Asia Album: “Arena”

I know I'm in the minority here, but I tend to enjoy the later Asia albums with John Payne on vocals a lot more than the best-selling original Asia material. Who cares that keyboardist/songwriter Geoff Downes was the only original member left in the 90s when the music Asia released was so amazing?

1996's Arena was the band's sixth studio album. At this point it was just Downes, vocalist/bassist John Payne, and a cast of session players, but they still managed to put together another gorgeous melodic rock album. With Arena, the band continued their shift away from radio-friendly pop tunes to achingly beautiful AOR songs. There's still a rock element, but for the most part, moving emotional songs like "Heaven", "Two Sides of the Moon" and the title track are the order of the day. The band also stretches their progressive muscles a bit on lengthier numbers like "The Day Before the War" and "U Bring Me Down". Payne's soulful vocals continue to define this stage of Asia's career, and are a great counterpoint to Downes's keyboards.

If your interest in Asia goes beyond just the band's radio hits of the early 80's, you'd do well to look into the band's 1990's output.

is probably the best place to start, but Arena should please as well. For better or worse the original Asia lineup has since reunited, so we won't be seeing any more albums like Arena.

NOTE: Snapper reissued Arena in 2004 as part of their Snapper Classics line. The reissue features digitally remastered sound, digipack packaging, and the bonus track "That Season", which also appears on

.

NOTE 2: Arena was reissued again in 2005 by InsideOut. This reissue also features remastered sound, but comes in a jewel case with expanded liner notes and an embossed slipcase. Packaging aside, you get the same tracks as the Snapper reissue plus a live acoustic version of "Two Sides of the Moon". This is obviously the best version of Arena to get. I wish I had known it was on the way when I bought the Snapper reissue in 2004. Oh well.

Due to the fact that this is my favorite "Asia" album, this recording has several things going for it! A great deal of musical variety, an absolutely impeccable performance, an amazing return to the sound of the "art rock" genre, and songs whose lyrical themes combine well with their musical themes. This recording impressed the heck out of me, the very first time that I listened to it! John Payne, Geoff Downes, Aziz Ibrahim, Michael Sturgis, Elliot Randall, Luis Jardim and Tomoyasu Hotei have created an absolute masterpiece!

I love this album! This album, Aria, and Aqua are Asia's best albums EVER! If you get this, be warned; U NEED THE REISSUE! So John Payne and Geoff Downes came in 1996 with the idea of "what would Asia sound like in the 70's?" and this album isn't too far from that! I really like this album more than I thought I would. It grew on me IMMENSELY!

Music:

This album has a Latin and international influence. Very nice sound I think.

1. Into the Arena- A nice little Santana-like instrumental. very nice.

2. Arena- A very jazzy song and it also is very amazing. Great song.

3. Heaven- Very pretty song. I love the chorus: "There is a time where; There is No place here; Tell me if you get there; Heaven..." Very good song!

4. Two Sides of the Moon- A very nice song. I like the Asian influence in the instruments.

5. The Day Before the War- This is the longest Asia song ever, but also one of their best. Very progressive, very meaningful, and extremely beautiful in places.

6. Never- A nice mellow song. Very nice intro.

7. Falling- A good song. I like it and it's very catchy.

8. Words- Just like Heaven, a very pretty, mellow song that deserves to be respected. I love the melody of this one.

9. U Bring Me Down- The only song I DON'T like! It's just ok. It doesn't do anything for me...

10. Tell Me Why- Perhaps my favorite song on the album along with Heaven and Words. A very beautiful ballad with the most amazing guitar intro.

11. Turn it Around- Another song in the style of Never and not as good as it but still great.

12. Bella Nova- A nice little instrumental to close the normal edition of the album.

Bonus Tracks:

13. That Season- Why oh why did they not put this on the original release?! Beautiful song, lyrics, everything! I like this one a lot!

14. Two Sides of the Moon [Acoustic]

Verdict: Buy it if you like Santana, any incarnation of Asia, Yes, Dream Theater, or Prog music. Very good album but due to Grunge being the main focus in the 90's, a silently released album.

Arena is quite a musical journey. It's obvious that the guys have put a lot of work into its making. I consider it to be Asia's most progressive and experimental release. I admit that I didn't pay this album much attention when I first got it. It's an album that tends to grow on you, though. It's quite different from Aria and is in a progressive pop rock direction. Arena contains cohesive and listenable songs that flow well. All of the tunes are good. Geoff Downes really does an impressive job with the keyboards. My favorite aspect of the album is his keyboard playing. It's skilled, atmospheric, and interesting. John Payne does well with the vocals, too. The guitar work is also cool. The album's musicianship, songwriting, and production are solid. Some of the tracks that I like are "Into the Arena," "Turn It Around," and "Bella Nova." "Into the Arena" is an instrumental that starts the album off. It moves nicely, and the guitar and keyboard work are good. "Bella Nova" is an enjoyable keyboard instrumental from Geoff Downes. "Two Sides of the Moon" sports some interesting musical elements, and "The Day Before the War" is progressive and adventurous. "The Day Before the War" is over nine minutes in length. The album cover is impressive. Arena is a good album from Asia. Worth a listen.

This is probably the only Asia album I haven't listened to that often. It's not bad, just not real interesting. They decided to go in a more progressive direction on this album compared to "Aria." The percussion is interesting on "Into the Arena." Overall a great instrumental. "Turn it Around" is probably my favorite song. Great intro on that. "Bella Nova" is another great instrumental from Geoff Downes. He's the main reason I like Asia. He's the best. Different from the other albums, but still worth a listen.