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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent start to the year from Arena,
By
This review is from: Pepper's Ghost (Audio CD)
It's only just 2005 and already a major new prog album hits the stores. This latest by Arena follows up 2003's ambitious and highly regarded "Contagion" album. For some reason I was not completely convinced by it. There was no denying it had some killer tracks, but I found the format of lots of shorter tracks hard to digest and the album didn't seem to flow easily. Unlike "Immortal?", where the expansiveness of lengthier tracks allowed the band to stretch out and made for a much more exciting and satisfying album. Like that album, there are seven tracks which make up "Pepper's Ghost" and I have to say for me this is the best Arena album yet. The album is subtitled "7 stories of Mystery and Imagination" on the front sleeve and therein lies the concept behind the album, drawn out in cartoon strip within the CD booklet. The members of the band are portrayed as Victorian superheroes which inhabit each story. The songs themselves are quite excellent, tightly structured, highly melodic and full of power, but showcasing subtly detailed arrangements. The band has never sounded so confident and impress as a complete, integrated performing unit. Arena are now reaping the benefits of working with a settled line-up at last. Musically, this is Arena's most powerful album. The guitars of John Mitchell are much to the fore on this, with Clive Nolan's keyboards adding the necessary symphonic colourings, especially on the closing 13 minute "Opera Fanatica". Here, swirling synths evoke a mad, carnivalesque atmosphere, just the right mood needed for this epic piece. I like Rob Sowden's voice, which always reminds me of Peter Hammill and is quite refreshing. Not the usual vocal histrionics normally associated with heavy rock music. It has a deep, theatrical edge to it which is quite distinctive and especially suits the material here. It would have been so easy to make everything sound overwrought, but Rob just adds that right amount of drama to the proceedings without making it all sound too over the top. It's difficult to pick highlights as the quality of the songwriting and performances are consistently high throughout. The closer "Opera Fanatica" stands out because of it's length and the use of the operatic opening leading to a heavy rock assault is quite effective. My particular favourite is "Purgatory Road" which has an excellent chorus and superbly rousing finale and the opening "Bedlam Fayre". "The Eyes of Lara Moon" may owe a small debt to the film "Eyes of Laura Mars" and contains a gorgeous Hackettesque guitar solo from Mitchell . The cartoon strip format of the cover and booklet is entertaining. The artwork for this is attributed to Tim Bisley. A nom de plume I suspect as the name was a character from the Channel 4 series "Spaced" who was also a cartoonist. In any event, the artwork is exquisite and good fun, though the limited size of the CD booklet format somewhat limits the overall effectiveness of the cartoon strip. Though Arena are often tagged as a neo-prog outfit, whatever that means nowadays, on this evidence they are out on their own, producing a distinctive heavy symphonic rock. This is an excellent way to start the year and has already garnered high praise from many quarters. Even though this is only January, this should be on many peoples end of year best of lists.
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Arena get better with age!!,
By
This review is from: Pepper's Ghost (Audio CD)
I only discovered Arena during 2004 and based on the quality of their last three albums I quickly became totally hooked. I was looking forward to "Pepper's Ghost" with mixed feelings, hoping to hear some more quality prog-rock but worried that they could not improve on Immortal? and Contagion. I need not have worried on that score, this album blew me away from the very first listen and I am sure it will become a firm favourite. I will not go through the individual tracks, suffice to say that the whole album is full of amazing musicianship from all members and the vocals of Rob Sowden just get better and better. The album has an expansive and slightly heavier feel than the previous albums, but personally I feel it is better for it and shows how the band is still developing it's style. Good to see that a band now in it's tenth year still has something new to offer. If you like progressive rock and you've not heard Arena before, give this album a listen - you will be hooked too !
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great start for a new Arena fan,
By BoldmanUK (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Pepper's Ghost (Audio CD)
Peppers Ghost is my first Arena alblum that I've bought and I am pleased to say I've struck gold on the first try! Thoroughly enjoyable album, which I can't stop playing since I bought it! The final track is loged in my head and I can't get rid of it - not that I would want to at the moment.
Funnily enough, this album reminded me of Pallas only with better musicianship and ideas. I think it is the keyboard style of Clive Nolan that does it. I was an old-time Pendragon fan (I saw them first at Queen Mary College, London in about... hmm maybe 1983 or 84, and I own one of the very early cassete demo tapes from before they had a record deal) but I prefer Arena now because I don't have to listen to Nick Barratt's limited vocal talents! Thumbs up from a new and very happy Arena fan. Oh one last thing, can you please enclose a magnifying glass with the CD booklet? My aging eyes have trouble reading text THAT small :) This album would have been perfect as a record, with a proper 12" sleeve - it would then have ranked alongside Thick as a Brick (original newspaper version), Yessongs, Olias of Sunhillow and The Pentatuch of the Cosmogony as one of the all-time great album packages!
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