GENERATION 13

Saga was one of those bands that was hit and miss through most of it's history. Before 1995, they had some really great albums and some very less-than-mediocre albums. When they decided to do a concept album based upon a novel, they pulled out all of the creative stops that the band possessed and come up with perhaps their best and most progressive album, "Generation 13". This is the album that we always knew they had in them, but they always seemed constrained to produce. It is a complete concept album that is best experienced as a whole, although a handful of songs on this 25 track gigantic album do also work well alone; for example, the excellent "We Hope Your Feeling Better" which has a memorable and singable riff, and the heavy "The Cross (Home #3)". But this album was meant to be a complete suite, and is best when listened to in that way.

As with the best concept albums, the tracks are all tied together, most of them flow from one into the other almost seamlessly. As such, the listener experiences a wide range of emotions, and Sadler's vocals have never sounded better or as convincing as he emits all of the required emotions. There is even some characterization in the vocals, with one character actually approaching a "dirty" vocals style, but never to the point that it is annoying, and only for short durations, and done as the storyline requires. Don't let that frighten you away, it happens quite infrequently and is done for dramatic purposes.

Also, as with the greatest rock-operas and concept albums, there are several thematic elements that appear several times throughout this album. However, these themes are not overly abused as is the case with some of the lesser concept albums. You tend to recognize them when they appear in various forms, but you are never left with the attitude that they are overdone.

Many of the tracks appear in various parts or variations as certain ideas pop up in the story line. Also, there are several tracks that act as intermezzos that pass from one scene to another, however, most of these don't feel like filler, but instead they help build the concept playing around with themes and ideas of the concept in the best way possible. Yes, the tracks are mostly short, staying between the less than a minute up to just over 5 minutes, however, you end up feeling like you are moving smoothly along with the story and the entire album plays like a long continuous suite. But, you don't feel like you are constantly being barraged by sound just for the sake of cohesiveness, you still feel like most tracks are their own ideas, and it is usually easy to tell when you move from one scene to another.

All in all, this is a great example of how a concept album with a story line should be done. The story does not overcrowd the music and the music serves to tell the story, it all works together brilliantly. This album is definitely one of the bands crowing achievements, however, it continues to be mostly ignored. The band consists of the same classic line-up even though up to this point, there had been other personnel come and go. If ever there was a come-back album that more attention should be paid to, it is this one. Generation 13 is the hidden gem that everyone seems to have missed, not only in Saga's discography, but also in music history.