Asia – Asia

Used on Yes' Tormato and Asia's "Wildest Dreams", as stated in the September 1982 issue of Guitar Player and Roland Users Group Volume 2, Number 4 (1984).

The Gear Page, February 12, 2021, user John C, post #16 of "Steve Howe Question: What guitars did he use one the first Asia album?"

Okay - I went back and pulled out the old Guitar Player magazines - Steve did an extensive interview about the Asia debut album split across 2 issues - August 1982 (Steve Morse cover story) and September 1982 (Andy Summers cover story). And I was wrong about the ES Artist; it is the backing tracks on on songs except Heat Of The Moment; I thought it didn't come in until their live shows.

Here's the rundown - Side 1 is in the August issue:

• Heat Of The Moment: Power cords on intro/verse are a "late 50s LP Jr."(I think this is a sunburst one I've seen in photos of Steve's collection) tracked 8 times with 8 different amps; chorus and solo are the modded '55 Tele, various acoustic 12 strings, and a small koto
• Only Time Will Tell: ES Artist, ES-335 12-string, LP TV yellow Jr. (he specifically says TV yellow so I think this is a different one than the Heat Of The Moment LP Jr.), and the '55 Tele
• Sole Survivor: ES Artist, Fender Broadcaster, Gretsch Super Chet (!!!) for some doubling/backing tracks
• One Step Closer: ES Artist, a St. Louis Music guitar (described as a double-cutaway Les Paul - sounds similar to the guitar that Gary Richrath of REO had at that time as well), Rickenbacker 12-string (model not named), a 6-string Rickenbacker (also model not named), and a 6-string banjo
• Time Again: ES Artist, The Les Paul (I described it in another post - limited edition, very upscale LP with a figured top, wooden knobs, pickup rings, wooden binding, etc.); he talks a lot about his rig with fuzzes, ods, and volume pedals used on this track - more effects than guitars

Side 2 is in the September issue:

• Wildest Dreams: ES Artist, Electro-Harmonix Guitar Synth used on some of the doubled tracks (this was more of a synthy-sounding stomp box than a true guitar synth - Howe evidently doubled some of the parts with the E-H box turned on). No guitars actually mentioned; I'm listing the ES Artist because he said he used it on everything but Heat Of The Moment)
• Without You: ES Artist, Guild 12-string acoustic, The Les Paul
• Cutting It Fine: ES Artist, Martin 00-18; lots of effects talk since only the one electric
• Here Comes The Feeling: ES Artist, Roland GR-300 guitar synth with G808 controller (that's the neck-through model; the nicer of the two 24.75" controllers Roland had at that time), and a Gibson Byrdland

Roland Users Group (transcription available here)

"After that there was a gap of two years when if anyone said, `guitar synth,' I'd say, 'Go away!' Electro-harmonix produced a monophonic system which I used on Tormato. That was the one before Drama. It was, possibly, the most dreadful album Yes did. But, at the time, we were in Mickey Most's studio and Chris Spedding had a GR-500, Roland's first guitar synth. This was about 1979 and everyone's reaction was, 'Wow, what's it sound like?' But nobody really knew, at that time, what to do with it."