Editing Asia (band) (section)

===1991–2006: Downes/Payne era===
[[File:MG 0077-jp-bass-600px.jpg|thumb|[[John Payne (singer)|John Payne]] (pictured in 2011) replaced John Wetton as Asia's frontman between 1991 and 2006, and now continues with the spin-off group, [[Asia featuring John Payne]].]]
After Wetton's departure, vocalist/bassist [[John Payne (singer)|John Payne]] joined the band and, together with Downes, enlisted new musicians and led Asia through to 2006. The first album with this lineup was ''[[Aqua (Asia album)|Aqua]]'', released in June 1992. In addition to Downes and Payne, the album featured Howe, Palmer, and guitarist [[Al Pitrelli]] (of [[Danger Danger]], [[Megadeth]] and [[Alice Cooper]]). Howe returned during the sessions having just left Yes again, but Palmer would leave soon, committing to an ELP reunion, and was able to play on just three songs. Drummers [[Simon Phillips (drummer)|Simon Phillips]] and [[Nigel Glockler]] then completed the sessions. Downes' environmentalist single "Who Will Stop the Rain?" (originally written for [[Max Bacon]] and the aborted ''Rain'' project, later appearing on Bacon's album ''From the Banks of the River Irwell'') attracted some radio attention. The ''Aqua'' club tour featured Howe (whose presence was heavily promoted), who took the stage after the fifth song. The tour was successful enough to warrant the band's continuation. The 1992–93 tour featured Downes, Howe, Payne, guitarist [[Vinny Burns]] and drummer Trevor Thornton. Before a European festival tour in late 1993, Howe and Burns left and were replaced by guitarist Keith More.

The group released ''[[Aria (Asia album)|Aria]]'' in May 1994, which featured lead guitarist [[Al Pitrelli]] once again, who would leave Asia during the short ''Aria'' tour. The ''Aria'' album did not fare well commercially and the ensuing tour was limited to four concerts. Ex-[[Simply Red]] guitarist [[Aziz Ibrahim]] took over during the tour. ''Aria'' also introduced new drummer Michael Sturgis, who had been involved during the band's aborted 1987 reunion and had appeared on some of the sessions for ''Aqua''. ''Aria'' was not released in the United States until May 1995.

Over New Year's Eve 1995/1996, a broken pipe inundated the control room in Downes' and Payne's recording studio, Electric Palace, in London. Amid the lost equipment, a vault containing unreleased material was found intact. The band decided to release the material on two discs, ''[[Archiva 1]]'' and ''[[Archiva 2]]''. The ''Archiva'' sets were collections of unreleased tracks recorded during the first three Downes/Payne albums.

Next, ''[[Arena (Asia album)|Arena]]'', released in February 1996, featured Downes, Payne, Sturgis, Ibrahim and guest guitarist [[Elliott Randall]] (ex-[[Steely Dan]], and [[Randy Crawford]]). The album was released on Resurgence Records but there was no tour because of lack of interest. The group's lone promotional performance in conjunction with the album occurred on 19 April 1996, when Downes and Payne appeared with guitarist Elliott Randall on the Virgin FM radio programme ''Alive in London'' to play the song "Never".

An all-acoustic album, ''Live Acoustic'', was recorded by the group at Stadthalle, [[Bruchsal]], Germany on 21 September 1997 (and released in December 1999) that featured a lineup of Downes, Payne, Ibrahim, and drummer [[Bob Richards (drummer)|Bob Richards]]. Also in 1997, a best of album ''[[Anthology (Asia album)|Anthology]]'', featuring songs from the past six albums was released. However, a lawsuit from Wetton meant that songs from the first three albums needed to be re-recorded.

In 1999, there was talk of a reunion of the original lineup minus Howe. The original proposition included [[Dave Kilminster]] on guitar, who had previously toured and recorded with Wetton. While Howe was interested in participating, he was unable to because of his busy schedule with Yes. This reunion did not take place and John Payne continued to carry on Asia with Downes uninterrupted. Wetton and Palmer did, however, get together to form [[Qango (band)|Qango]], which included Kilminster and John Young, although the band was short-lived. Kilminster went on to work with [[Keith Emerson]], [[The Nice]] and [[Roger Waters]].

Also in 1999, ''[[Rare (Asia album)|Rare]]'', Asia's seventh studio album, was released on [[Voiceprint Records|Resurgence]]. It was made up of instrumental music which Downes and Payne had composed for the soundtrack for [[David Attenborough]]'s documentary nature film ''Salmon: Against the Tides'' (tracks 1–16) and for an unreleased CD-ROM video game (tracks 17–22).<ref>{{cite book |last=Gallant |first=David |year=1999 |title=Asia, The Heat Goes On: A Complete and Authorised Biography |location=Bournemouth |publisher=Northdown Publishing |isbn=978-1900711111}}</ref>

In 2000 Geffen/Universal released a best-of entitled ''The Very Best of Asia: Heat of the Moment (1982–1990)'', which also included three rare B-sides from the early days.

[[File:Asia in 2001.png|thumb|left|280px|Asia in 2001; left-to-right: Downes, Payne, [[Chris Slade]] and [[Guthrie Govan]]]]
2001's ''[[Aura (Asia album)|Aura]]'' featured three different session guitarists, including [[Ian Crichton]] (of Canadian progressive rock band [[Saga (band)|Saga]]) who had briefly joined Asia in 1998–1999. ''Aura'' took a more [[progressive rock]] form, but still did not recapture the commercial success of the first album. Former members Howe, Thrall, Sturgis and Elliott Randall also made guest appearances. The single "Ready to Go Home" was barely distributed. Asia then signed with Recognition Records. 2001 did see the band with a stable lineup, achieved during the ''Aura'' sessions featuring Downes, Payne, guitarist [[Guthrie Govan]] and ex-[[Manfred Mann's Earth Band]]/[[The Firm (rock band)|The Firm]]/[[Uriah Heep (band)|Uriah Heep]]/[[Gary Numan]]/[[AC/DC]] drummer [[Chris Slade]] (who had first joined Asia in 1999, briefly).

In 2001 and 2002, Asia toured for the first time since 1994, including their first United States dates since 1993. A live album and DVD, both titled ''America: Live in the USA'', were released in 2003, recorded at the Classic Rock Productions Classic Rock Festival at The Patriots Theater at the [[Trenton War Memorial]] in [[Trenton, New Jersey]] on 5 October 2002, which they co-headlined with Uriah Heep.

In the summer of 2003, Downes and Payne undertook the "Asia Across America Tour", which received some media attention. Performing "unplugged", the duo would reportedly play anywhere in the United States that fans requested, provided there was a venue and the fans put up $3,000 to cover costs.

Marking a departure from convention, for the first time a studio release was not titled as a single word starting and ending with the letter A (excepting the partial compilation / partial new album ''[[Then & Now (Asia album)|Then & Now]]''). Released on Asia's newly signed label SPV/Inside Out Records, 2004's ''[[Silent Nation (album)|Silent Nation]]'' (the name being influenced by the [[Howard Stern]] vs. [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]] incident) picked up some unexpected exposure on the Internet.

In 2004 an acoustic Asia toured once again featuring only Downes and Payne. In 2005 the full band toured in Europe and the Americas playing settings ranging from small clubs to medium-sized theatres. In the United States attendance was poor at best.

In August 2005 Slade left Asia to be replaced by drummer [[Jay Schellen]]. The new band started work on an album, tentatively entitled ''Architect of Time'', which was originally planned for release early in 2006, though subsequent developments would cause this project to be shelved. Half of this material ended up being released on the album ''Window to the Soul'' in August 2006 under the new band name of [[GPS (band)|GPS]], which was an acronym for the three players involved: Govan, Payne and Schellen. After this, the three continued on as [[Asia Featuring John Payne]] in 2007.

Meanwhile, Wetton and Downes had released some archival Asia material under the name ''[[Wetton Downes|Wetton/Downes]]'' in September 2002 and they then reunited to record a full-length album (''[[Icon (Wetton and Downes album)|Icon]]'', released in August 2005) and an accompanying EP and DVD. Two additional Icon projects have since followed: ''Icon II: Rubicon'' (November 2006) and ''[[Icon 3]]'' (March 2009).