THE SECURITY OF ILLUSION

Okay, now that is better! Having been a Saga fan since their beginnings when the first 4 foundational albums were made, they got into pop and new wave land and took a massive dive. They are hard to clearly categorize as prog but they definitely lean that way. So it doesn't take much to fall out of that arena and they did and flopped big time. After losing Steve Negus (drums) and Jim Gilmour (keys) they put out 2 of the worst entries they have.

This album sees a resurgence for the 90's even though the next album goes AWOL again. When this came out I bought it not expecting it to be any different and I was surprised. It isn't tremendous on all songs but it is great on many. The production is top notch. The low and high ends are powerful. This is the best produced album up to this point.

It starts with a short intro setting the stage for a good song "Mind Over Matter" and that leads into one of their best songs, "Once Is Never Enough" which showcases an Ian Crichton who is on steroids. His guitar work has emerged on this album and you cane here easily then maturity and level of complex playing he was into at that point. This song is fantastic and serves as a solid rocker. It isn't progish by any means. "Stand Up" is decent, "Days Like These" has more great guitar work and the big end song "Without You" is brutal on guitar, bass and drums.

This Saga is a departure some from the earlier one but they at least came back into what they were best at: Putting out music with boldness knowing where to lighten up and where to come on strong. Sadly the follow up is another bomb but what follows that is PROG.