Search - John Wetton :: Chasing the Dragon

A live album that is just OK

R. Josef | New Haven, CT United States | 01/12/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"John Wetton, former lead vocalist/bassist with the bands King Crimson, UK and Asia, performs live with his own band in Japan. Positives: he picks good selections from across his history, from the three above-mentioned groups as well as songs from his solo albums. And his vocal power seems to be, unlike many of his peers, be fully intact.



However, for the most part, he and his group don't do anything interesting with the songs. Wetton is a good musician, but he is better when he interacts with musicians of equal or greater caliber, such as Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford, Carl Palmer, even Geoff Downes -- in other words, his former band mates. His group here, while solid musicians, don't do anything special. This gives the performances a generic, ordinary pop/rock sound, even the King Crimson songs. And some of his later solo tracks, like "Battle Lines" and "Hold Me Now", sound like overwrought power ballads, his worst tendency. The most unusual selections are the opening and closing Asia hits "Heat of the Moment" and "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes", which Wetton rearranges for acoustic guitar. "Heat.." is even turned into a ballad, adding a new emotional resonance to the song.



If you're a Wetton fan, you might enjoy it for his voice. But the performances are decent, but not remarkable, so others might want to seek out the tracks in their original versions instead."

Easy-to-satisfy crowd

11/28/1999

(2 out of 5 stars)

"As a former Asia fan (until John Wetton left the group), I bought »Chasing The Dragon« not only to listen to the well-known Asia hits live but also to get to know some of John Wetton's pre-Asia band stuff and post-Asia solo stuff. This album is a good way of doing so.Only... it seems there is not much to his other stuff. Asia can't do without Wetton, and Wetton doesn't seem to do without Asia. The Asia songs on this album miss the power and the rock soul of the original versions.So unless you like quiet live pop - Wetton IS a good singer - buy one of the first three Asia albums instead."