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Saga - 20/20 CD (album) cover

20/20

Saga

 

Crossover Prog

3.28 | 108 ratings

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Rune2000
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars I haven't actually planned on listening or reviewing another Saga album but after seeing the return of Michael Sadler and their pretty solid gig, back in November last year, it almost felt like the band could deliver something interesting with the release of 20/20. Unfortunately it doesn't take long to realize that their 2012 offering is just another throwaway fans only release...

I really have no problem with Saga and their commercially inclined approach to art music but this release still managed to rub me the wrong way on quite a few occasions. Being mainly a fan of great songwriting and strong melodic hooks, 20/20 doesn't deliver the one nor the other. There are a few minor exceptions to the rule like Anywhere You Wanna Go and One Of These Days, both feature strong melodic hooks on the chorus lines. The rest of the material isn't necessarily bad but rather bleak in comparison. The songs are generally pretty simplistic in their structure with only a few interesting moments from Jim Gilmour and Ian Crichton. The new drummer Mike Thorne doesn't really bring anything particularly memorable with his playing and there is really no point of even trying to make any comparison to Steve Negus.

It's clearly business as usual in the Saga camp with the band making a bare minimal effort of pleasing their fanbase while ignoring the opportunity of expanding their audiences and reaching the younger generations of listeners with their music. Having said that, I'll probably still going to see the next Saga gig, later this fall, just because Michael Sadler is a very charismatic front man. Somehow I doubt that the band will do much promotion for 20/20, they might perform Anywhere You Wanna Go but that's pretty much it.

**** star songs: Anywhere You Wanna Go (5:30) One Of These Days (4:46) Lost For Words (4:34) Till The Well Runs Dry (6:20)

*** star songs: Six Feet Under (4:56) Ellery (4:09) Spin It Again (4:41) Another Day Out Of Sight (4:19) Ball And Chain (4:18) Show And Tell (4:42)

Rune2000 | 2/5 |

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