SONGS FROM THE LIONS CAGE

Arena is a British progressive rock band that belongs to the neo-prog sub-genre. 1995 is the year it all began. The band was founded by Clive Nolan, the keyboardist of Pendragon and Shadowland, and Mick Pointer, the original drummer of Marillion, who appeared only on Marillion's debut EP 'Market Square Heroes' and on their debut studio album 'Script For A Jester's Tear'. The first album of Arena, 'Songs From The Lions Cage' was very well received and a new progressive rock legend has been born. The music is vibrant and fresh, and the album contains instant classic tracks.

So, 'Songs From The Lion's Cage' is the debut studio album of Arena and was released in 1995. This is the only Arena's album to feature the vocalist John Carson and the bassist Cliff Orsi. So, the line up of the album is John Carson (vocals), Keith More (guitars), Clive Nolan (keyboards), Cliff Orsi (bass) and Mick Pointer (drums). The album has also the participation of Steve Rothery, the guitarist of Marillion, who did a guest appearance on track 'Crying For Help IV'.

'Songs From The Lion's Cage' has nine tracks. All songs were written by Clive Nolan and Mick Pointer. The first track 'Out Of The Wilderness' is a great song and an excellent opener for the album. It's clearly a song in the vein of the earlier Marillion's studio albums. This is really a very powerful song with a very strange, mystical and dark musical atmosphere, with heavy keyboard playing and great guitar work especially with the beautiful guitar solo in the end. The second track 'Crying For Help I' is a very short instrumental track only performed by the the acoustic guitar. It's a very simple song, very nice, beautiful and pleasant to here, composed in the same vein of Steve Hackett's acoustic guitar compositions. The third track 'Valley Of The Kings' is the first epic song on the album that continues in the same vein of the earlier Marillion. Curiously, it's also a song that reminds me, only in a little bit in the beginning, Rush in the time of 'Hemispheres'. This is a wonderful track full of an amazing and pompous keyboard work and excellent guitar performance. It reminds us completely the grandeur and the magnificence of the pharaohs. The fourth track 'Crying For Help II' is another very simple song, nice, beautiful and pleasant to hear. This time it was composed for keyboards and sounds as a medieval madrigal. It's a typical classical symphonic song that sounds beautifully as it was performed by a harpsichord. It's a song that personally moves with me very much, because I always loved the harpsichord sound. The fifth track 'Jericho' is another excellent track. It's a song with a very quiet introduction and that ends epically. This is what would be the typical Arena bombastic future sound. This is a typical neo-progressive song, one of the best on the album, which keeps the quality of the album at a very high level, indeed. The sixth track 'Crying For Help III' is also a very good and interesting track. It's another simple, calm and beautiful track with a surprising end with a telephone ringing and a recorded message. This is a very nice and relaxing new age track and a truly break on the album. It represents also a perfect passage to the next song. The seventh track 'Midas Vision' returns to the typical sound of the most of the album. This is a catchy song, very nice and pleasant to hear and represents another excellent song on the album. It deserves a special mention the guitar work. It sounds very close to the Floydian sound because it has David Gilmour's style. The eighth track 'Crying For Help IV' is almost a mellow and melancholic track very beautiful and pleasant to hear. This is the track that has the participation of Steve Rothery on lead guitar. In reality, he performed a real truly and amazing guitar solo on the track. Those who like Steve Rothery guitar style enjoy very much this track, for sure. The ninth and last track 'Solomon' is often considered as one of their finest tracks. This is a very well structured song with a storyline, many time changes, majestic keyboard work and great guitar work. It's the second epic song on the album. It represents also the highlight of the album and it was a perfect decision of the group to close this great album. With this song Arena made one their best songs and one of their most brilliant closing numbers in their career.

Conclusion: 'Songs From The Lion's Cage' is, without any doubt, a great debut album and represents one of the best and most important albums made by one of the best prog rock bands of our times. It's very melodic and has great performances by all band's members, particularly, the individual performance of Clive Nolan is completely astonishing and shows us why he is considered one of the best modern keyboardists. It deserves also special mention, the performance of Keith More on guitars. His guitar performance and the arrangements are very interesting and they sound, many times, very close to Steve Rothery, Steve Hackett and David Gilmour styles. So, 'Songs From The Lion's Cage' is almost a perfect album. But, I'm not sure if the division of the album between the big and most prog songs and the short and less complex songs was a very good choice. I'm not saying that the global quality of the album was highly decreased. Still, I suspect that this option took some damaged to the final musical consistency of the all album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Share this ARENA review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to VianaProghead
• Report this review (#2245098)
• Buy ARENA music online with PA partners
• Show all ARENA MP3/Stream
• Go to ARENA page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Songs from the Lions Cage page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for ARENA related discussions