Such a shame they didn't play in the USA (save CTTE) on their farewell. Here's hoping they either reverse course, or do some festival one offs. Great band.
Such a shame they didn't play in the USA (save CTTE) on their farewell. Here's hoping they either reverse course, or do some festival one offs. Great band.
Or, I'm just a sucker for Prog bands (and others) navigating the high tech 80's with digital reverbs, fake drums and crystalline guitar sounds. Power Windows is one of my favorite albums for instance. More is more in the 80's!
Well put. I find with FULL CIRCLE and after, they kind of got back to a pseudo WORLDS APART-like connection and made solid albums thereafter.
It falls in such a weird place in their discography. It's so ambitious yet it's only one year after the meh STEEL UMBRELLAS and prior to what many think is their worst PAIN & THE PLEASURE. But then just 2 years later they put out the brilliant FULL CIRCLE which strikes a great balance between timelessness, proginess and good songs and sets them on course for the next 7+ albums.
SP, LP and SLP! SP was best quality and I think it meant "standard play".
All I know is Peter Rochon attended 3RDegree's concert in Cornwall, Ontario last May and I was kind of freaked out that a member of Saga was there. I didn't go into my "Saga phase" yet so I didn't realize he was "only" on the first album but it was still cool!
Count me in as a huge Saga fan from the late 1980s on. Sadly, they're virtually unknown in the UK, despite being huge in continental Europe. For all the keyboard heaviness of their music, it's always been Ian Crichton's incredible guitar playing that's been the definitive factor in their sound for me. A criminally-underrated player and a huge influence on my own playing.
Hey guys.
Congratulations, this thread has made me interested in trying out Saga again. So a quick history:
The first album I bought was Worlds Apart. In the end the only song I liked from that was "On the Loose." I got Heads or Tales and felt the whole album had a Fixx vibe to it, which surprised me a bit, and at the time I was out of my Fixx phase so I lost interest in checking out the rest of the band's output.
Fast forward. On impulse I bought Trust later on. Except for "That's As Far As I'll Go" and the title track, still meh. Those two songs did get a lot of repeat listens, though.
Then later I happened upon a live version of "Corkentellis" (from 10,000 Days) on YouTube and bought the studio version MP3. Wow. REALLY liked that a lot and replayed it over and over again. However, my past experience with Saga made me reluctant to check out any more of it and figured "Corkentellis" was a fluke.
Based on this thread, though, I went and bought the rest of 10,000 Days (and relistened to Trust) and discovered I'm enjoying both of them more. I'd really like to try out another album from their later period. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what I should try next?
Last edited by ThomasKDye; 12-26-2018 at 11:23 AM.
"Arf." -- Frank Zappa, "Beauty Knows No Pain" (live version)
I recommend 20/20. A real awesome proggy album.
Jon
Behaviour is vastly underated. Not that commercial at all. On the contrary it contains lots of interesting arrangements and strong songs. Listen to Your Heart, Take a Chance, Out of the Shadows and Goodbye are all top notch Saga music.
LOL, whu...?
Then there's this:
Certainly all the trademark Saga ingredients are there but the arrangements are very linear and the songs sit almost entirely on top of the rhythm track. Several songs are trying hard to ride the Simple Minds coattails, not that there's anything wrong with that. But to say this album isn't at least trying to be more commercial simply flies in the face of the facts.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
^ I like the album - I don’t really give a fig if someone else doesn’t. It’s not going to change my opinion.
They didn't get along with Chadd and according to some sources most of the keyboards on "Images At Twilight" were played by Jim Crichton and Michael Sadler.
There's at least his vocals on the album on "Hot To Cold".
Chadd played with Max Webster (replacing Dave Stone) on the "Universal Juvelines" tour during the fall of 1980 but was replaced by the returning Terry Watkinson by the end of the year.
Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457
We need all the full Saga catalog to be included on Spotify. Scattershot selection currently.
I’m not a BEHAVIOUR hater but that album, WILDEST DREAMS & ...THROWING SHAPES are very 80’s laden with keyboards galore, drum machines or heavily effected drums and other hallmarks of the age. Many albums by many bands are “marred” by this mindset to making albums but I like it for what it was. YMMV greatly!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Including the solos?They didn't get along with Chadd and according to some sources most of the keyboards on "Images At Twilight" were played by Jim Crichton and Michael Sadler.
What about You're Not Alone?There's at least his vocals on the album on "Hot To Cold".
Ah, but for me ...Throwing Shapes was very much a return to form after the detour in Snoozeville that was the previous two albums. There's some absolutely great tunes on Shapes, all topped off with superlative playing - not least some of Ian Crichton's finest guitar work. It's a bit of an overlooked gem in Saga's back-catalogue, imho.
I really like Behavior, especially songs like "Listen To Your Heart", and "You and the Night".
This was the first album where they sang about romantic love. Before they always purposely avoided the topic. I actually really like the atmospheric production throughout the album.
I agree. I find the first 4 songs very strong as well as "Giant". Strong in the sense of songs not "prog". But I'd still say that album is very 80's sounding meaning, sequenced, reverbs, mix, etc. Return to form I'd say happened more on SECURITY OF ILLUSION or FULL CIRCLE.
Well you have the early "I want to get laid" songs but "love songs" really only "Tears" was a "love song" and "Entre Nous" were "relationship song" of which there'd be plenty more like "Open Secrets" (my fav), "Cold Fire", etc.
'Tears" doesn't count! (But I forgot about "Entre Nous".) "Open Secrets" took a long time to grow on me despite incredible playing because the lyrics don't flow with the song well - too many words - the first time Rush did that. There weren't plenty more, though. "Speed of Love" and "Cold Fire" are it. Maybe "Ghost of a Chance" as well but that is about the difficulty in finding love. Six songs out of over 200!
Bookmarks