This sumptuously packaged box set assembles the three studio albums and live double LP made by original Asia members Geoff Downes, Steve Howe, Carl Palmer and John Wetton after reforming the prog/AOR heavyweights in 2006 to mark their 25th anniversary. With this line-up’s unassailable pedigree and trademark song-centric approach, there’s much to enjoy here.
The revitalised band rose from the flames with 2008’s Phoenix, bookended by the ironically titled Never Again and high-spirited An Extraordinary Life. (In the wake of Wetton’s death in 2017, the latter remains a bit of a choker, and a celebration of his own remarkable times.) Even then this was unashamedly retro stuff: mature writing; anthemic, harmony-rich choruses; classic rock sounds, all forged from the venerable members’ musical chops.