The original lineup of Asia—Carl Palmer, Steve Howe, John Wetton and Geoff Downes—is touring in what can only be called a battalion of musical genius.

      Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the band's creation and debut album, this supergroup comes full circle. They will perform Asia hits including "Heat Of The Moment," "Only Time Will Tell" and "Sole Survivor," as well as the members' solo endeavors with their bands of the 1970s: Yes, ELP, King Crimson, UK and the Buggles.

      I recently spoke with Carl Palmer, Asia drummer and founding member of the groundbreaking, legendary band Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

     InsideCx: What is it like being back on the road with Asia?

     CP: It's most enjoyable, I think mainly because the show we've actually put together is not only the first [Asia] album, but it consists of music from our past, which is very rewarding. Everyone's enjoying it, so it's great to be back doing this. We can use all the elements now with Asia, which we couldn't really use before. We do play Emerson, Lake and Palmer, we do play King Crimson, we can do this now and it's justifiably accepted. We feel good about doing it. Plus we play the whole first Asia album, which was Number One for nine weeks consecutively here. It's nice to be out there and hear all the music I've recorded in the past.

     InsideCx: How has the music industry changed over the years?

     CP: I think the media has completely changed. Radio is completely different in this country. If you want music, you can go straight to the Internet and download tunes or whatever you want. So the whole thing has changed rapidly.

     InsideCx: What is live performance like today as opposed to back then?

     CP: I think live performance is different now for most artists. I think people of our demographic like to be in a place where they can actually see the band instead of watching videos. So we have that to deal with. And then on the younger side, I'm sure there's still a reasonable amount of people interested in bands playing big stadiums, who can watch a show for a couple of hours. It just seems to have changed radically, though, because there's not as much of that happening as there used to be. I think for live performance and recording, the media has just changed. The media being sort of the governing body of it all. What gets played on the radio is very important, of course. Radio is still very strong, but it's not as varied as it used to be. So we haven't got that vehicle intact as much as we'd like anymore.

     InsideCx: It seems as if an artist has to already have a hit to even be played on mainstream radio these days.

     CP: That's it, really. It is like that, and that's very, very difficult. By the time it is a hit and people go out and play and do whatever they've got to do, they've not really perfected their craft. And their shows really aren't that good. They have to have the smoke screen and the dancers. So there's not the training ground there used to be. It's all very quick. Careers come and go in a flash, and that's the way it is.

     InsideCx: Do you feel image plays a big role?

     CP: Absolutely. Even CDs don't have the impact from an art point of view. CDs ar all very quick. Careers come and go in a flash, and that's the way it is.

     InsideCx: Do you feel image plays a big role?

     CP: Absolutely. Even CDs don't have the impact from an art point of view. CDs are small; you don't get the same kickback from it as if you were sitting looking at an album sleeve, which is fairly big and you can enjoy. We've now got videos. But where there's a plus there's a minus, and that's the way it goes.

     InsideCx: ELP were groundbreakers with their live show. You really set the bar high.

     CP: I think we crossed a lot of boundaries at the time. Obviously we were trying to sort of play music that was new. We tried to involve technology as much as possible. We crossed all of that over with eventually going out with an orchestra and expressing the music that way. I think we were always trying. I think the art, the musicality that we produced, the standard remained high.

     InsideCx: And today?

     CP: We still have three tracks in the FM rock radio, however you want to call it, the Top 500, we still have three tracks there that are played on a regular basis. So that's quite good. The music is still played and still heard, so it's really good.