Asia ft. John Payne - Recollections: A Trbute To British Prog

Recollections: A Tribute To British Prog is a studio album by progressive rock band Asia featuring John Payne, released in March 2014.

Asia was a supergroup initially formed in 1981 by John Wetton (bass, vocals), Steve Howe (guitars), Carl Palmer (drums) and Geoff Downes (keyboards).  After Wetton left the band in 1991, Downes invited John Payne to join the band on bass and vocals. Payne and Downes continued to tour and record under the Asia banner with a revolving set of musicians, until Downes left in 2006 to join a reunion of the original line-up under the Asia name.

John Payne was allowed to continue touring and performing under the name “Asia featuring John Payne”.

This 2014 album is John Payne’s tribute to British progressive rock and contains a series of cover versions of some classic prog rock tunes that had a strong influence over Payne. On the album the members of his version of Asia are featured, Jay Schellen (drums), Erik Norlander (keyboards), Bruce Bouliet (guitars) and Moni Scaria (guitars).

The album kicks off with “Sirius” the instrumental opening track on the Alan Parsons Project 1982 album Eye In The Sky, and then moves into the title track “Eye In The Sky” itself. The next tribute is to King Crimson, and the band covers “Court of the Crimson King”, the title track from that bands 1969 debut album.

The third band to be featured, and last track on Side A is a cover of Camel’s “Highways of the Sun” from their 1977 album Rain Dances.

On Side B, a tribute to Yes is via the song “It Can Happen” from their 1983 album 90125, originally produced by Trevor Horn and written by Jon Anderson, Chris Squire and Trevor Rabin. The next band to be covered is Barclay James Harvest, featuring the song “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” from their 1976 album Octoberon. Jethro Tull is next up, with the song “Locomotion Breath” from their 1971 album Aqualung.

The album finishes with the Greg Lake penned song “Lucky Man” that featured on Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s debut self-titled album in 1970.

This is a wonderful album to sit back and appreciate the amazing songwriting craftsmanship of British prog rock musicians, you will find yourself singing along with the songs in no time!

This album is on red coloured vinyl with a printed inner sleeve, pressed in the US via Cardotunes Records.