Only Time Will Tell by Asia

Ah, this is a song you need to know about if you're to understand anything about my popculture sensibilities and my undying love of these three subgenres of rock:

Bands named after geographical locations, or geo-rock, as I like to call it. It's more a category of bands than a genre unto itself, because Asia's post-progressive and stadium rock haven't much at all to do with the jazzy mellow pop of Chicago and even less to do with the stylish new wave quirkiness of Berlin. But for some reason, place-named bands have flourished in the annals of rock history and in my consciousness.

Prog Rock - a subgenre I know very little about from a musical standpoint, yet I continue to be enthralled with. The telltale signs of prog, in my lay terms, are dramatic melodic changes during a song not commensurate with a conventional refrain or bridge, often an extended flight of keyboard or instrument other than the usual blues-based guitar riff, and epic—almost symphonic—musical and lyrical themes, with complicated layering. See King Crimson and Yes for some examples. True prog rock fans (I'm just a novice) tend to be big-time music geeks with a lot of knowledge of theory, as evidenced by some of the comment threads on these YouTube videos.

Supergroups - Asia is a band formed by members of many other commercially and/or creatively successful bands, in this case, from an amalgam of gold-star prog and art rock bands: John Wetton (vocals, bass, guitar) had worked with Crimson, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep (and loads of other bands); Steve Howe was the guitarist from Yes, Geoff Downes was the keyboardist of the Buggles and briefly with Yes, and Carl Palmer of ELP played drums.

Anyway, dig the totally '80s video, and the cross configuration of the TVs during the singer's martyrish plight.

Now, sure as the sun will cross the sky/This lie is over.


Year: 1982
Rating: Hot!