I quite like acoustic albums and in particular gigs (when I’m in the mood) and if wasn’t for a certain Mitch Malloy acoustic gig at The Archer this review, and every other one I've written for  this website may not have happen! (Oh for a time machine says the ed!). In  an acoustic environment, bands either go for a straight acoustic run through of the songs, radically re-arrange them or, as is the case in the main here, strip them down to bare bones. 

First the good points :- Wetton is in  fine voice and I would go so far as to say this is one of his best performances ever. Some of the tracks work really well in particular Voice Of America, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes and Only Time Will Tell, with Hugh McDowell’s cello adding an almost classical feel to proceedings. Downes cannot resist using his keyboard effects on Open Your Eyes and this works really well as well ( a whole in the ground with water in it!) 

Now the negatives, the tracks from the Icon album were fairly laid back to begin with and are even more so here.  Perhaps more critical however is the number of times that the Asia songs served up here have surfaced in similar formats on numerous albums in the past. John Wetton's Chasing The Dragon Live  featured an acoustic Heat Of The Moment,  Akustika - Live in America, an acoustic album featuring several Asia numbers and the John Payne era  Different Worlds Live which, guess what, contained an acoustic live disc. Overkill perchance. Basically if you’ve not got these tracks in an acoustic form this is worth getting, but I cannot believe that  many John Wetton/Asia fans  do not own at least one acoustic recording already. This is definitely a case of money for old rope with only one bonus track to serve as glimmer of light, and that is a leftover from The Icon sessions anyway.

Let's hope that if the Asia re-union comes off, then the band make sure they come back with a killer new album and not another greatest hits or live album as there enough of these already!

Let us know your views on 'Acoustic TV Broadcast'

Track List

Heat Of The Moment
Voice Of America
Let Me Go
God Walks With Us
Sole Survivor
Meet Me At Midnight
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
I Lay Down
Open Your Eyes
Only Time Will Tell
Don't Cry
In The End
There In Your Bed

Line Up

John Wetton -Vocals/Guitar/Bass
Geoff Downes - Vocals/keys
Hugh McDowell - Cello