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As a Torontonian this is another band I followed from Day 1 Along with Rush and Max Webster and Triumph all of whom would diserve a slot on this great site. Saga was however very different than the other three bands, and had less success during the early years, most of the young rockers prefering a power trio or a quartet with KB. Saga was mainly a KB band . Over all this is rather unimpressive album as there was no hit or numbers to hummmmmmmm.... Just kidding. As not really being much of a fan , I cannot tell much good anymore than my general feeling : 2 stars.

Saga are regarded as the forefathers of neoprog, and that's due to the fact that they managed to instill a clairly poppish freshness into the realms of symph prog. The medium was the use of catchy melodic lines, not too complicated rhythm patterns (otherwise managed by Negus with mastery and energy), and tons of attractive synth layers and orchestrations. But this is not all about synths: Ian Crichton's guitar riffs, harmonies and brilliant solos find a way to shine with a light of its own among the whole keyboard paraphernalia. Saga know how to exploit the musical potential of keyboard technology while keeping a genuine hard rocking ambience. Their namesake debut album is mostly their musical statement: I would summarize their prog style distilled in their earlier albums as 76- 78 Genesis-meets-Camel-meets-'Hemispheres'-era Rush-meets-AOR-meets-funky-meets- 'Stratosfear'-era Tangerine Dream, though I may sound too simplistic or formulaic. The album kicks off with 'How Long', a pretty commercial number that shows Saga's accesible side anabashedly. The longest tracks are the most impressive, since they show off Saga's full potential in terms of elaborating weel crafted keyboard orchestrations, rocky power, and dramatic tension (including Sadler's singing, which is both peculiar and effective, while keeping a highly melodic approach): 'Will It Be You?', 'Ice Nice' and 'Tired World' are quite impressive tracks. Other highlights are 'Humble Stance' (full of R'n'B touches) and 'The Perfectionist' (a Baroquesque portrait of sadistic obsession). 'Give 'Em the Money' recovers the funky thread of the opening number with a harder edge, while 'Climbing the Ladder' is built upon wise arrangements on attractive simple tunes. This band really had a very good start with this album: particularly recommended to those who enjoy good melodies and clever performances, and are not so obsessed with complex rhythm patters.

This is the first album by Saga. 1978 is not a very good year for the progressive rock. Nevertheless, Saga starts here a brilliant progressive career: they show the way that leads to an avant-garde progressive rock full of modern keyboards. "How long" was their hit by excellence. Saga's style here consists in very structured and melodic arrangements made of delightful modern keyboards and rather hard rock electric guitars. There are omnipresent melodic mini moog in the foreground. With 2-3 keyboardists in the band, one has to have great expectations, and actually the listener should not be disappointed regarding the keyboards refinement and pertinence. Saga however do not entirely attain their typical modern and crystal clear sound here: I would say it is done at 90%. There are many very good guitar solos, synchronized to follow the melodic keyboards. The keyboards are sometimes anthemic. The lead singer has an excellent voice a bit like the Spandau Ballet's singer. There are still here some more vintage keyboards, like electric piano and mini moog, but there are no organ nor mellotron; anyway the overall sound is very modern for the year, so that the electric piano parts do not sound outdated at all. All the tracks are excellent. Saga has their own unique sound & style: they probably inspired neo prog bands like Pallas.

Rating: 4.5 stars

One of my (albeit minor) claims to fame is that I once met the keyboards player. He was going out with my (then) girlfriends sister. I did'nt like saga at that moment so the encounter meant little to me at the time. However,had I been aware of this album I would have shook him by the hand for the track Humble Stance alone. This track is SUPERB and features excellent guitar and synth interplay,and was a real treat live in concert. The Perfectionist is also a good reason to check out this album,can you suss out what the protagonist is up to? I won't spoil it for you here.Three and a half stars for a band who looked out of date even when they were at their peak.

Extremely catchy prog/pop that is way better then I thought. Every song has an infectious hook, yet the keyboard/guitar playing keeps it in the prog canon with a bit of pomp and plenty of symphonic might. Sadler's voice is very dramatic, but at times it can be alittle over the top, (check out 'Will It Be You?'). What makes this album to me their most successful prog-wise is that practically every songs ends on an upward arch with the song speeding up as the guitar and keyboards vie for your attention. 'Ice Nice' and 'Give 'Em The Money' are the lesser of the songs, but because of their strong finish they're forgiven the obvious attempts at trying to be hit material. My favorites, 'Humble Stance' and 'Climbing The Ladder' have killer hooks and awesome climaxes with excellent instrumental sections. Who said that Prog can't be catchy. Comparisions with bands like Styx, (pop style hooks) mixed with UK, (pompous keyboard driven prog that rocks) is how I would describe these Canadians. Some compare them to Rush. I wouldn't. They're not has high strung vocally. The lyrics aren't the most demanding. And they don't have a drummer that can compare, (does anybody?). Yet, with this album, I can say with no prudence that it's peppy, catchy and will have you humming at least half the tracks quicker then most other bands. And to top it off, it's the beginning of Neo, (to these ears at least, which is up for debate). If you have a loved one who deplores prog, let them try this on for size. Just don't show them the cover!

Never-ending Saga...

I had not, in the past, given Saga much time, as every time I heard their music on the radio, I felt an overwhelming compulsion to see what was on another station, go make a cup of tea or something else that might derive a little more satisfaction.

So it was with a little trepidation that I actually forked out hard-earned moulah for their first two albums, removed the vinyl from the sleeve with a nervous feeling that I might be surprised and actually like it, and gingerly lowered the needle onto the platter.

Almost instantly, I felt the opportunity cost - there's so much other music I could be listening to... but I forced myself to listen to the whole thing. Several more times I subjected myself to this experience - and guess what? There were bits about it I liked, but on the whole, it's still not what I would have bought out of choice - and here's why:

The "music"

The opening synth notes of "How Long" - on reflection, an extremely aptly named song - struck me like a blast of the Human League. Although not a rip-off, as those emminent musicians wouldn't write "Don't You Want Me Baby" for another 3 years, it doesn't exactly say "Prog Rock" to me. The backing rock/disco beat doesn't help matters, and when the driving riff appears, its impact is diminished, and a typical stadium rock band in the mould of Styx begins to emerge.

What follows is simply horrendous though - "white-man's funk" - maintaining the overall disco feel. This is horrendous because the straight 4/4 beat and underlying "Another One Bites the Dust" feel mixed with the incessant bleeping of the Human League keyboard is just mindlessly repetitive. The harmonies stay in very simple realms, and the form of the piece is a standard song.

The only place of interest in the form is the (short) bridge, which moves off at a tangent, destroying any continuity this song might otherwise have had - and it's repeated to bad effect.

Next up is "Humble Stance" - which is a truly nauseating slice of "white-man's reggae" - a form that should never, ever have emerged. The band should really have called this song "Humble Pie", as that is what any band should eat after producing something like this.

There are very few bands of non-black musicians who have successfully modified the reggae style to fit rock music; The Police, The Clash, Here & Now and Madness are probably the best examples .

Saga fail miserably, then move into a more dramatic area backed by a quasi-funky riff, repeated to death and backed by a "boom-tsh" disco style beat before piling into a synth solo with a truly nasty Moog-lite kind of keyboard sound that is pitch-bent to death. The utterly predictable sweep-picked guitar follows - I'd imagine this would really appeal to Dream Theater fans, as the whole styling, sterilised execution and inattention to formal consideration is a perfect match to the latter's early material.

"Climbing the Ladder" comes across as a kind of poor-man's Queensryche with a disastrous riff leading the verse, and a very pale chorus giving me the urge to hit that skip button pretty quickly. The mock brass section on the keyboard re-emphasises the commercial aspirations of the band - it would seem that this is an attempt to reach both the Rock and Disco audiences, using the most naff elements of both.

The Autopsy

OK, enough of the tearing to pieces - this copy of Saga's debut will no doubt make a fan happy when they discover it in the charity shop that I'm going to donate it to - but I have to address one issue:

I have read several times that this album is somehow an early representative of Neo-Prog.

That myth can be safely put to bed here and now (sic).

There is absolutely nothing in common between Saga and Neo-Prog - at least, not on this album. For a start, there is no Prog - it's stadium or album-oriented Rock music of the cheesiest variety. It's well executed - there's no doubt about that, but musicianship is about a lot more than precision and fast scales.

For that matter, so is Neo-Prog - in fact, nowhere in that genre will you encounter quasi-reggae, quasi-funk, disco, riffing or shredding.

Conversely, none of the delicate contrapuntal writing, haunting melodies, formal experimentation and deliberately anti-mainstream rhythmic devices can be found in Saga's music.

The Recommendation

While it's tempting to recommend that you move onto the next band - nothing to see here - there is a fan base that think very differently to me, and appreciate the music of Saga.

If anything, this album is possibly at the root of Prog Metal - there's a lot in common with both Queensryche and Dream Theater, even if the overall sound isn't in the metal domain. Fans of those bands should check this out, as I'm sure that some of the soloing and riffing will really appeal, but personally, I wouldn't even recommend the music or songs to that 'orrible person who scratched my car at the supermarket the other day, grrrr...

I'd really like to award this the "Poor" rating that I think it deserves - as I think it's a real stinker - but I acknowledge fully that I plain don't like it and might well be biased.

Therefore, I'd recommend this to fans of Prog Metal and of Saga themselves - but if you're a fan of Saga, you've probably already got this and are violently disagreeing with everything I've just said.

:o)

A great debut, this one. A prog debut that managed to attract attention in a time when prog was slowly dying. Why ? Well, for one, Saga showed that a band can have it's own sound from the first album. Two, Michael Sadler's voice was (and still is) so amazing, no one could've been indifferent to it. Three, the songwriting was inventive, original, and even though the sounds they used sound a bit dated today, they were clearly ahead of their time back then. Four, the top notch musicianship is there for all to witness. The guys are tight, disciplined and creative. Five, the beginning of what will later be known as 'The Chapters', released in disorder from 1 to 16 on a lot of albums from this one until 2003's 'Marathon'. Chapters found on this album are 'Will it be you? (Chapter Four)' and 'Tired World (Chapter Six), both of which have that sci-fi approach typical to Saga. Six, the songs themselves. Some songs from this album are still played in concert today, classics like 'How Long ?', 'Humble Stance', the aforementionned 'Chapters', 'The Perfectionnist' and 'Ice Nice' sound as good played live today as they did back in the day.

Those not familiar with Saga's sound should check here first to have a good idea of what they did back then. One can discern various influences such as Gentle Giant, Camel, Pink Floyd, Styx, etc...

Truly an excellent addition to ANY prog collection. Four solid stars. The debut of a great Saga, indeed.

Saga was for a long time a very important band to me. That was mainly in the eighties when there was, as most of us know, not too much prog around and I had to satisfy myself for a big part with this band. I also went to their concerts which were very enjoyable. In those days I thought this was real progressive music, but obviously it's not more than prog related. Well, I promised progarchives not to discuss that here, we have a forum for that.

One of my very favourite albums in those days (and still) is their debut, named after the band and filled with very interesting and great tracks. It starts with How long, not one of the best and almost ballad like track. The next is far more impressive, Humble Stance is an all time Saga classic, often played on their live gigs. A fantastic track with clear progressive influences. This also goes for the last two songs, Ice nice and Tired World (best Saga track ever ?) but also the 4 in between are at least neo proglike or even slightly symphonic. On the other hand I have to agree this is probably the most progressive/symphonic album by Saga. After this great debut, the slowly but surely get less progressive involved.

But they are progressive enough to me, I will always like this band and especially this album.

I had somehow been led to believe, since the early years of the band, that Saga's first was their best, and the most truly progressive of their albums. I have to dispel both rumours now. Most of the Saga style is already present here, but the overall songs and melodies are lacking a certain something that presented itself in subsequent releases. At the same time, this is not progressive or challenging music, although it is a cut above the mainstream of its era.

The very first notes of "How Long" would seem to have been lifted verbatim by the Human League for their big hit a few years later, but what follows is a very pedestrian rocker with a few unenthusiastic riffs and an unimaginative tune. Unfortunately this formula re- appears throughout the disk, in tracks like "Climbing the Ladder" and "Give 'Em the Money", which seem to serve as vehicles for inane choruses, while even the "Chapters" are off to a slow start here. Apart from "Humble Stance", "Perfectionist", and "Ice Nice" there isn't much here of note, but these do give hints towards future potential if not exactly hitting high notes in the process.

Overall, a pretty weak start to the Saga. Rounding up to allow for opening night jitters.

Has its moments. The unique Saga sound is already in play. The synth in the opnener How Long might remind you of the Human League...it's almost as though Human League ripped it off for their hit Don't You Want Me in the '80s on their _Dare_ LP. Give'Em The Money is a nice quirky track with the dynamic twinning guitar/synth Saga is known for. One thing I like to mention about Saga is that they are masters at using _volume_ to their advantage. Another great quality about Saga is that these guys can jam when they really want to. For examples, check out the the longer tracks like Ice Nice and Will It Be You?. A great debut, only to master their sound on Silent Knight(their 3rd album).

Saga - Saga, It (the Saga) begins (hee hee)

And how it began with a bang - a song still played in concert - How Long ! Medieval Funk was what they would call their music. And in a way, that's not a bad description of How Long. Humble Stance & Will It Be You (Chapter Four) seem a good fit for that definition, too.

For some proggers, that meant association with funk bastard over-commercialized child - the then nascent disco scene & its' prominent beat. Yet, Saga was more than that. Jim Crichton had been the bass player in the Canadian group Fludd. The group played an eclectic mix of pop / rock. So just playing root 5th or walking blues basslines was not close to being enough. SO Jim had the ability to play more than basic bass, but chose not to go into Squire or Rutherford territory. He & Negus provided a more rock oriented & solid base for the other instrumentalist to fly . If you've ever heard How Long in concert, it's prog you bop your head to. I even remember a reasonably successful regional act from back then - Mad Hash - that played it as one of the covers in their sets. Quite a talented duo, drummer and guitarist who played bass pedals, with some programmed sequences. It almost sounded like Rush trying to do Queen .And as with Humble Stance & Will It Be You, you can hear some Queen influences, not only in Sadler's vocals, but also in the polished production. Atonality & 11/8 beats are not a requirement for prog. And Saga were prog. Part of the second wave that would be the link between the original Symphonic movement & what would eventually become the New Progressive "dit" Neo.

Where's the Genesis ? Climbing the Ladder main guitar riff - speed up Sqonk. Same pattern. Add a chorus that was part & parcel of the more artistic bands in what was becoming FM radio's demon child - AOR. Will It Be You's heavy mid part . Sure they didn't match Banks & Hackett's instrumental prowess. But this was a debut album. Just as Rush had showing traces of 1st wave prog like Genesis & Gentle Giant in their music as they progressed beyond Fly by Night. Except that Rush was never one to get funky or swing. Again, if you know the band, then Negus is more hold down the fort, than blow down a row of drums, and Jim Crichton held the bottom solid with his bass. So devotees of prog icons like Yes, Genesis bass & drum virtuosos were missing what these two musicians' role was in this band.

Now, I don't want to claim that this album is perfect. There are 3 songs that I eventually left out when I anthologized my Saga LPs.

The Perfectionist, if one didn't know it was written & released in 1978, you would swear that this was from the Neo Prog movement's early days. It doesn't match Marillion or even IQ , but it does beat out other Neo groups' like Abel Ganz & Pallas. Nothing spectacular, but one need not be a completist to let it play.

Give 'Em The Money , to my ears, sounds like an out-take from Queen's Kind of Magic or Miracle albums. Professional, competent, but really no delay in it going one ear and out the other. The term filler is appropriate. Nothing to make a person lunge for the CD remote to skip it, but filler still.

Tired World, if one took out Sadler's vocals, starts out as if it were a track from Steely Dan's Gaucho. An album where the Dan lost the soul in its' music and sounded cold more than cool. With Saga & Sadler, it has not the hipster attraction of a tossed off Fagen lyric, nor some jazz history on display. Again, professional in playing and competent in composition. Nice filler, but again filler.

So how does it stack up in total - the 5 songs I kept are great. They would easily merit a 4. But 3 songs that present a group still searching to complete its' identity are of interest only to those who look forward to the second release to see if the promise shown is fulfilled. As it eventually will be.

So as a whole - a 3. And if you're a fan of Worlds Apart and or Heads or Tales, it is well worth checking it, though.

The first chapter in the saga

Saga released this, their self-titled debut album in 1978, but the 80's were just around the corner and the sound of this album clearly anticipates that often maligned decade. There are certainly quite some "remnants" here of the progressive attitude that was characteristic of 70's (Prog) Rock, but in general, Saga sounds like a very good band that could have been even better had they only started out some years earlier than they in fact did. In the late 70's and early 80's, Saga were very much of their time, or even slightly ahead of it. Listening to this debut album, it is not unreasonable to believe that Saga (among others) had an influence on how Prog developed in the 80's. Maybe the members of Yes were looking to albums like this one for inspiration in the process of modernizing the band's sound in the early 80's? Maybe John Wetton, Carl Palmer, Steve Howe and Geoff Downes were using Saga as a reference point when they created Asia? Maybe Neo-progers like Pallas were listening to Saga during their early days?

Two tracks of this album were "chapters"; parts of an on-going, conceptual saga that took the band many years to finish. I don't know how they came up with the idea, but their first four albums all had tracks subtitled 'Chapter #'. These chapters appeared in non-numerical order scattered on these early albums and the present album included chapters four and six! It was always unclear to me what these songs are supposed to have in common or why they are supposed to hang together in the order indicated by the chapter numbers - as far as I can tell they are not really musically connected. Even more interestingly, Saga once again picked up this tradition in 1999 (almost 20 years later) on the appropriately titled Full Circle album and they continued on the albums House Of Cards and Marathon adding up to a further eight chapters of the saga. In 2005, they released a live album featuring all of the 16 chapters in numerical running order. One might wonder if they planned to do something like this all along ever since 1978.

Being so much of its time, this album has aged reasonably well. It already featured most of the band's trademarks and their distinctive sound and as such it was a very promising debut. The sound is admittedly a little bit "thin" and there are some cheesy moments among the promising ones, most notably the Disco-like Give 'Em The Money which is easily the worst track on this album and foreshadows the disappointing follow-up album. But overall this album is certainly an enjoyable listen and one of the most interesting early Saga albums being somewhere in between the sounds and trends of the 70's and those of the 80's.

One of Saga's best albums to this day and a highly recommended in its own right

Saga kicked off a style that later would be tagged neo-prog, a type of rock that would revisit the style of the classic progressive bands with some poppy sensibilities added to it for good measure. While this leads to some occasional great results, most bands are a disappointing listen because they compromise their creativity in order to conform to a particular style or sound that might please the fans. 'Compromise', 'Conform', 'Please fans'. That's not the kind of thing I want from my music.

And so fared Saga, obviously talented but too formulaic to obtain fully satisfactory results. They never managed to make really consistent albums but came close with this debut and with Heads Or Tales. If it wasn't for uninspired Climbing the Ladder and the mediocre Will It Be You? , they might have gotten themselves a real classic with their debut. Instead, it's not really consistent enough. 3.5 stars but I'll round up for once.