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Alpha

Asia Format: Audio CD
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 347 ratings
$8.89
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MP3 Music, August 12, 1983
$7.99
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Audio CD, September 29, 2017
$89.09
$87.17 $78.70
Audio CD, March 18, 1996
$8.89
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Vinyl, Original recording, January 1, 1983
$12.83
$40.00 $7.41
Audio, Cassette, October 21, 1997
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$7.97 $4.00

Track Listings

1 Don't Cry
2 The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
3 Never In A Million Years
4 My Own Time (I'll Do What I Want)
5 The Heat Goes On
6 Eye To Eye
7 The Last To Know
8 True Colors
9 Midnight Sun
10 Open Your Eyes

Editorial Reviews

ASIA Alpha CD

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.79 x 0.39 x 4.9 inches; 3.36 ounces
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Geffen Gold Line Sp.
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ GED04008
  • Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 1996
  • Date First Available ‏ : ‎ December 8, 2006
  • Label ‏ : ‎ Geffen Gold Line Sp.
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000000OXH
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 347 ratings

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
347 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Andre S. Grindle
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Time From Geoff,Steve,Carl and....John!
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2015
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One thing that I'll give Asia is that they really helped to lock down a type of progressive rock that could be viable for the 1980's. Not that the genre's cinematic synthesizer based arrangements of the sub-genre weren't well suited to the arena styling of the new decade anyway. After Asia's self titled debut had become such an enormous success with "Heat Of The Moment" in 1982? This super group/power quartet of prog rock had all the musical tools they needed to extend on their own musical variation.

"Don't Cry","Never In A Million Years","The Heat Goes On" "Open Your Eyes" and "Eye To Eye" are all densely arranged rockers built heavy around rhythm. The drumming,the guitars and the synthesizers all provide a sonic layer that blends in wonderfully with the melodic, harmony laden vocals. "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes","My Own Time (I'll Do What I Want)" and "The Last To Know" are all cinematically swelling ballads based a great deal around Downes synthesizers. "Midnight Sun" mixes a Brazilian marching band type rhythm with an appropriately Chinese style folk melody.

One thing about this second album from Asia is that the drums and synthesizers have become very much the key to their music here. Steve Howes' guitars have become part of the rhythm and beat here as opposed to being the primary focus. There are a lot of musicians who still deeply resent the transition of rock in the 1980's from being a guitar to a synthesizer based medium? Honestly? Both instruments have a great deal of sonic depth. And what this does with the bands usual strong sense of melody is put the depth of those two types of musical instruments together. Superb second outing for Asia overall!
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Mark Andrew
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Asia Album
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2023
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Just superb! The likes of which we won’t hear again!
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Some Dude
4.0 out of 5 stars Cracks are beginning to show...
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2004
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Asia's sophomore album arrived in July 1983. This was quite a fast production, considering that their previous album had only come out in April of 1982, which was then followed by months and months of touring.

Bassist/vocalist John Wetton and keyboardist Geoff Downes had emerged as the main songwriting duo behind Asia. As a result, every song on here (as opposed to Asia's debut) is purely a Wetton/Downes credit. And I think this is one reason why it's not as universally-accepted as the debut album. Vocals and keyboards are a bit more dominant, Carl Palmer's drums aren't mixed as well...and where's Steve Howe? His guitars are a thin whisper on many of the tracks. His sole songwriting contribution to Alpha was "Lying To Yourself" and it was filed away to be issued as a B-side. No wonder he left in '84.

It's not that I think Alpha is a bad album. In fact, it's quite stunning. It's just that it's more of the same, but not nearly as good. It repeats itself too much, and doesn't feel like a band effort. Too much money was up in the air and Asia had become too successful, too fast. Everyone had cabin fever when they wrote it, and egos were starting to clash within the group (mostly with Howe and Wetton, who's rift broke up the original group for 23 years.) Mix this in with huge arenas that had thousands of empty seats, as well as growing Euro-pop trends, and Asia -- and other hard rock bands -- were in trouble.

"Don't Cry" starts off the album positively. Very nice vocals and some good drumming from Palmer. It's a pretty standard pop song, and it was the first Asia tune I ever heard. This song absolutely soars, and is incredibly uplifting.

"The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" is a pretty little ballad driven by keyboards and vocals, and is solely credited to John Wetton. This was written in 1982, along with "Midnight Sun" -- both of which were played on the previous tour in different form. I think that the song turned out better in later years, played live and with a real piano sound as opposed to the Casio-sounding keyboards on this studio version.

"Never In A Million Years" gets things rocking and the album starts to pick up some steam. Awesome vocals and some great keyboards, especially during the second verse. One wonders how much better this song had been with it's original intro, chopped off at the suggestion of a record executive because it "Made the song too long and less commercial."

"My Own Time (I'll Do What I Want)" is an amazing song. It begins with a bombastic fanfare and then quietly fades in with Wetton's distinctive smoky vocals coupled with some beautiful acoustic guitar from Howe. The song builds and builds, Wetton's singing just dripping with emotion and fire. Palmer's drumming is another highlight here, in addition to the short little keyboard "trumpets" that Downes plays as the song fades out.

"The Heat Goes On" is often considered (along with "Open Your Eyes") to be the best song on Alpha. I won't go into too much detail, but everyone involved is at the top of their game in what is basically a straightforward classic rock tune. Play this loudly and people will likely ask who it is. A shame it gets no radio play. "The Heat Goes On" was originally titled "Eye of the Hurricane", but the lyrics were changed to basically make it a sequel to "Heat of the Moment". I would have preferred the original lyrics. (After the success of HotM, it struck me as kinda lame that they were trying to remind people of their biggest hit.)

"Eye To Eye" is where the album starts to get a little slow. This song is very good, but gets a little repetitive, even as short as it is at three minutes or so. I *love* the keyboards though. Very icy-sounding, perfectly mirroring the lyrics and vocals. There's some wonderful instrumental pieces in here, subtly recalling Howe and Downes' 1980 Drama album under the Yes banner.

"The Last To Know" used to be my least-favorite song on Alpha but I enjoy it more these days. It's just that the lyrics are extremely sappy for guys in their 30's, and aside from when I remember myself at 13 in junior high, I can't relate. Nice classical interlude, though -- especially Palmer's drumming.

I used to love "True Colors" when I first got Alpha... now it's my least-favorite. It just repeats the chorus over and over. Still good, but too keyboard-driven -- even if the darker sound does seem pretty cool.

"Midnight Sun" used to not really do anything for me, but I grew to really enjoy it. Don't ask me how that happens. It's probably the most non-Asia-sounding song on Alpha, and one that Yes fans would probably dig on the most (Downes keyboards are a lot like the ones on Drama...the use of the Fairlight Excalibur really recalls that album.) The lyrics are very Sci-Fi, and whenever I hear it, I imagine a darkened red moon rising over a massive cityscape of Neo-Tokyo, straight out of some 80's anime movie.

Alpha closes with "Open Your Eyes", a powerful lament for an Asian girl seeking fame and fortune in America. Thankfully, as on "The Heat Goes On", everybody overcomes the other pitfalls of Alpha and really shines forth as they did in '82. The lyrics are damn good, and I love the use of a vocoder during the intro and outro (as well as Howe's electric sitar, not used since "Close To The Edge" in '72!) As the song gets quiet and then thunders back for an ecstatic rush of an ending, I always get chills. Superb ending.

If you love Asia's first album, by all means, get this. Chances are, you'll like it. In fact, a small minority regard it as better. You can make it even better by making a CD-R (or MP3 playlist) and adding the two B-sides, "Lying To Yourself" (goes good after "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes") and "Daylight" (a stunningly powerful and underrated Asia song) as an album-closer.

I do hope that Geffen rereleases and repackages this someday. Especially because there's a lot more material which didn't make it -- the earlier versions of "The Heat Goes On" and "Never In A Million Years", as well as two previously-unreleased songs in "Jodi" and "Keep The Love Alive".

As much as I love this album, I can only give it 3 stars. It loses one for the lyrics (not bad, but overall worse than the debut) and one for production (again, worse than the debut.)

Ironically, one of Alpha's best features is Roger Dean's breathtaking cover art, which I would say is among one of his best works. In an odd juxtaposition, we see a Sci-Fi utopia of a pyramid and arcologies set amongst an exotic jungle. An eagle (representing freedom) flies overhead, joyful in the bright blue skies. Underneath the brush lay hidden black tigers peering between the leaves, representing an inner darkness. As a strange synchronicity, we see large blocky moth statues at the edges of the jungle, and if we look closely at the jungle leaves, the exact same moth lay perched...is it the architectural hand of God who sets events in motion? Maybe I read too much into it, but I tend to get lost in Roger Dean's worlds...

3 stars + 1 for an emotional connection
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George
5.0 out of 5 stars 2nd Time Around Is Just As Good
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2015
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This album is a great classic Asia cd, John Wetton's voice is crisp & fresh on every track. Songs like Don't Cry,Never In A Million Years, Open Your Eyes & the ever haunting The Last To Know. This album was shadowed by their debut record & in all honesty Alpha was every bit as good. The writing of each track tells a romantic interlude somehow somewhere done with great execution. 1983 was an extremely good year for Asia & touring was extensive, they definitely made their mark in progressive rock as one of the big boys. This album is worthy of a 5 star rating
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Simon P. Verkerk
5.0 out of 5 stars Great CD!!
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2022
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The cd arrived in great condition and I am enjoying it very much. Thanks!!
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Jimmy
5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice remastering of my favorite Asia album.
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2018
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Nice mastering of this album, getting closer to the vinyl experience -- very consistent with their release of the first Asia album from a few years back. If you like that one, you'll like this one. Highly recommended. A nice reminder of John Wetton's talent. His voice really came into its own on the first two Asia albums.
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trevor
5.0 out of 5 stars Multi talented group
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 24, 2021
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What is there to say. Members of different groups come together to make a super group. Bought the singles when they first came out. Heard the album before in its entirety and thought just buy it, so I did. Well worth the money. Great song after great song. A must for great music lovers. Definitely a 5 STAR rating
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★PuBLIC-IMAGE★
5.0 out of 5 stars 2017年10月発売 audiofidelityのSACD
Reviewed in Japan on October 7, 2017
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今更なので曲については割愛します。

このSACD、発売が伸び伸びになってようやく今日届きました。
このレーベルのSACDはどれも最高のマスタリングなので楽しみにしていました。
早速聴いてみたが
まさに「コレだよ！この音だよ！！」
と、もう感動、感激！
高校生だった頃リアルタイムで聞いたアナログレコードの音です！

国内盤海外盤リマスターCD、国内SACDといろいろ聞いてきたがどれも音の広がりや ベースやバスドラの沈み込みなど あの時に聞いた音と程遠くどうも物足りない物ばかりでした。

audiofidelityのエンジニアの方はちゃんと分かっているのかいつもいい仕事をしてくれています。
audio fidelityは 旧い名盤(当時はアナログレコードが主流)のリマスターが主なのでアナログの音を基調にリマスターしているのではないかと思っています。
あと
余計なボーナストラックを付け足さないのも良い。

特に国内の制作者達は
本編の後にどうでもいいものが足されるだけでせっかくの名作の品位が下がる事がなんでわからないのか？
ボーナストラックつけたいんならディスクを分けて2枚組とかにしてくれたらと思う。
または
ボートラだけのCDを商品化すればと思う。

とにかく
これでストレスを感じずにこのアルバムを楽しめそうです。

このアルバムとは関係ないけど
80年代の名作繋がりでいうと
パワーステーションの1stもあの頃聴いたアナログの音と程遠いので
是非audiofidelityでリマスターして欲しいですね。
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Miguel Angel
5.0 out of 5 stars Buen rock
Reviewed in Spain on October 24, 2016
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Este segundo disco de Asia y el primero de nombre homonimo son los mejores con diferencia, en ambos no sobra ninguna cancion.
Luego fueron decayendo musicalmente con alguna buena cancion.
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Carlo Caccia
5.0 out of 5 stars Gli Asia nella formazione originale non deludono mai
Reviewed in Italy on October 31, 2016
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Come da oggetto, assolutamente da avere per gli amanti del genere. E' una versione non rimasterizzata e che mantiene quindi tutta la gamma
dinamica a favore di un ascolto non affaticante e ricco di sfumature.
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Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on December 7, 2014
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THE BEST OF 80's!!!
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