I've been re-listening to
Fly From Here, I guess as some kind of prep for the new album, and it occurred to me that with Steve Howe and Geoff Downes in both Yes and Asia (at the time), there would obviously be some similarity and overlap.
Fly From Here wasn't very prog by Yes standards, but if Asia had made it, it would've been the most prog thing they'd ever done.
I'm not simply saying "prog = good, 4/4 = bad" but the expectations of the two bands, and their respective audiences, are different. With Yes, I expect a certain degree of "outside the box". It doesn't have to be all 20-minute epics and screaming Moog solos, but if it's all just "regular" songs, even really good songs, then that's still a disappointment. On the other hand, if Asia has an eight- or 10-minute song with a couple of changes it in, that's more than I'd expect from them.
This is all hypothetical, by the way.
Fly From Here is not just regular songs, and I don't think they're all really good. And Asia has actually gotten a bit more adventurous from time to time.
I don't remember what my point was anymore.
I think it was that when Steve and Geoff get together, they fall into a power-pop (Asia) mode and not progressive (Yes) mode, or actually end up somewhere in between, when I wish they polarize things more. I'd be okay with Asia keeping things straight and narrow of it meant that Yes got more crazy.