THEN & NOW (1990)

Writing about records these days can be a little bit like scribbling ad copy for a new ''Poltergeist'' sequel. In vast numbers, once-defunct bands have returned from the dead; there's a strong temptation to start reviews of them by braying ''They're b-a-a-a-a-ck!''

Asia is the latest to climb up from the netherworld. But this early-'80s group has opted to test the waters of life with just one tentative toe. Their comeback album offers only four new songs; the remaining six tracks date from Asia's heyday, and include all four of the band's Top 40 hits. Cynics will suggest that Asia never had enough hits for a conventional ''best-of-Asia'' album, and evidently doesn't have much to say now, either.

Maybe they're right. The old songs -- ''Heat of the Moment,'' for instance, or ''Don't Cry'' -- are empty symphonic rock, full of strings and predictable melodic hooks. The new songs aren't as lush, and -- propelled by new guitarist Pat Thrall -- hit the beat a little harder, but in essence they're just as bland. They ask profound questions like ''Am I in love, or is it the magic of tonight?'' (That's from a ballad bathed in secondhand sentiment called, not surprisingly, ''Am I in Love?'')

A more aerobic number, ''Days Like These,'' seems to glorify the kind of blind euphoria that in real life would almost certainly be followed by a depressing crash: ''Days like these,'' singer John Wetton cries, ''I feel like I could change the world.'' He and the band still write appealing melodies, but that's about as far as it goes. They're not about to change the world with their music.