GENERATION 13

A topic that crops up on the forum fairly often is which albums are difficult to get into. There are apparently lots of albums that disgust us upon on first listen but which we learn eventually to love. Lizard by King Crimson is the one that I consistently cite.

But a topic that I have never seen, and which is much more germaine to the topic at hand, is which albums have you listened to and dismissed as totally forgettable, but later have discovered have sterling qualities that should not be so easily dismissed. And my vote in that category goes to Saga's Generation 13.

So why am I recommending this to you? This album has the type of concept, story and style that made Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime such an awesome album. The music is truly progressive. Saga is all over the map as far as the style of music on this album goees. Everthing from metal riffs to the sounds of a small orchestra has been thrown in. In fact, if judged just on this album, one might categorize them as symphonic instead. The album has an epic sweep to it, and it does not fail to entertain, despite the fact that it starts slowly in my opinion.

This one gets four stars. I found it original and entertaining and memorable after the first two listens, but it doesn't go far enough to be a masterpiece. But for those who have more or less dismissed Saga (as I have) it's definitely worth some dedicated listening.