CoronaVinyl Day 150 ('80s Debut): Asia by Asia

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Today is the 150th installment of CoronaVinyl.  That's only five times longer than I expected to go when I started doing this on March 17, the first day I started working from home as a result of COVID.  I haven't been back to the office since then, and I don't have any plans to return any time soon (not that my office is going to reopen this year anyway).

But I digress.  Today's CoronaVinyl category is '80s debut album, and I'm going with a self-titled debut album for the second day in a row.  In 1981, supergroup Asia was formed from the ashes of several prominent British prog rock bands.  The band was made up of lead vocalist and bassist John Wetton of King Crimson, Uriah Heep, and U.K., guitarist Steve Howe of Yes, keyboardist Geoff Downes of Yes and The Buggles, and drummer Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Despite their prog rock pedigree, the band's sound was a decidedly more mainstream/AOR/arena rock sound.  Their eponymous 1982 debut album was an instant success, topping the Billboard album chart and eventually going quadruple platinum in the U.S.  The album spawned two Top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.  Their most well-known song, "Heat of the Moment," went to #4, while "Only Time Will Tell" reached #17.

The album cover features some sort of sea dragon playing water polo.  It was designed by Roger Dean, who had designed albums for Yes and Uriah Heep (among others) and who designed several more of Asia's album covers.  He also designed Asia's futuristic looking triangular logo.

The band's follow-up album, 1983's Alpha, went to #6 on the Billboard album chart.  However, the band started to have some internal issues after that, and they broke up after 1985's Astra album, before reforming with a different line-up in the early '90s.  They have gone through various line-up changes over the years, with some original members popping back in and then leaving again, but I was surprised to see that they had released ten studio albums between 1992 and 2014.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Heat of the Moment"

How could I go with a different song?  It's a great early '80s rock song and the band's biggest hit.  You know it.  Sing along.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Here Comes the Feeling"
This is another song that is decidedly early '80s, but hey, that's when I was beginning to discover music, so songs like this take me back to my childhood, even if I didn't know this song specifically back then.