Any regular readers of this site must surely know that this humble reviewer is something of a fan of one John Wetton and this first new album in many a year from the original Asia line up is one that I've been looking forward to for a variety of reasons, but I’ve held out on reviewing till now for two good reasons.

Firstly, the promo copy is riddled with voice-overs. Now I know they're there to protect the album from some idiots maliciously spreading the album across the web but these have to be the most inane ones ever and do nothing to help the continuity of the CD when it comes to reviewing purposes. Secondly and perhaps more worryingly,  I’ve not been able to make m mind up about Phoenix, whether it was good or simply average. However if you've noticed the score quoted at the top of this review that probably answers the question as to which side I finally came down on.

At the risk of repeating myself from the recent live review from the band's latest UK tour album opener Never Again is classic Asia and one of the best tracks to bear the bands name in years. Likewise the following track, Nothing's Forever, is almost as good but, like a lot of this album, it would just as easily have fitted on the Wetton/Downes Icon albums as on anything bearing the Asia monicker. Heroine, whilst lyrically very good, bears more than a passing resemblance to The Smile Has Left Your Eyes but then there's
Sleeping Giant/No Way Back/Reprise, very much the highlight on Phoenix, the extended musical interplay of Sleeping Giant leading into the up-tempo No Way Back before going back once more to the atmospheric musical interplay.

Alibis sounds like it was lifted from the classic debt album and, like Never Again, is one of the more instant numbers on the album and this only serves to highlight the other main problem with Phoenix. Most of Asia's material in the past I've heard live before ever purchasing a CD and it was the instant gratification of those early songs that grabbed the attention whereas here the songs, in the main, need more time to get under the skin and to reward the listener fully.

Elsewhere you have the likes of I Will Remember You, a slow piano lead ballad  once again very much in the style of Icon and Shadow Of A Doubt which is Asia being, well Asia. Carl Palmer's inventive drumming coupled to the understated keyboards and Wetton's voice leading the song with Steve Howe weaving musical melodies over the top. of course it wouldn't truly be Asia without that prog moment and here it is delivered in the shape of Parallel Worlds/Vortex/Deya which is simply wonderful, but would have been even better without the bloody voiceovers getting in the way every thirty seconds.

Phoenix may very well be the final throw of the dice for Asia with Steve Howe returning to Yes in the summer and ELP rumoured to be reforming. If that is the case then Phoenix at least does nothing to detract from band's legacy and in many ways actually enhances it. I only hope that Asia return in a couple of ears and write an album that sounds more like Asia and less like Icon.

Let us know your views on Phoenix

Track Listing

Never Again
Nothing's Forever
Heroine
Sleeping Giant / No Way Back / Reprise
Alibis
I Will Remember You
Shadow Of A Doubt
Parallel Worlds / Vortex / Deya
Wish I'd Known All Along
Orchard Of Mines
Over And Over
An Extraordinary Life
An Extraordinary Life (Acoustic)

Line Up

John Wetton - Vocals/Bass
Steve Howe - Guitars
Geoff Downes - Keyboards
Carl Palmer - Drums