WORLDS APART REVISITED

In the second half of The Seventies the owner of my favorite record-shop used to play Saga LP's, almost every day! In the beginning I was not impressed by their sound because I missed the genuine Classic Prog approach like ELP, Genesis and Yes. To me Saga has always sounded as a Progressive Pop band with captivating progressive ideas. But gradually I started to appreciate the pleasant and melodic compositions, the great interplay between the fiery guitar and lush keyboards (2-3 keyboard players) and the strong and distinctive vocals. I still love the live album In Transit so when I discovered this 2-DVD recently, I decided to buy it at once.

DVD-1 contains a complete Swiss gig in 2005, the sound and lightshow are wonderful, the band plays inspired and tight and the crowd is very enthousiastic, what an exciting musical experience to witness the awesome performance by these 'music veterans'! You can enjoy great renditions form the 'classic tracks' like Give 'Em The Money (fantastic break with a strong guitar-keyboard duel), Ice Nice (captivating atmosphere with sensational duo-synthesizer play and duel), the stage favorite Humble Stance (exciting accellaration and soli on guitar and keyboards) and amazing interplay between guitar and keyboards (3!) in Don't Be Late, How Long and Careful Where You Step. Thers's a splendid appearance from the singer/bass player who also play kebyoards (his Minimoog work is great), he acts like the archetypical frontman, what an energetic and enthousiastic man! Conclusion about this 'reunion concert': awesome, at least equal to their best work during the Worlds Apart album!

DVD-2 opens with Worlds Apart Road Stories (more than 15 minutes) with the usual stories when bands are touring: blond women, beer, parties and fun about technical failures! Then the interesting Live In England 1981 (25 minutes) gig featuring the songs What's It Gonna Be (wonderful Minimoog-guitar duel and a sensitive guitar solo), Humble Stance (strong interplay between guitar and keyboards and exciting soli on guitar and synthesizers), Don't Be Late (fine dual vocals and great work on the Fender Stratocaster guitar with tremolo- arm), The Interview (biting guitar solo but a bit polished song) and Careful Where You Step (vocals with the 'vocoder', wonderful work by three keyboardists and again great interplay between guitar and keyboards, one of the 'Saga trademarks'). It's also nice to watch those vintage keyboards like the Fender Rhodes piano, the Yamaha CS synthesizer and the Minimoog, unsurpassed sounds! Next an interesting docu about the 1982/83 era with stories about the songwriting, lyrics, inspiration, electronic drums, the foundation and the breakthrough, followed by live footage of complete songs: Wind Him Up, On The Loose (beautiful lightshow), Pitchman (a very active singer and a raw guitar solo) and Catwalk. This DVD ends with a photo-gallery.

Although Saga sounds a bit as 'Light' in comparison with the Classic Prog, I can only say: "THIS IS A MUSICAL DOCUMENT, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!".