Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
People put a large amount of faith in the consideration of what it means to be iconic; however, they sometimes miss the point that it doesn’t necessarily have to be the most perfect representation of the image that the artist has completed in which to have been placed at the door of the quintessential in which to be loved, adored, found to be an expression of movement.
Faith can be overwhelmingly dogmatic, it deludes the senses to not accept the flaws, potential or realised, in which having a streak of perceived weakness is actually a respectable, even virtuous, trait to present to the one sitting in front of the art in question.
Conviction and trust that the symbolic icon in front of you, in this case the seminal recording of Asia’s Live At The Budokan Tokyo 1983, will be taken at face value and not be placed upon an infernal pedestal is one that drives the memory of the concert recorded for an MTV audience that marvelled at one of the first uses of the technology in which to watch a set from an another continent without having to wait for it to come out on video.
Back when MTV was a trusted music channel and not a demonstration of filling time with shows that only have the tenuous link to its golden days of pioneering and championing the music art form, Live At The Budokan Tokyo 1983 was a must see, the chance to witness the much missed Greg Lake, alongside the spectacular Geoff Downes, Steve Howe, and Carl Palmer, and those who witnessed the telecast to America were not let down.
For those not able to relish the event, and with time having moved ever onwards, the passing of the irreplaceable Greg Lake and the man who sang on the original studio recordings in which the set list is made up of, John Wetton, but who was for other reasons unable to perform in Japan, the release of the event final allows the listener and the fan the opportunity to be transported to a period when the supergroup and progressive rock kings were on top of the world and showcasing songs from the seminal first two albums with grace and huge punch of delight.
Almost 40 years on from that moment when Japan opened their hearts to the four men on stage, the quality of the recording is not the point of discussion, for once it is about the feeling, the drama, the belief in the message and the music that the band had set out to convey, and across tracks such as Time Again, Eye To eye, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, Wildest Dreams, Heat Of The Moment, and Only Time Will Tell, as well as solos from Steve Howe, Geoffrey Downes, and the wildness of spirit captured by Carl Palmer, the solitary man who waits for enlightenment is far more engrossed that those that seek perfection.
Asia: Live At The Budokan Tokyo 1983 is a huge chance to catch the band in a time when the world of four decades ago resembles the time we live in with a sense of chilling irony, but one made so much better thanks to the glory of performance by Asia. A compliment to anyone’s collection of the second wave of Progressive Rock, and one to savour fully.
Ian D. Hall