From: LUVFABFOUR@webtv.net I'd like to hear what the members of this group feel about my favorite group in the world (right behind the Beatles). The group called "Saga". They're from Canada and they had a top-twenty hit with a song called "On The Loose" from '83.
From: "upnsm0ke" <> I really like Saga...OLD Saga...as in pre-Behaviour saga. Generation 13 (featuring the reconstituted best lineup with Jim Gilmour and Steve Negus) was a good album, too, but they really nailed it back in 1980 with Silent Knight, their 3rd album, which features some great melodic keyboard work. Michael Sadler's a damn good vocalist, too. Worlds Apart and Heads Or Tales were more commercial, but still featured some great stuff. After Behaviour (too commercial, too sappy), they lost keyboardist Jim Gilmour and also my interest, until G13. Their last one -- was it Pleasure & The Pain? - cost me only $5.99 new (store screw-up) and it wasn't even worth THAT.
From: LUVFABFOUR@webtv.net You sound like a fan to me, E-man. I discovered Saga with the song On The Loose and my liking was really driven home by the video and song of the next release, Wind Him Up. I was sold. I went out and bought the album and fell in love. Most people here in the USA never heard of them before that. I discovered that there was more and subsequently bought it. The older Saga is good but Worlds Apart is the standard for that group for me. You should check out the new album, Full Circle. It's a return to the eighties sound. I think that it's great. Unfortunately, Saga suffered from the same thing that many groups do. Poor sales made them indecisive. With the record companies putting pressures on them they tried to conform and some of their albums seemed to be watered down or just plain bad because of it. Saga was (and is) at their best when they're making the kind of music that they like, when they're not under a lot of pressures to commercialize like on some labels. After you stopped listening they made some great albums. I disagree with you. To me, Behaviour was one of their best albums. The album right after Behaviour was REALLY bad and I consider it their worst. After Behaviour, Portrait Records dropped them and then they went to Atlantic Records and they demanded (apparently) that Saga commercialize. They then went back to their old label, Maze Records, and started to make some great music. The first album on that label was The Beginner's Guide To Throwing Shapes (one or their best albums). It was really heavy on the keyboards but excellent. It started an upward path for them that they're still riding. After "Beginner's Guide" Jim Gilmour and Steve Negus returned and they returned to the sound that made them popular in the eighties. They made some commercially hit-and-miss albums after that. The album that you mentioned, The Pleasure & The Pain, could (and would) have been a better album if they would have changed some things about it. The techno-tronic crap had to go. The album should have ended with a bang with the great instrumental at the end of the song Fantastically Wrong, instead of the whimper that it did end with with the song Pleasure And The Pain. If they would have taken the techno crap off, gotten rid of the song Pleasure And The Pain, replaced it with another rockin' song, and ended the album with the instrumental, I think that a lot of people would have liked the album better. You should check out the new album. They're starting the "chapters" concept again. Jim Gilmour really sings a lot on the new one. I always said that Saga would be better if they would use his voice more for certain songs. Here's the albums in the order that I like them: 1-World's Apart 2-Behaviour 3-Heads or Tales 4-The Beginner's Guide..... 5-Full Circle 6-Silent Knight 7-The Security Of Illusion 8-Generation 13 9-Images At Twilight 10-Steel Umbrellas 11-Saga 12-The Pleasure & The Pain 13-Wildest Dreams Well, anybody else have any comments about Saga?
From: "Craig A. Shipley" <> Roger that, E-man, although I gave up completely after SECURITY OF ILLUSION, having been completely put off by the mid-'80's dreck (the last really good studio was WORLDS APART, IMHO, but you could tell the tides were turning...). The early works are all great and the live IN TRANSIT is an incredible performance. Reports of their later recordings have not piqued my interest enough to try any of their new stuff?
From: "upnsm0ke" <> In Transit is the best starting point for anyone who wants to check 'em out, and it's a killer live set. Tracks include some of their best ones, "Careful Where You Step," "Don't Be Late," "On The Loose," etc. Too bad "Help Me Out" isn't on there. Did you get the 90s live one, DeTours? I didn't, and I'd like to know if it's worth getting.
From: "upnsm0ke" <> <> I disagree with > you. To me, Behaviour was one of their best albums. The album right > after Behaviour was REALLY bad and I consider it their worst. After > Behaviour, Portrait Records dropped them and then they went to Atlantic > Records and they demanded (apparently) that Saga commercialize. Well, I couldn't take all that much of Behaviour, and no way is it one of their *best* albums, even if I haven't heard Security of Illusion/Steel Umbrellas :-) > The first album on that label was The Beginner's Guide To Throwing > Shapes (one or their best albums). It was really heavy on the keyboards > but excellent. It started an upward path for them that they're still > riding. I did get a dub of this way back in '92, and it was alright stuff, though it didn't have the magic of the first 3/5 (depending on how you look at it) albums. > The album that you mentioned, The Pleasure & The Pain, could (and > would) have been a better album if they would have changed some > things about it. I don't know, I didn't like any of it! > Here's the albums in the order that I like them: Hey, Silent Knight is too low! It should definitely top Behaviour!
From: LUVFABFOUR@webtv.net ...I tried to put the whole Saga thing for me in perspective by saying that I got on board rather late with Worlds Apart. There is a Saga eGroup for all Saga fans called sagafans@egroups.com. Currently they have a poll that's running where they're seeing what people's five favorite Saga albums are. What I started listening to with Saga became the standard bearer. It was Worlds Apart so that is what I compare all Saga albums to. Compared to that album their first three albums weren't very sophisticated production-wise. Images At Twilight and Silent Knight were great but in all candor, the first album was kind of lame IMHO. Behaviour is my second favorite because it rocks. At first it pissed me off because I thought that the guys completely sold out. I even told someone that they sold out because they never used to talk about relationships and such but I realize that the album was a concept album. The record companies were pressuring them to commercialize and they made a compromise by making a concept album talking about behaviour. At first I thought it was lame and I guess that I can see how people think that still. The first side IS kind of bland but the second side more than makes up for it. How can anyone not like that album with the way it ended with the song Goodbye? Damn! Well, just don't give up on Saga now. The best seems to be coming.
From: "Rodi" <> Greetings all! I have been off-line for a few weeks and thus was unable to check my mail. I have noticed a lot of comments regarding Saga here on e-progas I review the last few Digests. I must agree with several of the comments regarding the band. I know 2 of the members personally (Jim and Steve) as they are from my home town. Jim is a personal friend of Terry, the drummer in my band Lightspeed. He recorded some of the keyboard tracks on Terry's solo cd "Circadian Rhythm" and also did some keyboard programming on Lightspeed's as yet unreleased latest recording. Steve lives in a house with a friend of mine and has set up a fine studio in the basement where he is producing bands now. Most of the comments I read were very close to reality. Saga was under a great deal of pressure to put out material that would sell more, but not just because of Record company pressure. Most of the members believed that their success would continue on the same level for many years and didn't 'save for a rainy day'. Well, the rains came. This is not to say that they are poor...but once they discovered that they couldn't regain the level of success they had known in the 80's, they panicked a bit. The other and somewhat larger reason that their music suffered a bit was the human factor. They were just together too long. Certain members wouldn't even speak to each other. In fact, if not for Mike, they probably would never have done anything together in the later years. Jim told me that he would get a phone call from Mike, informing him that he'd written enough songs for a Saga album and the studio was booked and ready. However, recently they found that time apart had allowed ! them to burry the hatchet as it were and they were able to regain some of the magic which I felt was missing from the 'old days'. Although I am no longer living in Canada, I am still in constant contact with the members of Lightspeed and as such can get information about what Saga is up to these days if anyone is interested. I'd be happy to pass on any info that is of interest to the Saga fans on this list. Prog on! All the best, Rod Chappell, Lightspeed, http://www.lightspeed-rocks.net/