Kategorie: CD-Reviews | Genre: Prog, Mainstream/AOR | Heft: Jahrgang 2014, eclipsed Nr. 162 / 7-8-2014 | VÖ-Jahr: 2014 | Wertung: 7/10 | Label: Ear | Autor: MaB
After the return of frontman Michael Sadler, the Canadian prog heroes of Saga presented themselves in surprisingly good form with their twentieth studio album "20/20". The current CD "Sagacity" continues the last course, i.e.: Saga don't follow retroprog paths, but create their own little niche where crisp guitar riffs and atmospheric keyboards coexist peacefully and are refined by Sadler's still impressive voice. "Let It Slide" shows how you can combine progressive structures with comprehensible melody arcs without indulging in the past - Jim Crichton's monster bass line and Mike Thorne's powerful drumming do the rest. Crichton's brother Ian is also in the limelight time and time again and shows who is the master of the vibrato lever with his guitar solos ("It Doesn't Matter Who You Are"). In "Go With The Flow" Saga even venture into the realm of folk prog, which has rarely happened before. The vocal experiment "Press 9" would have been better in a musical, but Saga make the dancefloor swing with "Wake Up".
Top track: Let It Slide