Track Listing

1. Is There Something I Should Know
2. Hungry Like The Wolf
3. New Religion
4. Save A Prayer
5. The Wild Boys
6. The Seventh Stranger
7. The Chauffeur
8. Union Of The Snake
9. Planet Earth
10. Careless Memories

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22796 in Music
• Released on: 2004-04-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Live, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 58 minutes

CD Description
ARENA's high point is its one studio cut, the Nile Rodgers-produced single "The Wild Boys", a minimalist art-funk song that takes its title from William Burroughs, its found sound/cut-up production from Trevor Horn's Art of Noise, and its Spartan funk-pop groove from Prince. A musical Frankenstein creation, it's also an oddly effective single that was perhaps just slightly too weird for the band's teenybopper following; it was a lesser hit than the band's status would have otherwise signified.
It's that high public standing which created this live document, a recording made at various dates on the band's 1983-84 tour in support of its third album, SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER. Drawing material from all three albums and focusing on hit singles such as "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio", ARENA presents the songs in pristine versions that differ only slightly from the studio cuts.

Customer Reviews

Excellent! Duranie heaven!
This is an excellent album for all duranies, those who like the odd song - pick up GREATEST.
I for one liked the first release of this cd, but one problem i had was the absence of songs like Girls on Film and Rio, well despite what the description says above(!), this DOES include both of those!!
The only way this cd could lose stars, is if you compare it with bootleg recordings (i have none...honest!) or how they sound live, but for 6.99......what are you hanging around for?! order it now!

Whisks you back in time......
Brilliant album, this re-mastered edition (with the two bonus tracks), from the original band line up.

Special consideration should be given to the haunting song, 'The Chauffeur' - lead singer, Simon Le Bon at his very best - 'Sing Blue Silver'!

1. Is There Something I Should Know
2. Hungry Like The Wolf
3. New Religion
4. Save A Prayer
5. The Wild Boys
6. The Seventh Stranger
7. The Chauffeur
8. Union Of The Snake
9. Planet Earth
10. Careless Memories

Bonus Tracks:-
11. Girls On Film
12. Rio

A great live album
I bought this album after seeing the Xmas special 'As The Lights Go Down' in 1984 and practically wore it out. However it was flawed, unthinkably it did not contain the live versions of Rio or Girls on Film. Thankfully both tracks are now available on the new release. For me the album would be worth buying just for the absolutely storming version of Girls on Film. It really gets my blood pumping, there is so much energy about it and Simon has the crowd in the palm of his hand, even though you can't actually see him! But there are other brilliant tracks: Planet Earth and Careless Memories have such a big sound: Andy is able to let rip with his guitar giving both tracks far more menace and depth than they did as singles. New Religion, one of my favourite Duran tracks is a crowd favourite and has a great bassline which really carries through to good effect - plus it has a dual chorus and you can pick which one you sing along to. Union of the Snake, which I never really liked as a single, comes alive on this album, it has far more bass, guitar and sexy vocals - a bit of a revelation. For me the weaknesses of the album are in the opener Is There Something I Should Know which is let down by poor vocals, and Wild Boys which is a great track but is the studio/single version and seems out of place on a live album. For a band that were derided as fluff or just a video band, this album answered the critics by showing that Duran were not only real musicians but great performers too. The energy that they had - and still have - are unmatched in my experience. In my opinion they are up there with Inxs, Prince and U2 as one of the great live acts of the last 20 years. If you don't like Duran you probably won't like this - but you might still appreciate the musicianship when comparing them to others playing live. If you can get hold of Sing Blue Silver aswell I'd recommend it as that chronicles the tour where the Arena tracks were recorded and the band were at the height of their fame.