It must be more than 30 years since I first became aware of Saga, and after purchasing a cut-price single, invested in my first vinyl album of theirs, the wonderful ‘Images of Twilight’. From then on I picked up the occasional release, and finally caught them in concert about ten years ago (where they won the award for being the quietest rock band I have ever seen). By then they had, at least to me, settled into a sound that was always very much Saga and they could always be relied upon to release a solid album, but normally not a spectacular one. The last album I heard of theirs was 2006’s ‘Trust’, and in the intervening period they have released two other studio albums and singer Michael Sadler has left and returned, so have I been missing anything?
Well, if this is anything to go by then probably not much. While opener “Six Feet Under” is very much a typical Saga song, with driving keyboards and guitars and over the top vocals it is let down by much that follows, especially “Ellery” which highlights a more reflective side of the band that just doesn’t work at all. For every song that raises the hopes there is another that dashes it, and the overall effect is that while die-hard fans will acclaim Michael’s return as a masterpiece the rest of us won’t feel the same way. If only there were more like “Show and Tell”, which is classic Saga in so many ways, then it would be possible to give this more than 3 stars. But as it is, that’s al it is worth.
