Remembering The Mo: The Progressive New Wave Band behind "Asia"

by aLfie vera mella
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The Dutch band The Mo is one of those groups that many music enthusiasts know only for that one great song--"Asia." Because I don't want to stay limited about my knowledge about this band, I researched about them and decided to look for copies of their albums and to buy them if available.

The song "Asia" has really become a favorite New Wave song of many music enthusiasts. But, who really was the group behind that song?

Formed in 1979, in Netherlands, by the brothers Clement and Huub de Lange, The Mo's activity was rather short-lived. After recruiting Heili Helder as singer and Harm Bieger as drummer, the four-piece The Mo released its self-titled, debut album in 1980, with singles "Nancy" and "Fred Astaire"--with the latter sounding to me now as Indie Pop in the league of The Cardigans. 

"Nancy" starts off with a dark-sounding drums-keyboard melody interplay and then continues with an upbeat tempo with elements of melodic progressiveness.

"Fred Astaire" is a funky, danceable song with the same progressive sensibilities.

The Mo initially disbanded in 1981, leaving drummer Bieger to pick up the pieces by recruiting new members to re-form the group. With him in the new version of The Mo were singer Linda Bloemhard, Ton van der Meer (synthesizer), Hans Nieuwint (synthesizer), Eddie Conard (percussion), and Willem Ennes (keyboards).

I could see how the music of The Mo could easily be described as Synthpop--they practically did not have a guitar nor a bass player. However, the arrangements of their songs, albeit synthesizer-oriented, have definitely elements of Progressive Rock / Progressive Pop music--sudden stops-starts, instrumental interplays, irregular drumbeats, and ear-catching time-signature changes.

"Cheese," from The Mo's second album, has that Bossa Nova feel, reminiscent of songs like "Lovefool" (1996) by the Swedish group The Cardigans. 

The revitalized The Mo was able to release two more albums--Ha! Ha! The Sound of Laughing (1982) and Stop Staring (1984). Unfortunately, the success of the single "Asia," culled from what became the group's final album, did not stop the band from ultimately dissolving, soon after the last album was released.

"Small Talk" is another song taken from The Mo's final album of 1984. The backing-vocal tracks were indicative of The Mo's Pop sensibilities.

The attractive introductory interlude of "Stop Staring," carried by the sound of the bellkit, makes it the song closest to the sonic style of "Asia." It also has a nice vocal-flute interplay in the mid-song instrumental interlude.

The introductory interlude of "ADSR"--which is on 7/8 time signature--for me further exhibits the Progressive Rock predilection of certain member/s of The Mo. The synthesizer melodies may remind a Progressive Rock enthusiast of the music of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. 

Now I could see why, after listening to the other songs of The Mo other than "Asia," I easily got drawn to their music--I would suppose that one or a few more members of the band were enthusiasts of '60s Progressive Rock, particularly of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. This one, "Take Me for What I Am," had a short instrumental interlude that reminded me of ELP's "Fanfare for the Common Man" and "Karn Evil 9."

The short version of the instrumental "Fanfare for the Common Man" (1977) by the English Progressive Rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer; the instrumental interlude of The Mo's "Take Me for What I Am" sounded to have been influenced by this.

Here's part 2 (or the "Second Impression") of the instrumental "Karn Evil 9" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer

The introductory interlude of the song "Distant Early Warning" (1984) by the Canadian Progressive Rock band Rush sounds similar also to that of The Mo's "Take Me for What I Am" (1980). However, this time, The Mo's song predated that of that Rush's single. Considering Rush's admittance of having taken New Wave influences from some of the New Wave artists/bands of the late '70s to the early '80s, Rush might have been the one to be influenced by The Mo.

In 1993, a compilation of 24 songs by The Mo, including "Asia" and their other singles, entitled 'Remembering Mo,' was released. This would be a great addition to my record collection. Now is the time to look for a copy of this.

A nice song to end this tribute with is "Horse Race," a slow ballad that still carried the synthesizer-oriented progressively melodic music of The Mo.

Final Note
After having listened just now to as many songs by The Mo available on YouTube, I could now see why I got drawn immediately to the rest of the Dutch band's music. While many music reviewers and listeners have long described the band as Synthpop, I personally was able to glean a wealth of Progressive Rock influences in their music. The song arrangements and the synthesizer melodies reminded me of Progressive Rock bands such as Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Yes in particular. And because New Wave and Progressive Rock have long become my two most-favorite music genres, I came to love The Mo's music for that. I now really need to have copies of their albums!