Asia’s debut album from 1982 featured a number of hits, but it was the lead off single that was most successful and became the band’s trademark song, as it would for John Wetton. The song became a Top single in at least a half a dozen countries, as well as #1 on Billboard’s mainstream rock charts. In a 2011 interview with http://www.rediscoverthe80s.com John Wetton explained the song – “The lyrics are an abject apology for my dreadful behavior towards a particular woman (the woman I would eventually marry, but divorce 10 years later), the chorus began its life as a 6/8 country song, but when Geoff and I started writing together, we moved the time signatures around, and “Heat of the Moment” emerged. No-one else particularly “got” the song, and it was the last song to be recorded for the album…”

Hearing this song always takes me back to when this first came out, and hearing it daily either playing pool at a neighbor’s house (with the radio on) or listening to it on my walkman while delivering papers. Years later I got to interview John Wetton, and he was happy to talk about Asia and that song. It would feature on every Asia collection, as well as every John Wetton live release.

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Today sees a ‘live’ release of the classic track, from the band’s upcoming release Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1, to be released through BMG Records on 26th November 2021.

Pre-order it here:- https://asiaband.lnk.to/OLB1PR

The live single version of “Heat of The Moment” was recorded live at Kleinhan’s 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 realized 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).

11/’21