THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO THROWING SHAPES

Three stars and a half, better album than many progfans would suggest. The beginners guide. was released after two disappointing albums. But this album shows a return to the sound the group is known for. For me, the best Saga albums are the first 5, but this one comes close. I still find myself playing the album every now and then. The album was issued in 1989, you can hear this by the use of many electronic percussion and sound effects. But once you get used to that, you really can enjoy one of Saga's finest albums. The beginners guide is a bit of a concept-album as the story in the lyrics is about a schizophrenic boy. The music is typical for Saga, only the massive keyboard-sounds of their first albums is missing. But the songs are great, maybe some tracks like "Starting all over again" tend too much to pop music but other tracks like "giant" are reminiscent to "Worlds apart". In 1989 Saga was only a trio : Michael Sadler and the two Crichton brothers. In the nineties Jim Gilmour and Steve Negus would return but this wouldn't mean, the quality of the music would always be better than on this album