Recollections

Illumination of musicians' influences, offered in their own words, often provides context for their work. Sometimes, as with the liner notes of Recollections, such acknowledgment makes for good reading in its own right. Here John Payne describes his personal connections to various long-celebrated British prog-rock bands. Even though it took the form of a tribute album rather than an original work, Recollections clearly is a very personal project for Payne. And the contributions of various AFJP participants may well establish a context for the band's future original work.Payne's choices include a thoughtful, reasonably comprehensive sampling of British prog, with perhaps a bit more of the 80s than might have been best. Compared to some more obvious representative examples, two lesser-known songs shine brightly--Camel's "Highways of the Sun" and Barclay James Harvest's "Rock and Roll Star" are nicely updated, even reinvigorated. Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath" is infused with a zippy synth beat that is downright fun; the song channels a nice Deep Purple vibe with flashes of Lord chords and Airey atmosphere. At the very least, these three tracks are highly recommended to listeners who enjoy pop in their prog.On The Alan Parsons Project's "Sirius" and "Eye in the Sky," Payne and friends present more straightforward covers. Perhaps the best thing about "Eye" is Payne's vocal presentation. As described in the liner notes, he pointedly builds to roughened pre-chorus vocals, which works quite well in the arrangement--particularly in the third verse, where Payne doesn't hold each line's ending syllable quite so long. Further, the melody seems to be in a very comfortable vocal range for Payne, who has endured some criticism of his voice over the years. This track shows how good he can sound, subjective as such things may be.Welcome if not especially distinguished covers of King Crimson, UK, and ELP songs populate a good-sized portion of the rest of Recollections. Payne seems to be more successful the farther he moves away from the Asia family tree, although The Moody Blues' "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" is a bit overlong and underwhelming. Probably the track that most weighs on the proceedings is "It Can Happen" from Yes. Several vocal approaches clash among each other and with the instrumental contingent. In his notes Payne acknowledges the challenges of covering the song; fair play to him for the attempt.Erik Norlander and Jay Schellen, respectively, lend expert keyboard and percussion playing to the album. Their dual talents form the base of the AFJP pyramid, with Payne at the apex. Former AFJP guitarist Bruce Bouillet offers a pleasingly broad range of texture and style. It's good to hear Moni Scaria's tasteful lead-guitar playing, on more prominent display during "Rock and Roll Star" than in the AFJP single "Seasons Will Change." The recording of Recollections apparently took place before Jeff Kollman's tenure, but he's well represented on "Seasons." Taken together, "Seasons" and Recollections foreshadow the potential of any future AFJP studio work that might come to fruition.Regardless of what providence holds for Payne and company, Recollections is worthwhile and recommended for AFJP fans, and at least a few tracks warrant the attention of prog aficionados. The music taken strictly on its own would warrant more like a 3- or 3.5-star review, but for curious listeners the liner notes really are of sufficient value to bump up the rating a notch.

Looking at the cover, you might imagine that Recollections is just a set of ten classic British tracks of progressive rock faithfully rerecorded with the sunny sheen that you instantly recognize as the Asia sound. That is the essential idea, but that is just the beginning of it. These are exceptionally well-written and well-chosen songs, so that if somehow you were hearing them for the first time in the hands of such a talented band, you might say this has to be just about the most amazing album ever. But assuming you have heard most of these songs before, there are reasons to listen to them all over again. The tracks on Recollections are not just a repeat of something you have heard before. John Payne went to some trouble to reimagine the songs, deftly changing them just enough to give them a different meaning and feeling than you might remember. The original “It Can Happen,” for example, was built on a noncommittal swirl of Yes polyrhythms that seemed to represent the field of infinite possibilities, the vastness of the quantum universe as it presents itself to someone who hasn’t yet chosen a direction. Even though I can’t quite point to what changed, Payne (on bass) and drummer Jay Schellen have here given the song a more grounded beat, and as a result the emotion of the song changes to something like a blue-collar feeling of pragmatic hope. It’s a feeling you’d expect to hear in a song from Bruce Springsteen but is slightly startling when attached to music with the complexity of “It Can Happen.” Listen to the song yourself and ask, “How did they do that?” Perhaps the most improved track is “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere.” It’s a wistful fantasy in the Moody Blues original, but add a soulful vocal and heavier playing all around and it takes on a passionate determination, so that the song’s “somehow” is now something on the edge of happening. On through the album, every song is reconstructed in a similar way, but one more I must mention is Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath,” which sonically, very nearly turns into Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild.” The effect is so subtle that you might have to listen two or three times to hear it, but once you do, you’ll again say, “How did they do that?” “Locomotive Breath” is a literary song, the classic train wreck about to happen, and the new version is just as fateful, but in this smoother rendition, the insanity at the heart of the song’s lyrics is something more universal, the insanity of the human condition, perhaps. For fans of progressive rock, this is an album to listen to over and over again, and if you aren’t so familiar with progressive rock, I can’t think of another album that would provide a more compelling introduction to the genre.

First of all...The Artist name is "Asia Featuring John Payne" and NOT AsiaJohn Payne and his version of Asia - Asia Featuring John Payne (AFJP), show their appreciation, love and knowledge of British Progressive Rock. John Payne has gone from being a Club day fan to a modern day contemporary of the best of British Progressive Rock. His knowledge and love of these bands and songs is evident in the crafting and details of every song recorded on this album. It is rare that an Artist like Alan Parsons gives input to the recording of a tribute version of one of his songs.The performances of John Payne, Jay Schellen, Bruce Bouillett, Erik Norlander and Moni Scaria are a beautiful tribute to the original artists while also showing their own individual musical proficiency. Sharlotte Gibson's vocal performance on "It Can Happen" adds a wonderful dynamic to this version of the Rabin/Anderson/Squire Yes song.I also enjoyed the liner notes by John Payne on the individual songs and the overall recording of what started out as a John Payne solo album. But due to the involvement of current AFJP members Jay Schellen, Erik Norlander and Moni Scaria and previous member Bruce Bouillett; this album is more representative of the band Asia Featuring John Payne than it is of John Payne as a solo artist. It also provides recordings of the rare and short time that Bruce Bouillett was the guitarist of AFJP.Whether a fan of British Progressive Rock, AFJP, John Payne or the other involved musicians, this album is a must have. Thank you to: John Payne, Jay Schellen, Erik Norlander, Moni Scaria, Bruce Bouillett and Sharlotte Gibson !!Bring on Americana by Asia Featuring John Payne !!!

I'm not a great fan of coversongs, new versions, not for me ! But this album ? well even Alan Parsons was happy with the EYE IN THE SKY version ... GREAT ALBUM !

Good effort by ASIA,But prefer the originals.And I DO like ASIA, by the way!

Love this album, John Payne's voice is one of the best ever.

Excellent

Good versions of old classics but it is still an album of covers and therefore gets tedious after a while.