Songoftheday 4/26/13 - I saw you standing hand in hand, but now you come to me the solitary man...

Asia - "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes"
from the album Alpha (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #34 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 5

Today's Song of the Day is by the progressive-rock supergroup Asia, who started out the fall of 1983 with a sophomore record and another top-10 single with "Don't Cry". For its followup, the band released a powerballad highlighted by John Wetton's soaring vocals on "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes", the one song completely written by the singer.

"The Smile...." became the band's fourth and final top-40 hit in America, while also reaching #25 on the rock radio chart as well. After a third album netted another top-10 rock single that almost made the pop top-40 ("Go"), the men took a break for a couple of years. In 1989, Wetton reformed the group without guitarist Steve Howe, and keyboardist Geoff Downes unavailable due to prior commitments, so just John and drummer Carl Palmer and studio musicians completed a few new tracks for a compilation release Then & Now, with a single "Days Like This" that went to #2 on the rock chart and became their last appearance on the Hot 100 altogether.

But then Wetton again left Asia, and they hired journeyman John Payne to take his place. For the next decade and a half, the band was a revolving door of players, with just a returned Downes the single steady member. Albums were issued sporadically, and quite popular over in Asia (no pun).  In 2006, the original members (Wetton, Downes, Palmer, and Howe) got back together and started to tour and record again, issuing a couple albums that are quite good, matching the quality of their earlier work. If you like the original sound, I suggest picking up either Phoenix, Omega or XXX.

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Here's the band in 1983 touring with the song...

...and again in 2010...

Up tomorrow: Dr. Drake with a couple of beings.