New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Multi-platinum selling English supergroup ASIA released its most ambitious collection to date: a 10-CD boxset The Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1. Issued through BMG Records on December 3rd., the expansive set chronicles five complete performances of the original line-up captured between 1982 and 2010. There is also be a digital album featuring a selection of 24 tracks from the full boxset.
Issued just prior to the band's 40th Anniversary in 2022, the The Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1 box set is helping to kick off a period of celebration for ASIA fans worldwide.
"ASIA has always been a powerful live entity, and these recordings prove that," says drummer Carl Palmer. "Rather than hear these shows with inferior pirate recordings, fans now have them with quality audio. This is the full spectrum of our live history as a band."
ASIA: Geoff Downes (Buggles, YES, keyboards), Steve Howe (YES, guitars), Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, drums) and John Wetton (King Crimson, bass/vocals), took the world by storm with their eponymous debut album and the single Heat Of The Moment. They were the largest selling group album of 1982, sitting at the #1 position for nine weeks.
The Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1 celebrates the huge appeal of the concert tours that followed ASIA's first two albums. The success continued following ASIA's 25th anniversary reunion in 2006 and four more highly acclaimed albums. The slipcase boxset features five 2CD concerts from 1982 (Buffalo, NY), '83 (Worcester, MA), 2007 (São Paulo, Brazil), 2008 (Tokyo, Japan) and 2010 (London, UK).
"This historical collection represents some of our finest and most defining live moments," says Geoff Downes. This the first time these recordings have been made officially available; presented together in a superb collector's edition boxset with original artwork by
Roger Dean.
The four original members split in 1983 but reconvened in 2006 for a world tour, to celebrate the 25th anniversary. Between 2007 and 2012 they recorded 4 albums. Steve Howe stepped back from ASIA to concentrate on his work with YES and was absent for 2014's Gravitas. Soon after, John Wetton was on treatment for cancer, a fight he sadly lost in 2017.
