Throughout my life, my “go-to” music has been the
Beatles, the Allman Brothers Band, and Pink Floyd. Sometimes I need a break from them. As I wrote in my last issue, I had been listening
to a lot of John Prine, who passed away last month. After having done the deep dive on John
Prine’s music for the past few weeks, something much different and totally
unexpected popped into my head as I awoke the other day. The song was Let Me Go. I couldn’t get
the sound of John Wetton’s many-layered vocals out of my head [it’s still there
as I write this]. In 2005 John Wetton
and Geoff Downes renewed their musical partnership for a trio of albums under
the moniker Icon. Let Me Go is the first song from that first Icon album from
2005. Once heard, that sound is very
hard to get out of your head. That could
mean only one thing – it was time to revisit the music of John Wetton – time
for another musical deep dive. Like
Asia’s music, the Icon songs have more keyboard influence than guitar – LOTS of
keyboards, and JW’s unmistakable vocals.
But there’s also the lonely-sounding cello of ELO’s Hugh McDowell, and
the occasional female vocal thrown in. Little did I know, the Icon experience
led to the reunion of the original four members of Asia – Wetton, Downes, Steve
Howe, and Carl Palmer. This write-up is
fairly Asia-centric. To devote as much
detail to John Wetton’s entire career would need an entire book, not just a
blog entry.
I had been a fan of Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer
for many years. I had [and still have]
all the Yes studio albums between The Yes
Album and Drama, the last album they recorded before they broke up in
1981. Yes had yet to reconfigure and embrace
commerciality [doublespeak for “sell out”] with Owner of a Lonely Heart. I have all the ELP studio work except Love Beach. I was in the second semester of my freshman
year in college when I learned of a new group that featured two members from
Yes, one from King Crimson, and one from Emerson, Lake & Palmer. My initial interest in this then-new band was
because of Yes guitarist Steve Howe. He
was, and still is, a fantastic guitarist whose playing I have admired for a
long time. Steve Howe’s playing brought
me to Asia, but John Wetton’s singing kept me there. It was good to hear Steve Howe playing with a
vocalist who didn’t sound like he belonged in the Vienna Boys Choir. Jon Anderson is okay in small doses. To say that Yes played long songs would be an
understatement. They’re the only rock
group I know of that put out a four-sided album that had only four songs [Tales of Topographic Oceans]. Yes was heavy on the musicianship, with
Anderson’s vocals and his impenetrable lyrics kept to a minimum [fortunately].
Steve Howe and Geoff Downes from Yes and Carl Palmer from
ELP were known quantities to me. In
mathematics, “x” is the most common letter used to represent an “unknown”. John Wetton was the “X-Factor” for me. At the time, the only King Crimson albums I
owned were In the Court of the Crimson
King and In the Wake of Poseidon,
both which feature Greg Lake on vocals.
My “gateway” for John Wetton was King Crimson’s Red. The song Fallen Angel was the hook for me. The opening is very mellow, as are JW’s
vocals. Then the music turns on a dime
and gets very aggressive. JW’s bass is
thunderous and you hear the stacked vocal harmonies that would become his
trademark. The song is like that –
mellow, acoustic passages for the verses, thunder for the choruses. Starless
is a gem. King Crimson released an
abridged version with just the vocal section [roughly 4-5 minutes], but the
album has the full 12-minute version the instrumental jam. The vocal section has tranquility, while the
instrumental section is pretty wild.
Sadly, Robert Fripp put King Crimson on ice before Red’s release.
U.K. followed King Crimson in 1978. For me U.K. is the last gasp of classic
progressive rock. The first U.K. album
featured a quartet with Bill Bruford, Eddie Jobson and Allan Holdsworth. I prefer the trio version from their second Danger Money album [Holdsworth gone,
Bruford swapped out for Terry Bozzio]. Rendezvous 6:02 is among JW's best
ballads. The vocals sound bittersweet,
and the piano melody is wonderful. This
band would last for just two albums, but it did provide some foreshadowing for
what came next – Asia.
I was curious – would Asia sound like Yes or King
Crimson? In short, the answer is “not
really.” Eschewing long, sprawling instrumentals, Asia opted for shorter songs,
mostly in 4/4 time, which could get radio airplay. What really impressed me other than the
musicianship of Asia was the singing.
John Wetton’s first musical experience [by his own admission] was from
the church. This is evident with the
layering of JW’s vocals – he’s harmonizing with himself. The many voices one hears in JW’s recorded
work reminds one of chorales beautifully sung in church. His brother was a church organist. His first musical instrument was piano. He picked up a bass later.
From the eponymous debut album from 1982, there was a
balance between Steve Howe’s guitars and Geoff Downes’ keyboards. The songs
were much shorter than I was accustomed to with Yes, they were usually in 4/4
time, and the vocals were stunning.
About the closest Asia came to Yes’ progressive music were the songs Time Again, One Step Closer, and Here
Comes the Feeling. Each of those
songs has the Steve Howe stamp. They are
the perfect balance between old-school progressive rock and new-age
radio-friendly sounds. The remainder of
the album is more on the “pop” side, but they are all good pop songs.
As the band’s lyricist, John Wetton’s songs were mostly
[but not all] about relationships gone wrong.
Wildest Dreams, though, has an
anti-war theme. The B-side to Heat of the Moment – a Wetton/Howe song
titled Ride Easy – is especially poignant.
John Wetton was an alcoholic. For
years I didn’t know this. I just thought
Ride Easy was a neat-sounding song
that should have been on the album. When I heard of JW’s troubles with alcohol,
the lyrics suddenly made sense and were a bit more autobiographical than I
first imagined. Wetton paints a picture
of himself traveling the world, and seeing that world through the bottom of a
bottle – a tale of a man “lost along the way”.
I suppose a song written in the first-person should sometimes be taken
at face value.
Asia went to #1
for nine weeks in 1982. But where do you
go when you get to the top of the mountain right out of the chute? That’s right – down. Alpha followed in 1983, but something was conspicuously missing
from the songwriting credits – Steve Howe’s name. It was as if Carl Palmer and Steve Howe had
become sidemen for Wetton and Downes.
There are plenty of pop hooks that got the album a good deal of airplay. Alpha
was a good release but it had a few too many “romantic” ballads for my
liking. I’m sure there are many hardcore
Asia fans would disagree with me, but that’s ok. This is just one pinhead’s point-of-view
[mine]. The guitar-keyboard balance from the first album was gone. Alpha
was for Asia what Tusk was for
Fleetwood Mac – a strong seller that still felt like a bit of a letdown. The musicianship was still top-notch, and
JW’s vocal chops were still strong. Then
the wheels fell off. The tour to support
Alpha never finished [the last few dates cancelled], John Wetton was the record
label’s fall guy, and he was fired.
The music business is fickle and often cruel. The band had live commitments in Japan – Greg
Lake filled in for John Wetton. After
the Japan dates were done, Lake left and Wetton was back. But when Wetton came back, Steve Howe
left. The guy they got to replace him
was a guy from the Swiss metal band Krokus – Mandy Meyer. How would a metal guitarist fit with a
pop/progressive band? Wetton and Downes
wrote their songs on piano, so it stands to reason that both Alpha and the album with Meyer [Astra, 1985] are heavily
keyboard-influenced. Like Alpha, Astra was [in my opinion, anyway] ballad-heavy – more songs about
romantic entanglements. The first song
from Astra was a good introduction to
Meyer, and it gave John Wetton something other than a ballad to sing. That song was Go. This one is a serious
rocker where JW gave it his all vocally.
Meyer’s playing was tough and gave the song a hard edge that Howe
probably couldn’t provide. The beginning
of the album was very impressive, but…
The problem I have with Astra is that hardness is missing
in action for the remainder of the album’s first side, and as a result the
album somewhat loses focus. Meyer’s hard
edge reappeared on the album’s second side.
Countdown to Zero and After the War shows JW’s lyrical focus
on the Cold War and the prospect of nuclear annihilation. Too
Late and Suspicion are very
good. Between Alpha and Astra, there
are enough songs for one very strong album.
Again, others will disagree.
There was no Astra tour, the band was dropped from the label and it went
on a long break. My guess was these guys were tired and needed the break. There
would be a reunion [minus Howe, with Pat Thrall] in 1990, but it was brief.
After the reunion came John Wetton’s solo career. That career really started with Caught in the Crossfire in 1980. I can’t comment on it because I haven’t heard
it – really! The solo career resumed
with Battle Lines in 1994. Not a bad album, but Ron Nevison’s production
sounds a bit dated [1980s]. Arkangel [1997] and Sinister [2001] have their moments, but again the production gets
in the way of enjoying the music. I
think the finest album that came out under his own name was Rock of Faith [2003]. On this work, the
melodies are beautiful, and his vocals more emotive than anything that came
before. One gets the feeling that not
all was well in the house of Wetton when this was made. Given that, there’s no
filler on Rock of Faith. The
influence of church music is strong with this one. The finale When You Were Young is acapella.
Not many rock vocalists can carry this off, but JW made it look easy.
His voice sounded better here than the Asia heyday of the 1980s.
In the midst of the Icon business came the unthinkable.
The original Asia band reunited and commemorated the 25th anniversary of the
release of their debut with Fantasia:
Live In Tokyo [2007]. The highlight
for me was Roundabout. It’s hard enough
to remember all of Jon Anderson’s lyrics, but to sing that song in the original
key AND play Chris Squire’s bass parts at the same time is remarkable. The reunited quartet made three albums where
the guitar-keyboard balance from the first album was restored. The songs were better than what came after
the debut, the production wasn’t slick like it was in the 1980s. The chemistry of the original quartet was
good. The “prog” was back. As if he wasn’t busy enough, JW managed to
tour with U.K. and make his last solo album [Raised in Captivity, 2011].
The lyrics from the renewed Asia and JW’s solo work shifted focus from
romanticism to other things, like mortality [quadruple-bypass surgery will do
that], about making the most of what one has now, not really wallowing in the
past, but living for now. After three
studio albums, Steve Howe’s dance card was too full [Yes, Asia, solo career]
and he left Asia again in 2013, this time amicably. Without missing a beat, the band hired
guitarist Sam Coulson. They recorded Gravitas in 2014. Sadly, this would be John Wetton’s final
musical statement. His last words on
record were “Think the best of me, till we meet again.” It sounds cliché, but his voice aged
well. His life really was extraordinary.
This brings me to my iPod playlist – it’s a long
one. How could it not be with so much to
choose from?
Pre-Asia
Fallen Angel [Red - King Crimson, 1974]
Starless [Red - King Crimson, 1974]
Rendezvous 6:02 [Danger Money – U.K., 1979]
Asia
Time Again [Asia, 1982]
Wildest Dreams [Asia, 1982]
Sole Survivor [Asia, 1982]
One Step Closer [Asia, 1982]
Cutting It Fine [Asia, 1982]
Here Comes the Feeling [Asia, 1982]
Ride Easy [B-side, 1982]
Never in a Million Years [Alpha, 1983]
The Heat Goes On [Alpha, 1983] -> Go [Astra, 1985] (Note: I have to hear these one after the other)
Midnight Sun [Alpha, 1983]
Open Your Eyes [Alpha, 1983]
Countdown to Zero[Astra,1985] Suspicion [Astra, 1985]
After the War [Astra, 1985]
Heat of the Moment [Asia, 1982]
Roundabout [Fantasia: Live in Tokyo, 2007]
The Court of the Crimson King [Fantasia: Live in Tokyo, 2007]
Don’t Cry [Fantasia: Live in Tokyo, 2007]
Never Again [Phoenix, 2008]
Through My Veins [Omega, 2010]
Nothing's Forever [Phoenix, 2008]
Face on the Bridge [XXX. 2012]
Light the Way [Omega, 2010]
No Religion [XXX. 2012]
There Was a Time [Omega, 2010]
Tomorrow the World [XXX. 2012]
Bury Me In Willow [XXX. 2012]
Holy War [Omega, 2010]
I Believe [Omega, 2010]
Judas [XXX. 2012]
An Extraordinary Life [Phoenix, 2008]
Till We Meet Again [Gravitas, 2014]
Wetton/Downes and/or John Wetton [solo]
Overture: Paradox/Let Me Go [Icon, 2005]
I Stand Alone [Icon, 2005]
The Hanging Tree [Icon II: Rubicon, 2006]
Whirlpool [Icon II: Rubicon, 2006]
Steffi’s Ring [Raised In Captivity, 2011]
Goodbye Elsinore [Raised In Captivity, 2011]
Raised in Captivity [Raised In Captivity, 2011]
Reflections [Of My Life] [Icon II: Rubicon, 2006]
Mondrago –> Rock of Faith [Rock of Faith, 2003]
Battle Lines [Acoustic] [Battle Lines, 1995]
Hold Me Now [Battle Lines, 1995]
Heart of Darkness [Sinister, 2001]
Real World [Sinister, 2001]
The Circle of St. Giles -> The Last Thing
On My Mind [Arkangel, 1997]
I’ve Come to Take You Home [Rock of Faith, 2003]
A New Day [Rock of Faith, 2003]
When You Were Young [Rock of Faith, 2003]
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