BREAKFAST IN BIARRITZ

"Breakfast In Biarritz" is the second live album of Arena and was released in 2001. While their previous debut live album "Welcome To The Stage", which was released in 1997, was totally focused on their first two studio albums "Songs From The Lion's Cage" and "Pride", this their new live release was essentially focused on their newest two studio albums, their third and fourth, "The Visitor" released in 1998 and "Immortal?" released in 2000, respectively.

The name of the album "Breakfast In Biarritz", might be slightly a bit confused because it was recorded at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, Holland on Tuesday 17th October 2000, during the European release of their "Immortal?" live tour, and not in France. The title of the album refers to the place where the band had a day off during the "Immortal?" live tour.

"Breakfast In Biarritz" has ten tracks plus four bonus tracks. The second track "Crack In The Ice", the third track "Double Vision", the fifth track "Serenity", the seventh track "The Hanging Tree", the eighth track "A State Of Grace" and the ninth track "Enemy Without", are all live versions of tracks recorded on their third studio album "The Visitor" that was released in 1998. The first track "Moviedrome" and the sixth track "The Butterfly Man" are two live versions of tracks recorded on "Immortal?" that was released in 2000. The fourth track "Midas Vision" is a live version of a track recorded on their debut studio album "Songs From The Lion's Cage" that was released in 1995. The tenth track "Crying For Help VII" is a live version of a track recorded on their second studio album "Pride" that was released in 1996.

So, as I mentioned above, with the exception of "Midas Vision" and "Crying For Help VII", all tracks on "Breakfast In Biarritz" are from their albums "The Visitor" and "Immortal?", which are in general considered two of their best studio albums, in what I also agree. About the performance on the album, and as happened with their debut live album "Welcome To The Stage", there's no real live atmosphere because the pieces are interpreted very closely to the studio original. There are hardly any variations, either in terms of content or sound. But, the performance is good and some of the pieces are really fun, such as "Crack In The Ice", "Midas Vision" and the rocked version of "Crying For Help VII".

"Breakfast In Biarritz" has two CD's. The CD 1 has the ordinary tracks. The CD 2 has the four bonus tracks, three live versions of three studio songs plus an Arena's documentary. The first track "Chosen" and the third track "Friday's Dream" are live versions of two tracks recorded on "Immortal?". The second track "Elea" is a live version of a track released on "The Visitor". The fourth track is a multimedia section with over thirty minutes of live footage, the history of Arena and interviews with all band's members. It was originally made for French Television and its quality is very good.

When inserting the second bonus CD into your computer, it will automatically start the Internet Explorer, play an intro tune and will offer you several options. You can visit the Verglas and Arena sites or the site of Legend Productions, the company who produced the interactive section, or you can drop to these companies an email. However, the most interesting thing on this part of the second CD is the fact that you can start the documentary about the group instantly.

The documentary is nicely designed with lots of floating images, flipping collages and even an animated version of the "Immortal?" CD covers. In this documentary, the band's members, mainly the two founding members Clive and Mick, take you through the history of the group, the writing process, portraits of the band's members and speak about their new album "Immortal?". These interviews are shot backstage at a concert, in a pub and in what I think is Clive's Thin Ice Studio. The story is alternated with footage of the band live on stage or sound checking. Although, some of the music is completely unrelated to the period or albums discussed, and therefore it's somehow a bit out of context with the real historical perspective, which is a shame. Unfortunately, all the footage also features the new line up, which is comprehensive, but I preferred to see some film material with the right lines up, because as it's a documentary about all group's history, I would like to see some film material with the right lines up. Anyway, this is an interesting thing to see.

Conclusion: The second live offering from Arena is as good as the first one is. Like with their debut live album, the track selection for this live set is also excellent. All their studio albums, until that moment, are represented here with one track from "Songs From The Lion's Cage" and one track from "Pride", and where their greatest masterpiece "The Visitor" is amply represented with six out of ten tracks from that album, besides the two excellent tracks from "Immortal?". So, "Breakfast In Biarritz" is like "Welcome To The Stage", an excellent album, despite the changes on the line up of the group. Both new band's members Rob Sowden and John Mitchell are perfectly well on it. Mitchell is truly an amazing guitarist and together with Nolan, he is the brightest star in the band. Sowden did a great job especially when he had to sing songs originally performed by Paul Wrightson and John Carson. This is highly recommended.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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