Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Arena
Label: Verglas Records
Release: 2006
Rating: 3.5/5
In ten years, Arena have grown into one of the leading forces of neo-progressive rock. Even though they’ll probably never reach the popularity of similar bands from the ’80s like Marillion, IQ or Pendragon, they have an incredibly loyal fan base that shares the well-founded belief that Arena gave neo-prog a fresh jolt in the ’90s and took it into plenty of territory nobody had explored before. After an unusual birth as the posthumous child of Shadowland, a side project of the excellent keyboardist Clive Nolan (also known as Pendragon’s longtime keyboard man), who joined forces in 1995 with Marillion’s original drummer Mick Pointer, Arena started out heavily influenced by early Marillion. That’s when they put out the very solid debut “Songs From The Lions Cage” (1995), which already signaled that a new star of neo-progressive rock had been born. After the arrival of the superb vocalist Paul Wrightson and the release of “Pride” (1996), things shot upward, constant lineup changes notwithstanding. In those years Arena started cranking out masterpieces in a row, like “The Visitor” (1997), considered their magnum opus, “Immortal?” (2000), “Contagion” (2003) and “Pepper’s Ghost” (2005). The current lineup came together around 1999, and the band has been stable for a good while now. The decisive factors in the group’s current sound were above all the arrival of guitarist John Mitchell (also a member of bands like It Bites, Kino, The Urbane, Blind Ego, Frost*), one of today’s most innovative and subtle yet also gritty guitarists, and of singer Rob Sowden, whose extremely emotional and unique voice opened up new dimensions for the band’s further sonic experiments. Between them, they wiped out the last similarities to the legacy of Marillion’s Fish era. Arena had always taken a somewhat heavier approach to neo-prog, but after those two showed up it became even more obvious, and in places they edge close to progressive metal. So I’d say they often stand right on the border between the two genres, acting as a kind of bridge for fans of both. That’s exactly their most recognizable trait, the thing that sets them apart from other neo-prog bands.
This compilation, the band’s very first official best-of, set itself an extremely tough task: presenting ten years of a band that hasn’t made a single bad record up to this point, and whose albums are often seen as indivisible wholes. All ten tracks here don’t follow each other in chronological order, which isn’t the best move. They’re all great pieces, the kind I can imagine turning up on the band’s setlist at any time, but they’ll leave a newcomer with plenty of open questions, since he won’t pick up on the band’s gradual evolution this way. So no big surprises here, and every album is represented by at least one track. You get Arena classics like “Smoke And Mirrors” and “Bedlam Fayre” (Pepper’s Ghost, 2005), “Skin Game” and “Salamander” (Contagion, 2003), The Hanging Tree” and “Crack In The Ice” (The Visitor, 1997), “The Butterfly Man” and the live version of “Chosen” (Immortal, 2000), a new version of “Empire Of A Thousand Days” (Pride, 1996) and the indispensable “Solomon” (Songs From The Lions Cage, 1995). But at the same time, a heap of great tracks is missing, such as “Jericho”, “Midas Vision”, “Welcome To the Cage”, “Medusa”, “Sirens”, “Enemy Without”, “Running From Damascus”, “Ghost In The Firewall”, “Witch Hunt”, “Riding The Tide”, “Cutting The Cards”, “Purgatory Road”, etc. In short, there’s a whole pile of excellent stuff that got left off for lack of space.
“Ten Years On 1995 – 2005” is definitely not the ideal selection of the band’s best work, since it fails to capture all their better songs (that would probably have taken at least two CDs), and the chronological sloppiness bugs me too. Still, it’s an interesting enough pick for collectors and newcomers alike, because it holds two gems that were tacked on purely so the label could lure in even those who already own everything the band has put out so far. Those are, of course, the excellent new version of “Empire Of A Thousand Days” with Sowden’s vocals, Mitchell’s guitar and Salmon’s bass and the good live version of “Chosen”. For many fans, those two will remain the main reason to buy this compilation. On the other hand, I’m of the opinion that any best-of does a disservice to a band like Arena, since they’re best discovered through their studio albums, which work as self-contained wholes. So apart from the die-hard fans who simply have to own every release Arena ever put out, newcomers especially should think twice about whether they’d be better off starting with one of the masterpieces, like “The Visitor” or “Contagion”, which do a far better job of showing the band’s true mission and potential.
Lineup
Rob Sowden- vocals
John Mitchell – guitar
Ian Salmon- bass guitar
Clive Nolan – keyboards
Mick Pointer – drums
Paul Wrightson – vocals
John Jowitt – bass guitar
John Carson – vocals
Keith More – guitar
Cliff Orsi – bass guitar
Track List
1. Smoke And Mirrors (4:42)
2. Skin Game (4:43)
3. The Hanging Tree (7:09)
4. The Butterfly Man (8:55)
5. Chosen (Live) (7:23)
6. Empire Of A Thousand Days (New Recording) (8:42)
7. Crack In The Ice (5:10)
8. Salamander (3:54)
9. Bedlam Fayre (5:44)
10. Solomon (14:38)
Running time: 71:00
