Songoftheday 7/17/12 - You're leavin' now, it's in your eyes there's no disguisin' it...

Asia - "Only Time Will Tell"

from the album Asia (1982)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #17 (three weeks)

Weeks in the top-40: 8

Today's Song of the Day is by the British progressive-rock supergroup Asia, who barreled into 1982 with a #1 album and a top-10 hit under their belt. Formed by King Crimson bassist John Wetton (now on vocals as well), Emerson Lake & Palmer drummer Carl Palmer, and 2 members of Yes, guitar man Steve Howe and keyboardist Geoff Downes. That first album remains a classic in rock music, and "Heat Of The Moment" was just one of six songs (out of nine) to make the rock radio chart in Billboard magazine.

The followup pop single was "Only Time Will Tell", a break-up song that still had the British cool sheen to it. I even liked this more than "Heat"....

The song made it up to the top-10 on the rock radio chart, but surprisingly didn't even make the British top-40 (like its predecessor "Heat Of the Moment"). But they made up for it by Asia being Billboard's top album of 1982. And deservedly so. Today it still merits listening the whole way through, with it's prog-rock grandeur grafted onto pop sensibility and conservative time-lengths. The groups next effort, Alpha, would continue the trend, though by the middle of the decade Asia would go through a revolving door of members. Since 2006, the foursome has reunited, and have released three albums in the past decade, including the just-put-out XXX, which is a worthy successor to their 80s output.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


The Art of Noise cribbed a piece of the single for their 1988 track "Backbeat". See if you can pick it out at about the minute-mark and beyond...

New York rapper Styles P, formerly of the group the LOX, more generously took over the track on "G Joint" in 2006 (NFSW)

And that same year, Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa used the song on his independent CD long before he scored with "Black And Yellow" on "History In The Making"... (NSFW)

Up tomorrow: Piano player likes his azure contacts....