DigiMode

Coal Minder's Daughter
$8.99
Song List:

1. Hey Loretta!
2. Coal Miner's Daughter
3. Let Your Love Flow
4. You're Looking At Country
5. Me And Bobby McGee
6. Medley: One's On The Way, The Pill
7. Out Of My Head And Back In My Bed
8. Somebody Somewhere
9. Medley: I Fall To Pieces, Walking After Midnight, Crazy, Back in Baby's Arms, She's Got You
10. They Don't Make 'Em Like My Daddy Anymore
11. You Ain't Woman Enough
12. We've Come A Long Way Baby
13. Your Squaw Is On The War Path
14. Spring Fever
15. Fist City
16. Ya'll Come

I Ran
$0.86
Track List: 1. Modern Love is Automatic, 2. Messages (From the Rings of Saturn), 3. Standing in the Doorway, 4. Pick Me Up, 5. Comitted, 6. Space Age Love Song, 7. D.N.A., 8. Man Made, 9. You Can Run, 10. Telecommunication, 11. I Ran, 12. It's Not Me Talking.

Live at Budokan
$13.98
Asia In Asia, as it is usually referred to, was the only professionally-released live document of Asia's early days for a very long time. Over twenty years, in fact. The fact that John Wetton had decided to (temporarily) leave just months before the show is highly unfortunate, as this could have really blown the doors open for the band much more than they had in '83. Alpha's sales of a mere 2 million (Ha...) were seen as a failure, and with the rise of make-up heavy Euro-pop groups, Asia was living in hard times.

There's better recordings of the "Asia In Asia" mini-tour of Japan in '83, and they sound way better than this. Not only is the audio on this straight from the video, but whenever Howe or Lake would mention Westwood One or MTV, they'd edit it out of their between-song dialogue, rather abruptly too. However, musically-speaking, everything sounds fine.

Geoff Downes/Yes fans will enjoy his Oriental-style Fairlight keyboard solo (never heard this piece again on later recordings, solo or otherwise), as well as an early version of Steve Howe's "Sketches in the Sun", which later popped up in studio form on GTR's self-titled disc. Carl Palmer sounds good, although his solo was the same one he'd been doing since 1973. And still is. Greg Lake was no John Wetton. That much was clear. Lake's timbre doesn't exactly fit some of the songs, but on a few, namely "Here Comes The Feeling", he really brings a genuine passion and wistfulness to the words he's singing. Oddly enough, this marked lineup change is probably what confused fans tuning in, and when it was a different singer, they likely bailed and reached for their Duran Duran albums.

Sadly, to get the full effect of this concert, you still need to seek out bootlegs. Not only that, but they had additional songs in "Cutting It Fine/Bolero", "Time Again", and "Daylight". Some bootlegs also have "Don't Cry". The original TV broadcast began with "Time Again", but I have no idea why it was cut from the video, as the band plays with a lot of passion and sounds awesome playing it.

Packaging for Live At Budokan is okay. The quirky dragon cover is kinda cool, and there's some brief liner notes about the show. Nothing to write home about.

All in all, this is a case of mixed results. I'd recommend that only dedicated Asia fans purchase it (better yet, seek out a bootleg called Your Eyes Will Tell...); curious Yes/Crimson/ELP fans are better off staying away from this slight misstep.

Somebody to Love [Live]
$2.30
Song List:

1. White Rabbit
2. Somebody To Love
3. Plastic Fantastic Lover
4. She Has Funny Cars
5. It's No Secret
6. My Best Friend
7. Don't Slip Away
8. Other Side Of This Life
9. High Flyin' Bird
10. 3/5 Of A Mile In Ten Seconds
11. You're So Loose
12. What You're Askin'
13. Would You Love Me
14. Ride
15. This Is My Life
16. What Do You Want With Me
17. Get Together
18. Today