CD Description
Asia's 1996 release, ARENA, is, confusingly, a non-live studio album. The only original Asia member appearing here is keyboardist Geoff Downes, who is joined by drummer Michael Sturgis, main guitarist/singer/bassist John Payne, and a host of other guitarists including Elliot Randall, Tomoyasu Hotei, and Aziz Abraham.
ARENA boasts another fine set of songs in the pop/prog-rock mold, most notably the melodic airiness of "Heaven" and "Two Sides of the Moon", plus the fast-paced rocker "The Day Before the War". With ARENA, Asia showedthat prog-rock was still alive and well in the fickle rock world of the 1990's.