Arena – The Visitor (1998) {Japan 1st Press}

The Visitor is the third studio album by the British progressive band Arena, released in 1998. One of prog’s great records of the 90’s and beyond. With The Visitor Arena became a ‘real’ band, not just a Clive Nolan (Pendragon) project with ex original Marillion drummer Mick Pointer. Now with their best ever line up that included John Mitchel on guitar, John Jowitt (IQ, Jadis) on bass and vocalist Paul Wrightson they produced one of prog’s masterpieces of all time.

This concept album about a man facing a near death experience is really thrilling, both musically and lyrically. Contrary to his work on Pendragon, Nolan writes all the words here, and shows he is very good on that, even if his writing is quite darker and heavier then anything Pendragon ever done. After two good, if a little derivative, albums you can really say Arena has found their own sound and style. The CD drips with inspiration and conviction. As one long suite the album brings you into a journey through the story and it is quite a ride! Unlike most prog bands Arena concentrates in smaller pieces of music put together according to the stories feelings, so it is hard to point a highlight. But if I had to chose, certainly it would be the incredible and climatic The Hanging Tree (a classic!). But this is surely a CD to hear from beginning to end, without skipping any tracks (and paying atention to the story line). Not much more to say, just listen. And this is a must have for any prog lover.

~ Tarcisio B. Moura, Prog Archives

Track List:

01. A Crack In The Ice [0:07:23.35]
02. Pins And Needles [0:02:46.22]
03. Double Vision [0:04:25.18]
04. Elea [0:02:36.05]
05. The Hanging Tree [0:07:09.52]
06. A State Of Grace [0:03:24.55]
07. Blood Red Room [0:01:48.65]
08. In The Blink Of An Eye [0:05:29.20]
09. (Don’t Forget To) Breathe [0:03:40.18]
10. Serenity [0:02:10.12]
11. Tears In The Rain [0:05:43.53]
12. Enemy Without [0:05:05.37]
13. Running From Damascus [0:03:44.70]
14. The Visitor [0:06:13.63]

Personnel:
Clive Nolan – Keyboards
Mick Pointer – Drums
Paul Wrightson – Vocals
John Mitchell – Guitars
John Jowitt – Bass

Exact Audio Copy V1.2 from 12. August 2016

EAC extraction logfile from 5. July 2018, 16:47

Arena / The Visitor [PCCY-01247]

Used drive : HL-DT-STBD-RE BH10LS38 Adapter: 1 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:Program Files (x86)Exact Audio Copywavpack-4.60.1wavpack.exe
Additional command line options : -hm -w “Year=%year%” -w “Genre=%genre%” %source% %dest%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 7:23.35 | 0 | 33259
2 | 7:23.35 | 2:46.22 | 33260 | 45731
3 | 10:09.57 | 4:25.18 | 45732 | 65624
4 | 14:35.00 | 2:36.05 | 65625 | 77329
5 | 17:11.05 | 7:09.52 | 77330 | 109556
6 | 24:20.57 | 3:24.55 | 109557 | 124911
7 | 27:45.37 | 1:48.65 | 124912 | 133076
8 | 29:34.27 | 5:29.20 | 133077 | 157771
9 | 35:03.47 | 3:40.18 | 157772 | 174289
10 | 38:43.65 | 2:10.12 | 174290 | 184051
11 | 40:54.02 | 5:43.53 | 184052 | 209829
12 | 46:37.55 | 5:05.37 | 209830 | 232741
13 | 51:43.17 | 3:44.70 | 232742 | 249611
14 | 55:28.12 | 6:13.63 | 249612 | 277649

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename G:Rips by AlderArena – The Visitor [PCCY-01247].wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 7.5 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F6099606
Copy CRC F6099606
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [BC86B2F4] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [F8AD9774] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [B7280286] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [0CFF6BDA] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [EF1E12F2] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [C8AC54C9] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [4697B24C] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [5379DCD9] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [C250A5B7] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [5E497F8C] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [2F114F9D] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [9FAF79C6] (AR v2)
Track 13 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [B8C2EC7D] (AR v2)
Track 14 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [EDBB8DEF] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6

[CTDB TOCID: jRXeQsNwzB6S7UF47zJslesGae4-] found
Submit result: jRXeQsNwzB6S7UF47zJslesGae4- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
2 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
3 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
4 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
5 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
6 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
7 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
8 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
9 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
10 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
11 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
12 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
13 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
14 | (6/6) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 4AF3591E0947E3776F4B35B609482534BB08297E3AB65108C241A699E781A4BA ====

foobar2000 1.3.16 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2018-07-12 15:26:27

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Arena / The Visitor [PCCY-01247]
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR10 0.00 dB -13.13 dB 7:23 01-A Crack In The Ice
DR13 -2.65 dB -17.67 dB 2:46 02-Pins And Needles
DR13 -0.72 dB -14.98 dB 4:25 03-Double Vision
DR11 -1.82 dB -16.63 dB 2:36 04-Elea
DR11 -1.28 dB -15.62 dB 7:10 05-The Hanging Tree
DR11 -0.24 dB -13.11 dB 3:25 06-A State Of Grace
DR10 -5.58 dB -19.15 dB 1:49 07-Blood Red Room
DR11 -0.40 dB -13.50 dB 5:29 08-In The Blink Of An Eye
DR10 -0.95 dB -14.09 dB 3:40 09-(Don’t Forget To) Breathe
DR9 -2.45 dB -13.48 dB 2:10 10-Serenity
DR10 -0.16 dB -14.73 dB 5:44 11-Tears In The Rain
DR11 0.00 dB -12.81 dB 5:05 12-Enemy Without
DR10 -0.10 dB -11.30 dB 3:45 13-Running From Damascus
DR9 -0.04 dB -12.35 dB 6:14 14-The Visitor
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 14
Official DR value: DR11

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 872 kbps
Codec: WavPack
================================================================================

[CUETools log; Date: 12.07.2018 15:26:37; Version: 2.1.6]
[CTDB TOCID: jRXeQsNwzB6S7UF47zJslesGae4-] found.
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
2 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
3 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
4 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
5 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
6 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
7 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
8 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
9 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
10 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
11 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
12 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
13 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
14 | (7/7) Accurately ripped
[AccurateRip ID: 001fab31-014d3ec1-bc0e760e] found.
Track [ CRC | V2 ] Status
01 [804b07be|bc86b2f4] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
02 [75dfe4cb|f8ad9774] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
03 [f212d516|b7280286] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
04 [336e70b8|0cff6bda] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
05 [6c790296|ef1e12f2] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
06 [22dfb4c5|c8ac54c9] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
07 [c187cd63|4697b24c] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
08 [70201c72|5379dcd9] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
09 [9eb52b59|c250a5b7] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
10 [ee667401|5e497f8c] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
11 [55e31926|2f114f9d] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
12 [f04c9df2|9faf79c6] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
13 [5488b6e4|b8c2ec7d] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped
14 [d59baf08|edbb8def] (1+1/2) Accurately ripped

Track Peak [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
– 100,0 [F6099606] [4CD95C6B] CRC32
01 100,0 [66C0EDEC] [4FEBD538]
02 73,6 [388AF59F] [A1DE0F01]
03 92,0 [649E51AA] [835D7994]
04 81,0 [D8C63DDC] [A2D1FE2B]
05 86,3 [C2B6C90D] [CA1079D7]
06 97,2 [E452646E] [28CF7121]
07 52,5 [45EEA637] [9B9AE853]
08 95,4 [5CCBB581] [CB8B06B9]
09 89,6 [E18C36AB] [DCD9C372]
10 75,4 [CD94B302] [96E27907]
11 98,2 [65718D3F] [AC08E41A]
12 100,0 [8469F16D] [1D746F83]
13 98,8 [F0B74B77] [E16C78A5]
14 99,5 [2B881973] [258DA1F5]

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