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'Best Of Arena' Album

Started by Clive, Thu, 2005-02-17, 23:06:14

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Clive

We've been talking about bring out some kind of 'best of' album to coincide with the Tenth Anniversary.
Although this idea would be aimed at punters who are not so familiar with Arena, it would be nice if the CD was appealing to 'the converted' as well... :)

So.... Any requests??
         Any thoughts??


Deenfan

Well, being an old record collector, I have a database I always can rely upon. Naturally, I haven't rated "Pepper's Ghost" yet, but I guess others will have ideas on which songs to add from it. These are the best Arena songs imo, rating in () :

Ascension (6)
Witch hunt (6)
Fallen idols (6-)
Moviedrome (6-)
Sirens (6-)
Chosen (live) (5+)
Fool's gold (5+)
Friday's dream (5+)
Ghost in the firewall (5+)
The butterfly man (5+)
An angel falls (5)
Empire of a thousand days (5)
Isolation (5)
Jericho (5)
Never ending night (5)
Salamander (5)
Tears in the rain (5)
The city of lanterns (5)
This way madness lies (5)

The live tracks are from "Breakfast in Biarritz", and means I found the live version to have something extra.

One man's voice there...

Appelmoes??

Some of my fav's

The Hanging Tree
Jericho
Solomon
Movie Drome (It's long, but just make it a double album :D)
Enemy Without
Cutting the Cards
Vanishing Act
Tears in the Rain

And of course some never released songs (To make it interesting for those who already have the albums ;) )
For some good reading visit:""Fluffy Kittens of DOOM"!

My drawings on MySpace


Constable Hogweed

WOW a double album. Yes please. how about a slant on Genesis ( The longs and the shorts ) The shorter tracks like "Medusa" and "The Healer"( With a smattering of "The Visitor" and "Contagion" ) would appeal to people with shorter attention spans, until they had gotten into the band and were maybe ready to move onto DISC 2 which would of course feature such gems as "Solomon" and "Moviedrome"
Disc 1 could be called "The sprints" and Disc 2 "The Marathons"  ;D

mdread666

There's the obvious choices of Jericho, Solomon, Hahging Tree etc, but I would like to see some different versions of songs. For example, some more tracks from the only concert that John Carson did with the band (The Marillion Fan Club gig), a live version of Waiting For The Flood (which has only made it onto the Fan Club DVD's as a live piece) and so on etc. Also, at least one brand new track, and as a big 'Thank You' to us fans (and tying in something from other posts from this forum) how about a couple of cover tracks, with Grendel finishing off the second disc!!

Go on Clive, you know you want to!!
mdread666

...for it is a human number,
It's number is six hundred and sixty six.

Clive

Er guys.... I think it will be a single album... remember, it's also acting as an 'introduction to Arena'.... :)

mdread666

Clive, you're too modest!!  How can you get the best of Arena on a single disc?!?!?!?!?!?!?
mdread666

...for it is a human number,
It's number is six hundred and sixty six.

mdread666

Thinking about it Clive, you could do a single disc with the 'classic' Arena stuff (Jericho, Solomon etc) as an introduction for the as-yet unconverted, for retail sale, but add a second disc of unreleased live versions (plus the Grendel cover!!!!!!) to be sold through the new Cage fan club web site, which would then make it appealing to the current fans!?!
mdread666

...for it is a human number,
It's number is six hundred and sixty six.

Peter

Hehe, back to 80 minutes, then....!

1. Purgatory Road (you should try and get airplay for that one, it would surely make it to the charts!)
2. Smoke and Mirrors
3. Bedlam Fayre
4. Spectre at the Feast
5. This Way Madness Lies
6. Cutting the Cards
7. Chosen
8. The Butterfly Man
9. Friday's Dream
10. Elea
11. The Hanging Tree
12. Don't Forget to Breathe
13. Serenity (!)
12. Enemy Without

That's a round-up back to 'The Visitor', no earlier material, 73 minutes. Kewl.
Arriving somewhere, but not here....

Mark Jan

Ok, let's have a try!  :)

I'll place them in chronological order. I don't know whether that's good, but you've got probably some better ideas, Clive!  ;)

1 Crying for help IV (5:05)
2 Solomon (14:37)
3 Crying for help VI (2:53)
4 Medusa (4:28)
5 The Hanging Tree (7:09)
6 Tears in the Rain (5:43)
7 The Chosen (6:20)
8 The Butterfly man (8:56)
9 Witch hunt (4:17)
10 Painted man (4:41)
11/12 Something of Pepper's Ghost (I ordered my copy yesterday at Verglass, pffff at last!!! So, I expect it next week)

Almost 80 minutes of Arena! I don't know whether it's a good idea to add some Crying for helps. It can make the potential Arena fans curious to the other Crying for helps. Songs like Medusa and The Butterfly are powerfull and got strong melodies. I think (looking to my own experience) these songs can be picked up relative easy and can make the potential Arenafan curious to more Arenastuff!

Well, good luck with The best of Arena, Clive!  ;D

Appelmoes??

What about 1 or 2 instrumental 'songs'?

To bad it's not going to be a double. I really think the epic Moviedrome should be on the album. It's a masterpiece and belongs on the 'Best of'.

Threshold released an anniversary album (Decadent) and some old Threshold cd's were rerecoded with Mac doing the vocals. Is that an idea for Arena or... ???
For some good reading visit:""Fluffy Kittens of DOOM"!

My drawings on MySpace


Clive

Getting Rob to redo the vocals on an old song is a possibility. We may get him to record Empire.... just a thought....

Appelmoes??

I think that would pretty cool. He allready does the some of the old songs on tours, and they sound really good.
For some good reading visit:""Fluffy Kittens of DOOM"!

My drawings on MySpace


mdread666

Getting Rob to redo the vocals on old songs is the sort of thing that could go on a companion CD sold through the Cage - yes/no?
Have all the original tracks on the single retail CD (after all this is a celebration of all of the 10 years of Arena) with lots of blurb in the booklet about there being a companion CD sold through the free web-based fan club and that way you would encourage more new people to get involved with Arena. :-X
mdread666

...for it is a human number,
It's number is six hundred and sixty six.

kmorse

I agree with Peter on this one: if it's to be an intro to Arena, start with "The Visitor," even though  the lineup has changed since that album. The previous records sound different -- even though I love 'em.

My lineup?

The Visitor: "Crack in the Ice" thru "The Hanging Tree"
Immortal: "Waiting for the Flood" and "Moviedrome" (give em one epic)
Contagion: "Witch Hunt" and "Painted Man" and "Skin Game"
Pepper's Ghost: "Shatterered Room" "Lara Moon" and "Tantalus"
Something live (I don't have the live CDs so I'll forgo making a suggestion).
If there's room, close the album with "Friday's Dream."

That oughta be about 80 minutes. It gives people a taste of the band's range in styles and approaches. A little bit there for everyone, I think. Heck, I think "The Hanging Tree" itself is a great sampler of the band's sound.
I'm falling.....Falling down again!

Moonloop

Great idea.

Really don't mind what's on it but would hope there would be some kind of bonus for people who have everything, eg, unreleased track(s), re-recorded versions, bonus disc, etc.

Would like to see Jericho, Hanging Tree & Butterfly Man on it though if I had to pick a few tracks.

;D
The brainwashed do not know that they are brainwashed...

jeffMc

Well, in my humble opinion:

      Single CD. Songs:

      Valley of the Kings
       Jericho
       Double Vision
       Hanging Tree
       Chosen
       Butterfly Man
       Painted Man
       Skin Game
       Riding the Tide
       Bedlam Fayre
       Opera Fanatica
       Moviedrome


Just my opinion, but these are on my iPod Shuffle's random playlist ;) (Ok, there is some IQ, Marillion and my own music on there, too :) )

jeffMc

Oh, and Clive,

A redo of Valley of the Kings would be awesome.

Keep the Mellotron choir and strings, though  ;) It makes that song!

But Rob's voice would be awesome. And of course JM's axework.

Jeff


Simtere

OK... this is going to be unpopular but please remember that opinions were invited and this is only MY opinion for what it's worth.

If you intend to do a best of album I really believe the emphasis should be on the up to date stuff.... if you go putting Jericho and Solomon on there, thats a good chunk of CD used already, and it's not really representative of what the band do now.  Sure, it's good stuff, and you need to show the band over the years, but there needs to be a balance between the old and the new.

It all really depends what you want to achieve from a 'Best Of...' CD.  If it's to appeal to existing fans then including the old standards is probably the way to go.  However if I was going to suggest a friend check out a 'Best Of....' CD on the basis it was meant as a means of introduction to the band, I'd feel happier making such a suggestion knowing that the songs are from the latest albums and are ones that they can reasonably expect to see the band perform live (given time).

Only a point of view remember so don't hit me too hard :)

Clive

I think that makes sense... :) So, I won't hit you  :) :)
Well probably won't feature too much from the first two albums, but I'm guessing there will be at least something.

mdread666

Clive, How about having this forum choose the title to the 'Best of...' album?

We could submit our suggestions, you choose the best five or so and then we have a poll vote on those?

How's that sound??? ::)
mdread666

...for it is a human number,
It's number is six hundred and sixty six.

Peter

Arriving somewhere, but not here....

Moonloop

So......who's going to start then ??  ;D
The brainwashed do not know that they are brainwashed...

Clive

a title would be handy  :)
I can't promise we'll use any particular one, because we may choose to keep things simple.. you know... 'the best of arena'.. :) Remember this album has to reach the unconverted..... :)

The Voyager


    Hi Clive. In my view, none of Contagion-tracks are not deserving to be included there. On the contrary,  such numbers as Jericho, Midas Vision, Solomon, Sirens, Elea, The Hanging Tree, (Don't Forget To) Breathe, The Visitor, The Butterfly Man, Ghost In The Firewall, Friday's Dream,  On The Edge Of Despair, The Hour Glass, Vanishing Act  are worthy candidates. By the way, it would be interesting to listen some of early pearls featuring Rob's singing. What do you think about  remastering versions?..  Alas, I haven't Pepper's Ghost-CD in my collection yet.