What we have here is first album released under the name John Payne and, as the liner notes indicate, it’s a compilation of work from thoughtout his career so far. Long term fans of Payne  will be pleased to see rarities such as the collaboration with Lunatica on Song For You taken from the The Edge Of Infinity album and a track by a band called CCCP, a stunning cover of the Eagles classic One Of These Nights which is very Asia sounding and it‘s to see why he was recruited to Asia on the basis of this effort. His first ever solo single from the mid 80’s also features,  Ride The Storm is very of it’s time and is reminiscent slightly of John Parr. Surprisingly only one track from the excellent GPS Window To Your Soul album makes the cut, the acoustic driven "Written on the Wind".

Unsurprisingly the rest of the material consists of songs from his Asia days, in total nine songs are featured, one from Silent Nation, one from Aria, two from Arena and a whopping five culled from Aura. Mysteriously, given the depth in which the Asia years are covered  tracks from Aqua, Payne's debut with the band, are conspicuous by their absence.

Now as regular readers may know I’d never gotten away with John Payne’s era of Asia until the Silent Nation album and listen to this compilation I think I’ve finally put m finger on the reason why. When reviewing albums I mainly listen to them on an mp3 player on the daily trip back and forwards to work. However For one reason and another I’ve only been able to listen to this album late at night and in this setting the later Asia material now makes sense. The early pre Payne Asia was largely guitar driven albeit with excellent keyboard interplay whilst the Payne incarnation of the band saw the outfit travelling down a largely keyboard dominated route, almost symphonic in places with distinct jazz overtones. Such material may not rock as much but in a late night, more relaxed setting it comes into it's own and takes on a new life.

As an introduction to the music and works of John Payne Different Worlds works extremely well. It serves to introduce the casual fan to Payne's musical output from outside the Asia framework and even has some rarities on there so that it will appeal to the completists. Couple this with the excellent liner notes written by Payne himself telling his story from the solo days through CCCP, ELO Pt II, Asia and beyond and you have what is a pretty much essential purchase for anyone with even a hint of an interest in Payne and his career.

Let us know your views on Different Worlds

Track Listing

Under The Gun
Song For You
Different Worlds
Ready To Go Home
One Of These Nights
Arena
The Last Time
The Longest Night
Long Way From Home
Feels Like Love
Wherever You Are
Written On The Wind
Ride The Storm