King Crimson Arena

This 3-CD set is sponsored by Arrow Classic Rock, the Dutch radiostation that is embraced by all Dutch progheads because they are the only radiostation that frequently plays many progrock classics and every week on Tuesday the known rock-journalist/producer Kees Baars (he is a personal friend of Geddy Lee) is the host for a two hour progrock show…

When they appeared in the early '80s, Asia seemed to be a holdover from the '70s, when supergroups and self-important progressive rockers reigned supreme. Featuring members of such seminal art rock bands as King Crimson (John Wetton), Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Carl Palmer), and Yes (Steve Howe), as well as Geoff Downes from the Buggles, Asia did feature stretches of indulgent instrumentals on their records.

The Top 100 '80s Rock Albums span a series of genres as startling and varied as the era's neon-flecked fashions.No one was immune to the early-decade emergence of new wave, from up-and-coming acts to legacy groups – many of whom began incorporating the then-new sound into their bedrock approach.Meanwhile, classic rock and subsequently metal began a transformation into mass acceptance when the edges were smoothed out to form arena rock and hair metal, respectively. The arrival of roots, thrash, and world music influences kept things interesting, along the way. All of it made selecting the period's best releases both intriguing and deeply challenging.Check out the list below, as Ultimate Classic Rock takes a chronological look at the Top 100 '80s Rock Albums.

The Hamburg-based musician Frank Us looks back on a long musical career. He played in a few local bands before turning music into his profession, successfully composing jingles for products and companies. His secret love is and has always been the progressive rock that had the biggest musical influence on him. Frank Us and his friends have created a debut album that delivers an enormous bandwidth and that was clearly inspired by the golden era of progressive rock. Bands like ELP, Genesis, Marillion, UK, Yes, Rush, the early Queen or King Crimson were the influences that cemented Frank's love for this genre…

Many years after releasing their first two great albums, the excellent French label Musea is now releasing another Cos album, but in their later career, with this very Spanish-tinged Pasiones. From the Early days, only Schell remains but he is well surrounded by other well-known Belgian musician and Spanish falsetto singer Ilona Chale sometimes sounding like Nina Hagen and Nicolas Fiszman - who played bass on the only album this writer have produced, so far - providing a very African touch. Musically, we are very much in the 80's, not that far away from some of the better new wave bands but also very close of King Crimson of the moment. As so often the case with Musea releases, the disc comes with many bonus tracks, including a short concert in France.

New 2016 remaster, includes booklet with 2016 band interviews & rare band photos.
Upon its release, the 1973 LP Brain Salad Surgery had been hailed as Emerson, Lake & Palmer's masterpiece. A long tour ensued that left the trio flushed and begging for time off. Before disbanding for three years, they assembled a three-LP live set (something of a badge of achievement at the time, earned by Yes in 1973 with Yessongs and, somewhat more dubiously, Leon Russell with Leon Live). Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends gives a very accurate representation of ELP's shows at the time, including their uncertain sound quality. It isn't that the group didn't try hard to give a good show; they did, but left to just his two hands, without the use of multi-tracking and overdubs to build layer-upon-layer of electronic keyboard sounds, Keith Emerson was at a singular disadvantage on some of the boldest material in the trio's repertory…

Foreigner is a British–American rock band, originally formed in New York City & London in 1976 by veteran English musician and ex–Spooky Tooth member Mick Jones, and fellow Briton and ex–King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm. Jones came up with the band's name as he, McDonald and Dennis Elliott were British, while Gramm, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi were American. Their biggest hit single, "I Want to Know What Love Is", topped the United Kingdom and United States charts among others. Another one of their hit singles, "Waiting for a Girl Like You", peaked at number two on the US chart for a record-setting 10 weeks. They are one of the world's best-selling bands of all time with worldwide sales of more than 80 million records, including 37.5 million records in the US.

Young Lions is as solid an album as Adrian Belew had put out in some time, including his work with the Bears. Apparently, the relative chart success he had with his last effort fueled the desire for another single, and no less a luminary than former employer David Bowie was brought in to write and duet with Belew on "Pretty Pink Rose" (they even did a video to support it)…