Nektar vs Saga

Nektar

Catcher10 wrote: Saga for me, they have more albums that I hit play on. Nektar is excellent but some of their albums are pretty weak, the direction is way off base. Saga's albums all have something I can connect to.

Like being from Canada, ay?

The last time I ever saw anything about Saga was way back when MTV actually still played music videos. They showed that one lone Saga video with lyrics about something being "on the loose." The group immediately came off so desperately as a Rush wannabe. So to Icarium, do tell. You must have some appreciation for the group to bring them up in this poll. Please inform me then of the go-to Saga album that spells out some semblance of prog efficacy.

Saga have never sounded anything like Rush!! They have their own distinct sound with a instantly recognizeable vocalist in Michael Sadler. His voice is still great, unlike Geddy Lee's.

Wanorak wrote: Saga have never sounded anything like Rush!! They have their own distinct sound with a instantly recognizeable vocalist in Michael Sadler. His voice is still great, unlike Geddy Lee's.

Never said they sounded like Rush. Only that they were wannabes. And they're distinct, alright. Distinctly foul from what I've seen. Asked the other fellow for a recommendation of an album that would be worth listening to and got what appeared to be a live one. Maybe you can suggest a studio album that would wow me, professor.

I don't really know Saga. I recall they had something that got some radio play long long ago. I never got any indication from it that they were Prog. I'd like to vote for Nektar, but I'll refrain from voting since I'm in the dark about the other choice.

Rednight wrote: Never said they sounded like Rush. Only that they were wannabes.

My view have been for a very long time that Saga is a band that people doesn't seem to understand, or they subconsciously apply their own made up understanding to replace their confusion. And you demonstrate it by saying wannabees . That's the last thing they are. The only wannabee-ism would be that they've tried to sound too much like themselves in the last 15 years. If you are one of the most original bands in pop/rock history, you can't be a wannabee. They were deliberately trying not to sound like anybody else, so when writing new music they discarded any chord sequence that resembled something else, even if it was just two chords.

Here in a clip from 1983 they talk about their original ambitions (what they say here is completely true):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3HUTV5hZNI&t=22m46s

(Maybe you can recommend me some other wannabee (super original) bands?)

Sometimes I have thought that Saga could have been misunderstood even by some of their own fans, when you look at what music they listen to alongside Saga. If I listen to power rock or power metal bands, I don't get anything resembling what I get from listening to Saga. It is not a genre-band.
It took many years for me to start understanding the elements that make up their music and identifying bits of influences and principles behind it. It's phenomenal.


Edited by wilmon91 - June 04 2015 at 17:25

not a big fan of either.  Both have done good stuff though.  The difference for me is that Nektar produced a near masterpiece, that being "Remember the Future".  Saga didn't come close to that