In the wild beating musical heart of Rotterdam we started writing our music and have performed on stages that are long gone and forgotten.

Growing up with our music, we changed our band name to Asrai in December 1987. Heading for the unreachable and not being put in a box, (like our music)…. This is our curse and our blessing....

Read the whole story in our booklet of Hourglass, with photos of the past and present .

It was such a pleasure to go through all our songs and photos, to make a selection for Hourglass. It's a shame that we had limited time and it wasn't an easy task to squeese  30 years into  74 minutes. We made an selection of our favourite songs, with several previously unreleased songs.

Enjoy!

With love Asrai...

Something you did - Sequel/Remix bij Hans Pieters, introducing Jacqui Taylor on Guitar.

1 PALE LIGHT - RADIO EDIT

The start of a new chapter in our musical lives. First time on the national radio, and our video clip was a regular on TV. ( The Box and MTV) This is the first song on the single PALE LIGHT

Released: 6 May 2004 by Transmission Records

2 (ALL SEEMS SO) HOLLOW- DEMO

We recorded HOLLOW at the EXCESS STUDIO with Hans Pieters in 2010. It’s the demo for BETWEEN DREAMS AND DESTINY.

Previously unreleased track

3 WHISPER - DEMO

15 years ago I was asked to join Asrai and they gave me the demo for the Touch in the Dark. I fell in love with Whisper straight away. I chose a line from this song to be in the booklet. Now 15 years later, it is still one of my favorite songs to play live. It’s an amazing thing to see how everyone - band & audience - lose themselves again and again to this song. Manon

Previously unreleased track

4 SHADOWS ACOUSTIC VERSION

The acoustic version of SHADOWS is one of our favorites. This beautiful and fragile song was released as the third song on the single PALE LIGHT, which was released 6 May 2004 by Transmission Records

Our fans from Japan could find this song as a bonus track on the album

TOUCH IN THE DARK.

5 RECALL

RECALL is one of the songs what caused goose bumps every time we played this live.

We recorded the CD: AS VOICES SPEAK at HET PAND and released it DIY in 1997. On the Dutch version of the album RECALL appears as the fourth song. When we were signed by Poison Ivy records in 1998 we went to the studio to remaster the songs. That was so awesome. POISON IVY RECORDS released our album in 1998. On the German issue RECALL was the first song.

6 IN FRONT OF ME – RADIO EDIT

IN FRONT OF ME was released 23 September 2004 by Transmission records, and was the first song of the single. With such a cute animated video made by Marcel de Jong.

7 SOMETHING YOU DID - SEQUEL/REMIX

When I found out that ASRAI were releasing a CD to celebrate their 30 years together I was very pleased to be able to play guitar for them on the remix " SOMETHING YOU DID " Our first recording together as a band and I am looking forward to writing many more tracks with Asrai. Congratulations girls I am proud to be a part of it. Jacqui

Previously unreleased track

8 SOUR GROUND – RADIO EDIT

Released by Season of Mist: 5 November 2007 the single Sour Ground. Catchy and a pleasure to play this song live.

9 PAIN

As first song on the Dutch version of the CD. We recorded the album at HET PAND and released it DIY in 1997. PAIN was the sixth song on AS VOICES SPEAK which was released in 1998 by Poison Ivy records.

10 ALICE

As second song on the tape: LOVE IS A LIE, Recorded at HET PAND and released it DIY in 1992.

11 EYES IN THE LIGHT OF FIRE

EYES IN THE LIGHT OF FIRE is the second song on the single IN FRONT OF ME. A beautiful song for the broken hearted. Recorded at THE GATE STUDIO by Sascha Peath and was Released in 2004.

12 ALL SEEMS SO HOLLOW – REMIX

When we first recorded All Seems So Hollow in 2010, it was a dark song with a post-punk austerity to it. Between Dreams and Destiny featured a version that was more catchy and rich in its production. Adding beats from more contemporary genres I wanted to remix it in between styles and create different options, still using a lot of the original demo tracks. I think it worked.   Hans Pieters

Previously unreleased track

13 CHILD PLAYING IN A RING OF ROSES- REMIX

The band is the red line in my life, with several songs that are dear to me, like ALICE, WHISPER, STAY WITH ME. Although CHILD has a special meaning to me, because my son Devon is on that song. I was so proud of him, my little boy, singing in the studio. In that time we were often on the road, hearing him in the background of CHILD he was close to me. Margriet

Third track on the Single In front of me Released 23th September 2004 by Transmission records 

Remix done by Sascha Peath

14 A PART OF YOU

A PART OF YOU, was also recorded at HET PAND and released it DIY in 1997 and released by Poison Ivy records in 1998

15 TOWER – DEMO

TOWER is the song that brought me the love of my life… Karin

Previously unreleased track

16 LIGHT – DEMO

We recorded the demo in 1994 in preparation for our very first CD, AS VOICES SPEAK.. It was an intense time, losing loved ones and to figure out how to go on, also musically when two of the members decides to go their own way. It was the end of an era and the first step to our CD AS VOICES SPEAK.

Released in 1994 for venues and record labels

17. STAY WITH ME

This is a song what means a lot to us all, not a special version, but just a special song.

Released by Season of Mist at 12 November in Europe and 20 November 2007 in USA