WORLDS APART

"No one can stop us now

Tonight we're on the loose

No one to tell us how

Tonight we're on the loose"

Call it Prog, Pomp, Arena, Modern rock , whatever. Saga hit this one out of the park. On The Loose and Wind Him Up burned up the charts, and set Saga into the big leagues. Add to this a new avenue for media exposure. MTV, still in its' infancy , provided much exposure for these two songs' videos which stood out among the best in a nascent art form. Where once they were compared to Rush, Genesis, and Queen, they now came into their own. And in a year where North American once prog groups like Styx and Kansas were morphing into more radio friendly shadows of themselves, Saga joined Rush in hitting their commercial peak, while staying true to themselves (ironically, Rush would move from the guitar heavy Moving Pictures to the Synth laden Signals within a year. Saga influencing Rush ?)

The album's two openers summed up their influences and set their sound. On The Loose, Wind Him Up - sophisticated, progressive, intelligent, with the instrumental interplay that few bands could match. Melodies to die for, guitar solos that most metal virtuosos could barely follow, keyboards that at times carried the song, then backed off to support the mood, and time & time again the two "lead" instruments would charge off . With Negus & Ian Crichton providing solid rhythm support, it all came together. Medieval funk indeed ! The promise showed on their debut with the song How Long was finally fulfilled. In Spades !!!

Where once their pop leanings could come across as fey, songs like Amnesia would continue their pop side like songs such as Slow Motion on Images of Twilight, but with more of an AOR sensibility. Time's Up & Framed , at first listen, make me think of the Cars' Heartbeat City and its' polished symphonic panorama that Mutt Lange built up bit by bit (or byte by byte, so to speak). No Regrets could have been on Pendragon's debut. This was a band that was world class and comfortable in showing all of its' musical faces.

Album cuts like Conversations, The Interview & No Stranger would quickly become fan favourites. Indeed, in going through the various tour setlists posted at a fan site - SagaPlanet - it seems that all the songs here were regular concert standards.

So if you're looking for THE Saga album. This is it. Start here.

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