I drifted away from most things 'prog' in my late teens but those first couple of Asia albums have always been a kind of comfort food for me (I won't say guilty pleasure, they deserve better than that). And, yeah, Midnight Sun is one of their best.Numanoid wrote:One of my fav ASIA tunes: ...
RIP John Wetton
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 8130 posts since 13 Jan, 2003 from Darkest Kent, UK
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- KVRAF
- 7540 posts since 7 Aug, 2003 from San Francisco Bay Area
This isn't specifically a post about John's passing, but it seems as fitting a place as any to tell a rambling story about the influence which Asia had on my interest in synthesizers.
By junior high school, aka "middle school", grades 6, 7, and 8, I was already getting interested in synths. I was particularly inspired by the keyboard players in music videos- people like Nick Rhodes, Howard Jones, and Thomas Dolby, surrounded by enormous banks of keyboards. It always seemed out of reach though, just something you would see on TV.
I had been playing piano for years already by that point, and I was also playing clarinet in our school band. One of the chores of the school band was to play "Pomp and Circumstance" during graduation while the graduating class marched to their seats and back again at the ending. That meant that I had to sit through all the rehearsals for graduation each year, even when I was in 6th and 7th grade.
As another part of the ceremony, the graduating class would choose a pop song to sing... can you imagine anything more horrific? The first year, it was The Cars "Let the good times roll", and my class sang "The Song is Over" by The Who. The middle year, they chose to sing "Only Time Will Tell" by, you guessed it, Asia. There were some aspiring rock musicians in the class, so they put together an impromptu band to play the music while the class sang along. (Shudder)
And here's the thing: this boy I knew, Brandon, played the synth part on that song. He had a Roland of some kind. I never did figure out what it was, but it must have been a Juno-106 or Jupiter 6, would be my guess. I had never actually seen a synthesizer in real life before! The school band was positioned at the back of the amphitheater, and the "rock band" was down at the front. For several days I stared longingly at that instrument from afar. It had never occurred to me that mere mortals, even someone I knew, could actually own a synthesizer! It was then and there that I became determined to get one of my own. And I did, a couple of years later, when I got my (awful) Korg DW-6000.
As a postscript, I eventually asked Brandon about his synth, and he told me that it wasn't his. They had just rented it for the ceremony. He had no idea what model it was or anything much about it. He just pulled up the required preset and played the keys.
So now I would just like to thank John, and the other members of Asia, for setting my on this course for my lifelong addiction.
Rest in peace.
By junior high school, aka "middle school", grades 6, 7, and 8, I was already getting interested in synths. I was particularly inspired by the keyboard players in music videos- people like Nick Rhodes, Howard Jones, and Thomas Dolby, surrounded by enormous banks of keyboards. It always seemed out of reach though, just something you would see on TV.
I had been playing piano for years already by that point, and I was also playing clarinet in our school band. One of the chores of the school band was to play "Pomp and Circumstance" during graduation while the graduating class marched to their seats and back again at the ending. That meant that I had to sit through all the rehearsals for graduation each year, even when I was in 6th and 7th grade.
As another part of the ceremony, the graduating class would choose a pop song to sing... can you imagine anything more horrific? The first year, it was The Cars "Let the good times roll", and my class sang "The Song is Over" by The Who. The middle year, they chose to sing "Only Time Will Tell" by, you guessed it, Asia. There were some aspiring rock musicians in the class, so they put together an impromptu band to play the music while the class sang along. (Shudder)
And here's the thing: this boy I knew, Brandon, played the synth part on that song. He had a Roland of some kind. I never did figure out what it was, but it must have been a Juno-106 or Jupiter 6, would be my guess. I had never actually seen a synthesizer in real life before! The school band was positioned at the back of the amphitheater, and the "rock band" was down at the front. For several days I stared longingly at that instrument from afar. It had never occurred to me that mere mortals, even someone I knew, could actually own a synthesizer! It was then and there that I became determined to get one of my own. And I did, a couple of years later, when I got my (awful) Korg DW-6000.
As a postscript, I eventually asked Brandon about his synth, and he told me that it wasn't his. They had just rented it for the ceremony. He had no idea what model it was or anything much about it. He just pulled up the required preset and played the keys.
So now I would just like to thank John, and the other members of Asia, for setting my on this course for my lifelong addiction.
Rest in peace.
Incomplete list of my gear: 1/8" audio input jack.
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- KVRAF
- 25849 posts since 20 Jan, 2008 from a star near where you are
Wetton was known to be fond of a drink, or two, or threeincubus wrote:And yet others less important can drinkAloysius wrote:Wetton passed away Tuesday following a lengthy battle with cancer.
He also had heart surgery in 2007, which according to himself was quite major:
"The heart surgery made the divorce seem like a day at the beach. It was brutal."
Last edited by Numanoid on Wed Feb 01, 2017 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRAF
- 7274 posts since 4 Apr, 2005 from here and there
Sad newsI enjoyed many albums he played on
RIP John
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- KVRAF
- 25849 posts since 20 Jan, 2008 from a star near where you are
The Howe guitar solo is amazing!GaryG wrote:And, yeah, Midnight Sun is one of their best.