Year : 2001 (Epicon Records Remastered Edition 2017)
Style : Melodic Rock , AOR
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 135 mb
Bio:
John Kenneth Wetton (born 12 June 1949) is an English singer, bassist, and songwriter.He was born in Willington, Derbyshire, and grew up in Bournemouth. He initially rose to fame in with bands such as Mogul Thrash, Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry, Uriah Heep, and Wishbone Ash.After his period with King Crimson, Wetton formed UK, and later he was the frontman and principal songwriter of the supergroup Asia.which has proved his biggest commercial success. Their self-titled debut album sold 8 million copies worldwide and was Billboard magazine's No. 1 album of 1982. He later formed the duo Icon with Geoff Downes (ex-Yes, ex-Buggles) and since the 1990s has had a successful solo career releasing a large number of studio and live albums.Wetton has had a long career as an in-demand session bass player and has collaborated with many members of progressive rock bands such as Yes (including Steve Howe, Bill Bruford, Geoff Downes, Alan White, Billy Sherwood and Peter Banks) and Genesis (Steve Hackett).Wetton grew up in Bournemouth and was in a number of early bands with Richard Palmer-James, on bass and vocals, including, The Corvettes, The Palmer-James Group (formed with Alec James), Tetrad, and Ginger Man.A key early band was Mogul Thrash and work with Family and various sessions followed.Wetton's first big break came when he joined Wimborne, Dorset musician Robert Fripp in his new line-up of King Crimson in 1972, allowing Wetton to come to the fore as a lead singer and composer. Palmer-James also worked with the band as a lyricist. Wetton remained with the band until Fripp unexpectedly disbanded it in 1974. Wetton continued to work on various projects, often with Palmer-James or Crimson drummer, Bill Bruford. Wetton and Bruford formed UK, the band emerging out of a failed King Crimson reunion.Wetton released his first solo album, Caught in the Crossfire, in 1980 after the break-up of UK. He then started working with Steve Howe, who had recently been in Yes. They went on to form Asia.with whom he worked until the mid-1980s. Wetton left the band and re-joined on two occasions.The 1990s saw Wetton out of Asia and focusing on a solo career. In 1999, a failed Asia reunion resulted in Wetton forming the short-lived progressive rock group Qango with Carl Palmer, John Young, and Dave Kilminster. The group performed several shows in the UK and recorded one live album "Live in the Hood" before disbanding when Wetton and Palmer returned to their solo projects.In the early 2000s, he re-united with Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes for iCon. In 2006, an official reunion of the original Asia line-up (Wetton, Downes, Howe, and Palmer) finally occurred. The studio album titled Phoenix, the original band's first since 1983's Alpha, was released in April 2008 and peaked at No. 73 on the North American Top 200 albums charts.The original line-up released two more studio albums, Omega and XXX before Howe departed in January 2013. With new guitarist Sam Coulson, Asia released Gravitas in March 2014. Wetton and the band are currently touring in support of this new release.Wetton has done extensive work as a session musician with acts such as Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera.More recently, he has worked on several projects with Billy Sherwood and been part of a UK (band) reunion with Eddie Jobson.
Album:
For anyone who finds the music of Asia too progressive for their taste, be assured that this release from John Wetton and Geoff Downes always lands firmly on the AOR side of the rock fence.Icon Zero is a repackaged edition of the 2001 Wetton Downes album that was a collection of a bunch of demo tracks and outtakes recorded by the duo. Presumably the new title indicates a desire to position this as the precursor to their Icon project, although the material here dates from after Asia’s split in the 1980s, long before the first Icon album was even a twinkle in either party’s eye, eventually emerging in 2005. There’s certainly no mistaking the vintage of these songs as everything is smothered in synthesisers and electronic drums. Walking On Air and Running Out Of Time sound custom crafted to appeal to American rock radio, while I Would Die For You could have come from the soundtrack to an 80s movie, probably playing over a montage sequence. Only You is a rather bland ballad, while Soul is the worst offender on the cheesy synthesiser front – soul being the one thing that track definitely doesn’t possess. Don’t Say It Again manages to get the pulse moving a little, while Kari-Anne, which appeared on Asia’s Live In Moscow 1990 album, is the standout cut with a great riff from Thin Lizzy’s Scott Gorham and a very tasty guitar solo from Francis Dunnery.Included here is an earlier demo of that called Oh! Carolann, although what Carolann did to be replaced by Kari-Anne history does not record. We Stand As One features a lead vocal by Agnetha Fältskog from ABBA and is pure radio fodder, a lighters-in-the-air power ballad untouched by any hint of prog. Lost In America is, sadly, not a cover of the Alice Cooper song of the same name, but a rather vapid attempt at social commentary.Wetton and Downes wrote a lot of great songs together, but this rounding up of the partnership’s prototypes is for completists only.
Line Up:
John Wetton vocals, bass
John Mitchell guitar
Geoffrey Downes keyboards
Steve Christey drums
Hugh McDowell cello
Ian McDonald flute
Annie Haslam vocals on track 10
Remastered By – Mike Pietrini
Written-By – Geoff Downes, John Wetton
Tracklist:
01. Walking On Air
02. I Would Die For You
03. Only You
04. Running Out Of Time
05. Soul (Geoff Downes)
06. Just As Long (As I Need You)
07. Don't Say It Again
08. Kari-Ann (Sue Shifrin)
09. Lost In America
10. Please
11. Summer (Can’t Last Too Long)
12. We Move As One (Feat. Agnetha Fältskog)
13. Oh! Carolann (Bonus Track)
14. She Knows (Demo) (Bonus Track)
15. I Would Die For You (Alternate Version) (Bonus Track)
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