Saga has been a vital
part in my musical upbringing and life, and they are one of the pillars of my
musical foundation. Their first four albums were and still are essential for me,
and now some seventeen albums later; yes this is their studio album number
twenty-one, they are still able to deliver music that rocks!
Jim Crichton and Michael
Sadler are still the principal songwriters, with Jim Gilmore chipping in, and
they continue to explore the sound-universe they've created over the years.
Because they do very seldom drift far off the path they laid out for themselves
with their first four albums, the albums every fan continues to go back to, and
for good reason. On this album they have turned time back some and come up with
a softer album than "20/20".
When I say softer, I mean in
the terms of Saga, because their sound is still easily recognizable with
Jim's signature guitar work and Michael's charismatic voice: front and center!
Only once on this album they allow themselves to drift off, in the spacey "Press
9", actually one of my favorites on this album, even though I doubt it'll be a
fan favorite or make it into the regular set-list.
Their true strength is
live-on-stage, and a few songs will surely be a part of their live repertoire
and they will fit right in with songs from this decade. The rest will like most
of the songs they've written after 1981, just be another note about them at that
particular stage of their career.
Good one!
