Contagion - The Max
Preview December 2004

Sometime ago we asked Clive why Contagion wasn’t released as a double CD. We thought that the complementary songs on Contagious en Contagium were at least as good as the songs on the regular CD.

He answered that he only knew a few double CD’s that were good enough to hold the listeners attention long enough to listen to the entire CD all the way through. The ones he named were the classics of progressive rock. The majority of double CD’s can’t hold the listener’s attention long enough, Clive stated. Contagion is of course a CD that demands quite a lot of the listener. It’s no easy stuff! So Clive was afraid that bringing out Contagion as a double CD was not such a good idea.

Well, now it’s here after all! The complete Contagion as a double CD, Contagion – The Max. A lot of fans have probably tried something like this at home. Now The Cage gives you the opportunity to get it, in an excellent mix, done by Mister Clive Nolan himself. 

After hearing it, I must say I think that Clive was a bit too modest when he said that he doubted if Contagion was strong enough to bring it out as a double CD. This complete version of Contagion is a masterpiece and belongs in the ranks with all the other classics in progressive rock! If you didn’t know the regular version and the EP’s, you would think it was meant this way from the beginning. The mix is perfect and the songs from the EP’s fit in so naturally that I dare say that this extended version of Contagion is not a minute too long (it clocks 93 minutes and 13 seconds in total by the way), and is even preferable above the regular single CD.

Going in to the songs separately is unnecessary, as all the songs are of course very well-known and of a very high quality. But above that it would not do this integral Contagion justice. What makes this CD special is the coherence between the songs. This CD deserves to be listened to as one big piece of music.

At the moment I am writing this review the artwork isn’t ready yet, so I can’t say anything about it, but leaving it in the more than capable hands of David Wyatt I’m sure it will be great.

So, as already has been said, this will be a Cage CD, and every self-respecting Arena-fan shouldmake room for it on his/her CD shelf. Even when you already have Contagion and the EP’s, this is a must have! Contagion – The Max will be available in the first half of 2005. 

Tracklist:
CD1
Witch Hunt
An Angel Falls
Painted Man
On The Edge Of Despair
Vanishing Act
The Hour Glass
(This Way) Madness Lies
Spectre At The Feast
Never Ending Night
Skin Game

CD2
March Of Time
Salamander
On The Box
Contagious
Tsunami
Bitter Harvest
The City Of Lanterns
Riding The Tide
Mea Culpa
I Spy
Confrontation
Cutting The Cards
Ascension

By: Erik Fraanje