By Rob Dell’Aquila
The rock world lost one of its legends this morning as bassist/vocalist John Wetton finally lost his battle with cancer.
Born and raised in England, Wetton had a long and distinguished career, performing (most notably) with progressive rock giants King Crimson, UK and Uriah Heep, before achieving his greatest commercial success as part of the ‘80s supergroup ASIA. His most iconic song, “Heat of the Moment,” comes from that era…
I grew up listening to (and loving) Wetton’s music with these amazing groups, but I didn’t get the chance to actually see him perform live until the mid-‘90s. There was a club in New York City called The Bottom Line where he would appear twice a year. My friends and I caught him every time, reserving tables for anywhere from ten to twenty of us.
By that time, Wetton had parted ways with ASIA, but he had kept busy writing. He put out some amazing solo material, like this title track from his 1994 solo album, Battle Lines…
Wetton also reworked some of his classics acoustically at this time so that they could be performed without the full band. His acoustic version of “Heat of the Moment” was particularly beautiful and haunting, so much so that when he reunited with ASIA years later, the band sometimes elected to play that version instead of the original…
The reunion of ASIA happened in stages. In 2002, Wetton reunited with ex-ASIA bandmate (and dear friend) Geoff Downes to write new songs together. This collaboration eventually led to the formation of Icon in 2005, and saw three albums of amazing new material. A favorite from the first Icon album was “Let Me Go.” The chemistry between the two stars was as powerful as ever…
Soon after Icon, Carl Palmer and Steve Howe (the rest of the original ASIA lineup) reunited with Wetton and Downes. They began performing live together again and put out new studio albums as well.
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I had the great pleasure of finally catching ASIA live in concert shortly after their first reunion. I would see them a total of three times, the last being two years ago. This is a live version of one of their most popular songs, taken from that very show…
ASIA originally put out four albums together from 1982 – 1990. The reunited band would put out four more from 2008 – 2014. In the spirit of rebirth, the first of those new albums together was called Phoenix. The hit from that album (“An Extraordinary Life”) was one they would continue to play in concert years later, and makes for an appropriate tribute to an extraordinary man…
RIP John Wetton…
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