Anybody into the band SAGA?

[shadowmac]

A little history:
I had heard the song "On the Loose" a thousand times and always kind of dug it, but never really listened to what was going on musically. I recently heard it on the radio and REALLY listened. Wow, I was stunned; great voice, great musicians, fantastic layering good lyrical concept, seamless segues.
I recognized / noticed (for the first time) that the keyboards were up-front in the mix, which isn't really a mixing practice aimed to please mainstream Amercans, traditionally, that is more geared towards European audiences. I suddenly understood that THAT mixing practice was the very reason that I had subconsciously dismissed this song and band so long ago.

Upon hearing it again a few weeks ago (in the car) I turned it up and found myself enamoured. Furthermore, I thought that SAGA was a one hit wonder and was over and done. On the contrary, SAGA has put out well over a dozen studio albums and several live albums with the newest studio release, "The Human Condition", coming out this month. I now own 4 SAGA albums, I have 2 more on order. SAGA is currently signed to INSIDEOUT RECORDS, which is pretty cool! The new record is the first with someone other than the original singer, Michael Sadler, doing lead vox. The new guy sounds similar to DC Cooper - for you fans of power metal - (a mixture of Geoffe Tate, Rob Halford and Dennis DeYoung for those of you who don't know DC).

On any given album you will hear parts that remind you of STYX, QUEEN, RUSH, ASIA, THE CARS, UTOPIA, MARILLION, and many more. This is a WOW band that is very popular overseas, hails from just to the north of us and most americans have either forgotten or have never hear of. That, is a travesty. If you like the above bands and / or are a fan of stellar musicianship, Check SAGA out, you'll be glad you did.

Anybody else into SAGA??? Please comment.

[jtkennedy9]

I love Worlds Apart! One of my all-time favorite albums! I haven't listened to much else by them, might have to check some out...

[minus3db]

A work colleague of mine was up here (Calgary) from Houston a few weeks back, and commented on all the cool music he was hearing on one of our local classic rock station.

He was wondering why he had never heard it before, and I explained that govt. regulations state that 35% of broadcasted content must be Canadian in origin.

Hope our cousins to the south continue to discover Canadian artists both old and new.
Sorry about Celine Dion though... :-/

[shadowmac]

Do! Check out 2006's "TRUST". I got it from a SAGA officianado who said that this album did VERY well. I think its a very good album!

[shadowmac]

Not to go far afield here, but GREAT BIG SEA from New Foundland kicks booty too. I'm trying to stay on task with SAGA here... Stick with SAGA (Jedi mind trick) YOU WILL STICK WITH SAGA...

Originally Posted by minus3db

A work colleague of mine was up here (Calgary) from Houston a few weeks back, and commented on all the cool music he was hearing on one of our local classic rock station.

He was wondering why he had never heard it before, and I explained that govt. regulations state that 35% of broadcasted content must be Canadian in origin.

Hope our cousins to the south continue to discover Canadian artists both old and new.
Sorry about Celine Dion though... :-/

[pringlw]

Originally Posted by shadowmac

Not to go far afield here, but GREAT BIG SEA from New Foundland kicks booty too. I'm trying to stay on task with SAGA here... Stick with SAGA (Jedi mind trick) YOU WILL STICK WITH SAGA...

I'll have to check out some of the SAGA songs you are talking about. Great Big Sea is indeed amazing as well. However my current favorite "largely unknown outside of Canada" Canadian band is "Metric". Metric is an absolutely incredible indie act from the great white north. Two sample songs;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqldwoDXHKg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRxAv3xNdbo

And ah - I'll check out SAGA (whew, back on topic)

[Brick Top]

[quote=minus3db;7347332
Hope our cousins to the south continue to discover Canadian artists both old and new.
Sorry about Celine Dion though... :-/[/QUOTE]

And Bryan Adams, and Aldo Nova.

Cheers,
BT

[Jazz Ad]

I never heard about this band before. So much for oversea popularity.

[Knifedge]

Being Canadian, I know of a lot of amazing bands up here that really didn't get the recognition they deserve.. Saga is one of them... and one of my favourites. Do some youtube searches on the following bands and let me know what you think:

1) Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush
2) Haywire
3) Tragically Hip
4) Triumph
5) Coney Hatch
6) Headpins
7) Max Webster
8) Toronto

I probably don't need to mention the following, but here goes:

* Rush
* April Wine
* Trooper

[pringlw]

Originally Posted by Knifedge

Being Canadian, I know of a lot of amazing bands up here that really didn't get the recognition they deserve.. Saga is one of them... and one of my favourites. Do some youtube searches on the following bands and let me know what you think:

3) Tragically Hip

The Hip - of course. I still can't believe they didn't break through into the US in a serious way.

4) Triumph

Fight the good fight.

7) Max Webster

Lots of great stuff here. Blue River Liquor Shine is my favorite song of theirs - but the joint MW/Rush song "Battlescar" is something every Rush song should know.

I probably don't need to mention the following, but here goes:

* Rush
* April Wine
* Trooper

If you're listing the famous acts from the past I would add Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, BTO & The Guess Who

[pringlw]

Originally Posted by Jazz Ad

I never heard about this band before. So much for oversea popularity.

They are huge in... other parts of france..

[Brick Top]

Originally Posted by Knifedge

Being Canadian, I know of a lot of amazing bands up here that really didn't get the recognition they deserve.. Saga is one of them... and one of my favourites. Do some youtube searches on the following bands and let me know what you think:

1) Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush
2) Haywire
3) Tragically Hip
4) Triumph
5) Coney Hatch
6) Headpins
7) Max Webster
8) Toronto

I probably don't need to mention the following, but here goes:

* Rush
* April Wine
* Trooper

It's really a shame that the Hip never broke it big world wide. They are easily the best rock & roll band that Canada has ever produced. Yes....even better than Rush in my book.

Seeing a few of those names brought back memories, as I'm from canada originally.

A few other Canadian acts to check out: Steetheart, Goddo, and of course The Bare Naked Ladies.

Cheers,
BT

[shadowmac]

Originally Posted by Knifedge

Being Canadian, I know of a lot of amazing bands up here that really didn't get the recognition they deserve.. Saga is one of them... and one of my favourites. Do some youtube searches on the following bands and let me know what you think:

1) Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush
2) Haywire
3) Tragically Hip
4) Triumph
5) Coney Hatch
6) Headpins
7) Max Webster
8) Toronto

I probably don't need to mention the following, but here goes:

* Rush
* April Wine
* Trooper

I am familiar with 1, 2, 4 (Triumph is one of my all time faves), and 7.
Mike Lavine of Triumph is one of my chief influences!

[shadowmac]

Originally Posted by Jazz Ad

I never heard about this band before. So much for oversea popularity.

Actually SAGA's last live album was recorded in Germany in front af a 20,000+ crowd, and they tour Europe exclusively...

And of course, France, as history has shown us on no less than two occasions, has forgotten about Germany and other parts of Europe.

[shadowmac]

Originally Posted by Brick Top

It's really a shame that the Hip never broke it big world wide. They are easily the best rock & roll band that Canada has ever produced. Yes....even better than Rush in my book.

Seeing a few of those names brought back memories, as I'm from canada originally.

A few other Canadian acts to check out: Steetheart, Goddo, and of course The Bare Naked Ladies.

Cheers,
BT

Thanks for the input, I will look into TH today.

"...and if I had a million dollars...
Haven't you always wanted a monkey?!"

[weary hobo]

Originally Posted by Knifedge

Being Canadian, I know of a lot of amazing bands up here that really didn't get the recognition they deserve.. Saga is one of them...

FWIW, Saga, April Wine, Triumph, Chilliwack, and Toronto were staples of MTV in its first eighteen months on the air. There were so few music videos in existence at that point that you could count on seeing "On The Loose," "Your Daddy Don't Know," or "Fight the Good Fight" several times a day.

[shadowmac]

Originally Posted by pringlw

I'll have to check out some of the SAGA songs you are talking about. Great Big Sea is indeed amazing as well. However my current favorite "largely unknown outside of Canada" Canadian band is "Metric". Metric is an absolutely incredible indie act from the great white north. Two sample songs;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqldwoDXHKg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRxAv3xNdbo

And ah - I'll check out SAGA (whew, back on topic)

I checked out METRIC.
Tight, good production, but lacking an edge that I need...If you like the METRIC stuff, check out the song "Lost in Space" by AVANTASIA (which is a soft departure from a power band). I don't mind an occasional departure from the edgy, in fact one of my faves is SAIGON KICK, they departed from the edgy stuff frequently, but it's gotta have teeth at some point for me. METRIC, for me, was remeniscent of early NO DOUBT meets GARBAGE (a band from my home state)...I definitely take METRIC over Disney era Brian Adams!!!

Thanks again for the input!!!

[Geddyfleaharris]

Back in the day SAGA were played so much on local radio I couldn't stand it. They are a talented band and have some ok songs but their popular ones were played to death around here. I haven't listened to them in 20 years. They always did seem to go down well and be more popular in Europe. Might have seen them open up a show for a bigger band once but not sure.

[Lo end PUNCH]

They are an incredible band and VERY underrated, every single member of that group is top notch in what they do, hell even the lead singer plays many of the harder keyboard parts. The bassist and guitarist are brothers, Michael and Ian Chritchon( spelling?) and the bassist did LOTS of stuff with a keyboard bass. Their arrangements are insane, very Yes like but with a little more edge. My two favorite songs are "Pitchman" and "Catwalk".

[EagleMoon]

Wow, I'd forgotten about Saga. I used to play On The Loose in one of my bands years ago. Fun bass part to play and cool group!