SAGA

I have been a Saga fan since the late 70's and what I have noticed most about the band is that they do not fit into any one category / genre. They dabble in pop as well as straight rock and some prog mixed in. Since most of their songs are shorter in length they do not exhibit the longer more symphonic arrangements that other true prog bands do but then again prog is a wide genre.

Their debut is an okay record but not like what is to come. Ian Crichton is such a hugely underrated guitarist but he had not yet really shown his future chops on this album. There are some good riffs and soloing but when we get into the 80's and into albums like The Security Of Illusion we hear a guitarist that is almost too great to be true. This album and then next have Peter Rochon on keyboards (Michael Sadler helps out) and does a respectable job. The keyboard job would go to a different person on the next album before settling on their steady Jim Gilmour on the 3rd album "Silent Knight." Gilmour was and has been the best player in that role. Saga was famous for the guitar / keyboard synced solos and we get a good dose of that here.

Saga also were marked by The Chapters which are songs that appeared on several of the first albums and then were brought back later. The band revealed these over a 28-year period in a mixed-up order, creating a conceptual puzzle. In its final form, The Chapters tells a science fiction story concerning the preservation of Albert Einstein's brain, aliens who are concerned with humanity's self-destruction, and the resurrection of the dead through technology. We have chapters 4 and 6 on this album. Being that I started listening to them early on, this story on the chapters was not ever revealed until after they were done presenting the songs so if you are looking for the meaning I recommend their live album titled none other than "The Chapters."

The last track of the album is more or less (my opinion) their statement of prog, if you will, showing an extended track which does go through prog stages. I like this track but the ending drags on a bit too repetitively. I like all the tracks to a certain degree but this album was not their best early one for me.