European Solo Albums
Asha's commercial promise was better understood in Europe, where she was signed to a record deal by CBS. Mostly unreleased in the US, Asha's series of inventive solo albums, in which she also delves into writing and producing, reflect the young singer's burgeoning interest in pop, rock, soul, funk and disco. Asha gravitated to glam, a scene populated by fashion-conscious provocateurs like Elton John and T. Rex. Her self-titled debut was produced by Del Newman, famous for his glitter rock treatment of Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and it featured languorous pop soul covers of tunes by JJ Cale, Bill Withers, and others. She also recruited Pierre LaRoche, David Bowie and Freddie Mercury's makeup artist, and glam photographer Mick Rock to shoot the cover. Notable tracks included an early disco anthem rendition of Neil Sedaka's rock song "I Am a Song" (1972).
The follow-up She Loves to Hear the Music continued in the vein of her debut; and her third solo album, The Devil is Loose, was hailed as an instant classic by the New York Times. Thom Jurek of AllMusic praises the psychedelic glam record as "a masterpiece of snakey, spaced-out soul and pre-mainstream disco". Asha's sensual, Eastern-influenced cooing over bass-driven grooves on original songs like "Flying Fish" and "Space Talk" provided the blueprint for spacey disco hits like "I Feel Love" and "Love to Love You Baby" by Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder, and they provided the sonic template for future disco, electronica and femme pop hits by Blondie, Ofra Haza, Kylie Minogue and others. Her disco album, L'Indiana, produced dance-floor hits like "I"m Gonna Dance". Recognized in critical circles as a fusion pioneer, Asha's distinctive, unusual recordings predate fusion of east and west celebrated today in styles like hip-hop, worldbeat, bhangra, and electronica by almost twenty years.
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