Then & Now
	Produced by Mike Stone, Frank Wolf, John Wetton, Geoff Downes, Sue Shifrin, David Cassidy, Guy Roche
	Released on August 1990
	US CHART POSITION #114 . . . GOLD RECORD (7/23/98)
	Find it at GEMM
24298-2 cover

U nable to cash in on their association with Asia individually, the trio of Geoff Downes, Carl Palmer and John Wetton elected to resurrect the band in 1990 for a tour. Of course, mounting a tour without any product in the market seemed foolish, so a collection of old standards and unreleased songs recorded in the interim was packaged together as Then & Now. The first side features the US singles from Asia and Alpha; that’s the “then” side. The “now” side (which is what fans were most interested in hearing) includes various permutations of the band, including once-and-future members Mandy Meyer and Michael Sturgis (Pat Thrall, who played guitar on the tour, isn’t featured on any of these tracks). Since Asia had about four years to come up with four new songs (“Voice of America” originally appeared on Astra), the new material is a vast improvement over Astra. “Days Like These” (actually written by Steve Jones) was released as the single and snuck into the Top 100, despite lyrics more suited to a self-help seminar than a stadium. “Prayin 4 A Miracle” and “Am I In Love?” are typical of Wetton’s downbeat, moody ballads, which isn’t a bad thing at all. “Summer (Can’t Last Too Long)” does. Frankly, the band needed to be propped up on their past accomplishments to generate interest; even if the new songs are pretty good, they’re a patch job designed to give the illusion that Asia had re-formed. And eventually they did, with Wetton out of the picture, for 1992’s Aqua. Truthfully, that’s the album to own if you want to see the future of Asia. Then & Now is better suited to anyone who bought their first album and has yet to be stung by Alpha or Astra.

TRACK LISTING

1. ONLY TIME WILL TELL    (John Wetton/Geoff Downes)    4:46
2. HEAT OF THE MOMENT    (John Wetton/Geoff Downes)    3:52
3. WILDEST DREAMS    (John Wetton/Geoff Downes)    5:10
4. DON'T CRY    (John Wetton/Geoff Downes)    3:40
5. THE SMILE HAS LEFT YOUR EYES    (John Wetton)    3:14
6. DAYS LIKE THESE    (Steve Jones)    4:05
7. PRAYIN' 4 A MIRACLE    (John Wetton/Sue Shifrin/David Cassidy)    4:22
8. AM I IN LOVE?    (John Wetton/Geoff Downes)    4:24
9. SUMMER (CAN'T LAST TOO LONG)    (John Wetton/Geoff Downes)    4:16
10. VOICE OF AMERICA    (John Wetton/Geoff Downes)    4:18

CREDITS

GEOFF DOWNES --
CARL PALMER --
JOHN WETTON --
Jamie Green -- (7)
Ron Komie -- guitar (7)
Steve Lukather -- guitar (6)
Mandy Meyer -- guitar (8)
Scott Gorham -- guitar (9)
Guy Roche -- (6)
Michael Sturgis -- (9)
Mike Stone -- engineer, mixing
Frank Wolf -- additional engineering, mixing
Jean-Francois Podevin -- illustration

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