Multi-platinum selling English supergroup ASIA today release a live version of their 1982 global smash hit Heat of The Moment. The track is taken from their forthcoming 10CD boxset The Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1, to be released through BMG Records on 26th November 2021. Pre-order it and listen here:- https://asiaband.lnk.to/OLB1PR
ASIA: Geoff Downes (The Buggles, YES, keyboards), Steve Howe (YES, guitars), Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, drums) and John Wetton (King Crimson, UK, bass/vocals), took the world by storm with their eponymous debut album, globally the biggest-selling album of 1982, and the single Heat Of The Moment.
Heat of The Moment was the final song recorded for that first album because, as John Wetton noted, he and co-writer Geoff Downes were ‘very, very focused by the end of recording’ the album. The song was tailor-made for the new MTV video channel and peaked at No.4 in the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart on six occasions through the spring and summer of 1982. This helped the album to the No.1 spot for an incredible nine weeks.
The live single version of Heat of The Moment was recorded live at Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NY, USA on 3rd May 1982. This performance came just days into their debut US tour. They were already selling out 2,000 – 5,000 seat halls. Within weeks, on the strength of an unprecedented amount of radio play and heavy rotation of their videos on MTV, their box office draw exploded.
Geoff Downes, who co-wrote the track with the late John Wetton commented: “Just before we went into the studio to record the first ASIA album, we realised we were one track short. So John and I sat down one afternoon and came up with “Heat Of The Moment.” He had the chorus, I had the verse and we literally put the ideas together there and then. I’m glad we did, because it became the lead-off single from the album and really established the band in the mainstream pop/rock charts. It’s hard to say whether or not the album would have been as successful had we not had this track, but for sure it certainly created a lot of momentum for us at the time. I’m proud of it, as it shows the instant magic John and I could work together as songwriters, and it still remains relevant 40 years on.”
The Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1 celebrates the huge appeal of the concert tours that followed ASIA’s first two albums in 1982 and 1983. The success continued following ASIA’s 25th anniversary reunion in 2006 and three more highly acclaimed albums. The slipcase boxset features 5 x 2CD concerts from 1982 (Buffalo, NY, USA), 1983 (Worcester, MA, USA), 2007 (São Paulo, Brazil), 2008 (Tokyo, Japan) and 2010 (London, UK).
This the first time these recordings have been made officially available by ASIA and they are presented together in a superb collector’s edition boxset with original artwork by Roger Dean, who created all of ASIA’s album artwork.
Photo credit: BMG
