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Asia - Alpha (1983) [Audio Fidelity, Remastered 2017]

Posted By: Designol

Date: 27 Feb 2023 00:48:30

Asia - Alpha (1983) [Audio Fidelity, Remastered 2017]

Following the success of their highly regarded self-titled debut, the original supergroup made up of four members of different '70s progressive rock bands, including lead vocalist and bassist John Wetton of King Crimson, guitarist Steve Howe of Yes, keyboardist Geoff Downes of Yes and The Buggles, and drummer Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake & Palmer released Alpha. The album was certified platinum in the US and silver in Britain by the BPI and eventually sold over two million copies. Released in 1983, one year before the departure of guitarist Steve Howe, this would be the last album with the band's original line-up.

Alpha focused more on mainstream pop/rock sounds, and is less characterized by progressive rock elements than its predecessor. The album reached #6 on the Billboard album chart and Top Five in the UK Albums Chart. The lead single, "Don't Cry," was a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and returned the band to #1 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks charts. "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" and "The Heat Goes On" also received heavy airplay om pop and rock radio stations.

The cover artwork was created by Roger Dean, known for his work with Yes and Uriah Heep.

The eagerly awaited follow-up to the supergroup's debut, Alpha landed with a resounding thud a year later. The album still managed to be a platinum-selling Top Ten hit, as did the leadoff single "Don't Cry," but where Asia managed to make old sounds fresh, Alpha fails miserably. Nothing on Alpha packs the sheer sonic force of the band's debut. Instead, much of the record is lightweight both lyrically and musically, leaning heavier on keyboard-laden ballads like "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes," which managed to scrape into the Top 40, and "My Own Time (I'll Do What I Want)." The only real meat on the record comes during the last cut, "Open Your Eyes" (and only at the end of the song). Rumored creative differences, the album's lukewarm reception, and flagging ticket sales for the ensuing tour led to lead singer John Wetton leaving the band before the year was out. Alpha is sorely disappointing, especially coming on the heels of a promising debut.

Review by Tom Demalon, Allmusic.com

Asia at Allmusic
Asia Website
Asia at Wiki

Tracklist:

01. Don't Cry (3:38)
02. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (3:12)
03. Never in a Million Years (3:46)
04. My Own Time (I'll Do What I Want) (4:48)
05. The Heat Goes On (5:01)
06. Eye to Eye (3:14)
07. The Last to Know (4:40)
08. True Colors (3:51)
09. Midnight Sun (3:48)
10. Open Your Eyes (6:27)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016

EAC extraction logfile from 11. December 2017, 21:43

Asia / Alpha (2017 AF)

Used drive : PLEXTOR CD-R PREMIUM Adapter: 1 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 30
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : Yes
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -e -p -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "PERFORMER=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%–tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" %source% -o %dest%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:37.59 | 0 | 16333
2 | 3:37.59 | 3:12.19 | 16334 | 30752
3 | 6:50.03 | 3:45.61 | 30753 | 47688
4 | 10:35.64 | 4:48.35 | 47689 | 69323
5 | 15:24.24 | 5:00.64 | 69324 | 91887
6 | 20:25.13 | 3:14.06 | 91888 | 106443
7 | 23:39.19 | 4:39.74 | 106444 | 127442
8 | 28:19.18 | 3:51.31 | 127443 | 144798
9 | 32:10.49 | 3:47.61 | 144799 | 161884
10 | 35:58.35 | 6:26.68 | 161885 | 190902

Track 1

Filename C:\tmp\00_RIPS\01 - Don't Cry.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 99.5 %
Extraction speed 7.6 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 73EE8059
Copy CRC 73EE8059
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [7FA04B28] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 2

Filename C:\tmp\00_RIPS\02 - The Smile Has Left Your Eyes.wav

Peak level 90.9 %
Extraction speed 8.0 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC BECE1E6F
Copy CRC BECE1E6F
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [1A554D18] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 3

Filename C:\tmp\00_RIPS\03 - Never In A Million Years.wav

Peak level 84.1 %
Extraction speed 10.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 2550C8B5
Copy CRC 2550C8B5
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [3A6B040F] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename C:\tmp\00_RIPS\04 - My Own Time (I'll Do What I Want).wav

Peak level 90.0 %
Extraction speed 9.7 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 86C334B3
Copy CRC 86C334B3
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [2B47A351] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 5

Filename C:\tmp\00_RIPS\05 - The Heat Goes On.wav

Peak level 86.4 %
Extraction speed 11.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 226C4419
Copy CRC 226C4419
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [5B0C1EE7] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 6

Filename C:\tmp\00_RIPS\06 - Eye To Eye.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 12.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 2AC5D157
Copy CRC 2AC5D157
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [752F30F2] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 7

Filename C:\tmp\00_RIPS\07 - The Last To Know.wav

Peak level 96.5 %
Extraction speed 12.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C5FF24D8
Copy CRC C5FF24D8
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [6DFAB162] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 8

Filename C:\tmp\00_RIPS\08 - True Colors.wav

Peak level 88.6 %
Extraction speed 11.0 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 729CCE52
Copy CRC 729CCE52
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [E8277E2D] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 9

Filename C:\tmp\00_RIPS\09 - Midnight Sun.wav

Peak level 93.5 %
Extraction speed 13.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC DFC79BCE
Copy CRC DFC79BCE
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [B4AED7C1] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 10

Filename C:\tmp\00_RIPS\10 - Open Your Eyes.wav

Peak level 91.3 %
Extraction speed 15.3 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC EA8CB51D
Copy CRC EA8CB51D
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [E5D35BEF] (AR v2)
Copy OK

All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6

[CTDB TOCID: 0e1TIB38j8kSzC6zu0y2ytnBitw-] found
Submit result: 0e1TIB38j8kSzC6zu0y2ytnBitw- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (15/15) Accurately ripped
2 | (15/15) Accurately ripped
3 | (15/15) Accurately ripped
4 | (15/15) Accurately ripped
5 | (15/15) Accurately ripped
6 | (15/15) Accurately ripped
7 | (15/15) Accurately ripped
8 | (15/15) Accurately ripped
9 | (15/15) Accurately ripped
10 | (15/15) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 330864F96D6653141A59ECE763B7B8642477F60D94CFBC4929E02FB69BBB650C ====

DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2018-02-07 17:18:59

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Asia / Alpha
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR11 -0.04 dB -13.33 dB 3:38 01-Don't Cry
DR11 -0.82 dB -14.31 dB 3:12 02-The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
DR11 -1.49 dB -14.22 dB 3:46 03-Never in a Million Years
DR11 -0.91 dB -14.74 dB 4:48 04-My Own Time (I'll Do What I Want)
DR12 -1.27 dB -15.27 dB 5:01 05-The Heat Goes On
DR11 0.00 dB -13.36 dB 3:14 06-Eye to Eye
DR11 -0.31 dB -15.12 dB 4:40 07-The Last to Know
DR12 -1.05 dB -15.57 dB 3:51 08-True Colors
DR11 -0.58 dB -14.30 dB 3:48 09-Midnight Sun
DR11 -0.79 dB -15.80 dB 6:27 10-Open Your Eyes
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 10
Official DR value: DR11

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 832 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

All thanks to original releaser - mclarenspy

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