Four guys from King Crimson, Yes, and Emerson Lake and Palmer walked into a studio and decided to stop being difficult. That’s the whole story of Asia. Musicians who could play anything, choosing instead to write hit singles, and the prog faithful never forgave them for it.
Heat Of The Moment is the one everybody knows, and it earns it, that keyboard hook and Wetton selling every line like it’s the last thing he’ll ever say. Only Time Will Tell and Sole Survivor keep Side A moving. Steve Howe is in there somewhere, reined way in, doing more with less than he probably wanted to.
Side B thins out. Without You is fine, the rest runs together. But the front half is pomp-rock done exactly right, and there’s no shame in it. It was the biggest record of 1982 for a reason, even if admitting you liked it took a few years longer.
Side A
Side B