GENERATION 13

Most reviewers agree that this particular album by Saga is their most progressive. Now, it might be their most ambitious but in all honesty it has most of their signature sound with some tracks more heavily orchestrated than past material, for me it's more progressive in subject matter then musical. Tracks like 'Generation 13 (Theme #1)' and 'The Cross (Home #3)' harken back to their early days with excellent guitar and drumming with added orchestration on 'Generation 13 (Theme #1)'. Sadler sings well throughout and the band for the most part are as good or better then ever. My only misgiving is the absolute silly voice of one of the characters in this concept album. The character Sam sounds like the worse cartoon/gremlin-like character I've ever heard. It makes a rather serious subject matter, (the degeneration of the current generation) sound rather comical. If your a fan of the band, then by all means this is a must have album. For those that want to hear them for the first time, I would try their early albums then give this one a try. If not for the ridiculous Sam character I would probably pick this one as one of the top three. Still a solid 3.5 rounded to 3. Sam I am not! (sorry Dr Suess :-)