CD. If you really must have Aqua, get it on InsideOut Music's "Special Edition" CD. This is the one I bring with me to audio stores, shows, gatherings, parties. It's also the one I use for listening pleasure. The Audiophiles' DJ,
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