This is absolutely mind blowing!! Never heard this before. Loved these boys since late 70s thru to the late 80s in particular. Saw these legends twice in London, Ontario. Fantastic live performers. Shout out to Steve Negus. His playing was always unbelievable.
Seen them at The Gasworks(famous bar) in Toronto in late '77 or early '78, the poster outside said - "Appearing tonight, Saga, formerly known as The Pockets". It was their first appearance as Saga!
I'm glad this is up here. I've been binging Saga lately, and there's a good number of their albums that aren't on Spotify. I can kinda see why this one isn't, though.
How have I never heard of this album??? I was there back in the late 70's, early 80's... even had the pleasure of helping load-in a few times, in the gta. Rush lent them some equipment at least once, that I know of. What a thrill for a young upstart, wanna-be rock star ;)
@@pilotfish4171Early 90's?, I met Peter Rochon at a gym in Newmarket. He offered to let me and my buddies hear some tracks that never made it to vinyl. Unfortunately, we lost touch. I'm thinking these may be some of what he was referring to? Either way, great album... Much more in the "progressive" vein... miss mike's moustache :) btw, lol.
ub2bn i was just thinking the same thing...why i never knew about this album .. it’s cool to hear new songs and different versions of some of their best songs !! 🇨🇦👍🏻☮️
@@ub2bn Oh yeah those "I am the walrus" moustache... :) A "cookie duster" as it was called in one of those legendary 1970's episodes of The Streets of San Francisco....
Saga is not Saga without Michael Saddler, but it really isn’t the best without the whole original band. Everyone “is needed” to make “SAGA” sound like “SAGA”. Even a member like Jim Crichton, who’s an awesome bass player and keyboard player and Jim Gilmour, whom is an awesome keyboardist and sings such cool backups in several of Saga’s best songs and one of the biggest hits like “Scratching the surface”… nobody can sing that one but him. Then you have Steve Negus, who gave such a hard, solid, hard-hitting beat with incredible metering and closed high-hat technique, that made the whole band sound so tight. Every original member was there for a reason.
Steve's drumming on the last albums he was on was a far cry from his early days. And while Jim C.'s stage presence was missing when I saw them in 2020 shortly before the lockdown, Dusty did justice to all the bass parts and the band actually rocked harder than the 2016 and 2017 gigs I've seen.
Great tracks from A to Z, incredible that these were not released earlier, when they were recorded. Because.... everything works out fine in them, every musician being added value, very nice melodies. I don't find one argument that could explain why didn't make it to audiences earlier than in the early 2000's. But of course, it was a nice surprise when they did. Saga went through different stages, pleasing probably somewhat different crowds. I wasn't very enthousiastic about Generation 13 or Pain & Pleasure stuff, nor what was released with that interim singer whose name I already forgot for obvious reasons. He may have sounded great in other bands, but not in Saga. But gosh, those early Saga recordings certainly were great stuff, but that's also true for 20/20, Trust, 10 000 days. Sagacity wasn't the best "swan song" I've ever heard. Quite a bumpy ride, this musical career
yo tuve la suerte de encontrar un hifi sanyo de los setenta de 130 watios de los de antes y en vinilo es alucinante y solo me costo treinta eur,la gente no valora lo bueno y lo vende regalado es una pena,viva lo analógico.
By the way, how is it possible that neither Ian Crichton, Michael Sadler nor Jim Gilmour have their own Wikipedia article ? So many non-entities have one, so not these first class arts & crafts musicians ?
JE SUIS TRES SURPRIS C'EST UNE DECOUVERTE FOR ME Le son est absolument incroyable, j'aime SAGA👍 et c'est la première fois que j'entends cela je n'ai jamais entendu cela avant. From PARIS. Blue -White - Red.Nation
The solo in “Half The Time” sounds like either they ripped off RUSH or RUSH ripped them off for tone and technique, or the producer and engineers did, but I still like it better than most of the 1980+ stuff. I do love “Heads or Tales” and “Worlds Apart”. I like this because it has that ‘70’s vibe.
Saw Saga at Lulu's Roadhouse in Kitchener and the following night at RPM's in Toronto. Second concert was far better - Lulu's venue sucks for sound, plus Michael was getting over a cold and his vocals weren't 100% that first night. So thankful I got the chance to see them when Steve was still in the band.
@@pilotfish4171 I have doubts. It's most likely Gregg Chad. The studio tracks were recorded in 1978, for their upcoming "Images at Twilight" album. Gilmour only arrived in 1980. Rochon left right after the first album, and Chad was hired a bit before these recordings.
@@pilotfish4171 That's my bet. Definitely not Gilmour for that time period. It's either right before Rochon left, or just after Chad came in. Rochon actually contributed writing on a couple of tracks for IAT even though he's not on the album. He could still have been there for these earlier recordings and been replaced by Chad mid-project. This is nebulous!
![Hunxho - Ball Forever [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nki9ZTF9Uls/mqdefault.jpg)
The Chemistry of this band is unbelievable .. awesome
This is absolutely mind blowing!! Never heard this before. Loved these boys since late 70s thru to the late 80s in particular. Saw these legends twice in London, Ontario. Fantastic live performers. Shout out to Steve Negus. His playing was always unbelievable.
Saw Saga supporting Styx in London 1980....been a fan ever since!
,
Seen them at The Gasworks(famous bar) in Toronto in late '77 or early '78, the poster outside said - "Appearing tonight, Saga, formerly known as The Pockets". It was their first appearance as Saga!
70's prog rock + 80's new wave = SAGA
The sound is incredible...
Thank-you for the post as this is a great album that was released as only a fan only originality released through the Saga club❤😎👍
Deep prog rarities. I'd subscribe twenty times if I could. THANK YOU!
I'm glad this is up here. I've been binging Saga lately, and there's a good number of their albums that aren't on Spotify. I can kinda see why this one isn't, though.
Ha ha I been binging too!
It would be cool to hear them play this stuff in concert today. Get Ian Crichton to pull out his old guitar gear😜🎼🎼🎼🤘🤘🤘🤘
How have I never heard of this album??? I was there back in the late 70's, early 80's... even had the pleasure of helping load-in a few times, in the gta. Rush lent them some equipment at least once, that I know of. What a thrill for a young upstart, wanna-be rock star ;)
it was published around 1997,
that's probably why ;-)
1978 is the recording date,
that's why I put 1978,for chronological reason in my playlist
@@pilotfish4171Early 90's?, I met Peter Rochon at a gym in Newmarket. He offered to let me and my buddies hear some tracks that never made it to vinyl. Unfortunately, we lost touch. I'm thinking these may be some of what he was referring to? Either way, great album... Much more in the "progressive" vein... miss mike's moustache :) btw, lol.
ub2bn i was just thinking the same thing...why i never knew about this album .. it’s cool to hear new songs and different versions of some of their best songs !! 🇨🇦👍🏻☮️
@@ub2bn Oh yeah those "I am the walrus" moustache... :) A "cookie duster" as it was called in one of those legendary 1970's episodes of The Streets of San Francisco....
@@ub2bn Mike's mustache is back! It now is part of a bigger beard entity :)
Jim Critchton play that... Don't play out of line.. tight.. awesome
Saga is not Saga without Michael Saddler, but it really isn’t the best without the whole original band. Everyone “is needed” to make “SAGA” sound like “SAGA”. Even a member like Jim Crichton, who’s an awesome bass player and keyboard player and Jim Gilmour, whom is an awesome keyboardist and sings such cool backups in several of Saga’s best songs and one of the biggest hits like “Scratching the surface”… nobody can sing that one but him. Then you have Steve Negus, who gave such a hard, solid, hard-hitting beat with incredible metering and closed high-hat technique, that made the whole band sound so tight. Every original member was there for a reason.
Steve's drumming on the last albums he was on was a far cry from his early days. And while Jim C.'s stage presence was missing when I saw them in 2020 shortly before the lockdown, Dusty did justice to all the bass parts and the band actually rocked harder than the 2016 and 2017 gigs I've seen.
Great tracks from A to Z, incredible that these were not released earlier, when they were recorded. Because.... everything works out fine in them, every musician being added value, very nice melodies. I don't find one argument that could explain why didn't make it to audiences earlier than in the early 2000's. But of course, it was a nice surprise when they did. Saga went through different stages, pleasing probably somewhat different crowds. I wasn't very enthousiastic about Generation 13 or Pain & Pleasure stuff, nor what was released with that interim singer whose name I already forgot for obvious reasons. He may have sounded great in other bands, but not in Saga. But gosh, those early Saga recordings certainly were great stuff, but that's also true for 20/20, Trust, 10 000 days. Sagacity wasn't the best "swan song" I've ever heard. Quite a bumpy ride, this musical career
Awesome!
yo tuve la suerte de encontrar un hifi sanyo de los setenta de 130 watios de los de antes y en vinilo es alucinante y solo me costo treinta eur,la gente no valora lo bueno y lo vende regalado es una pena,viva lo analógico.
This album doesn't exist on vinyl. But I agree about the vinyl "sound" (if mixed good)
By the way, how is it possible that neither Ian Crichton, Michael Sadler nor Jim Gilmour have their own Wikipedia article ? So many non-entities have one, so not these first class arts & crafts musicians ?
We must fix that!!!
@@gwensciora8516 And still nothing. LOL!
JE SUIS TRES SURPRIS C'EST UNE DECOUVERTE FOR ME
Le son est absolument incroyable, j'aime SAGA👍
et c'est la première fois que j'entends cela
je n'ai jamais entendu cela avant.
From PARIS. Blue -White - Red.Nation
The solo in “Half The Time” sounds like either they ripped off RUSH or RUSH ripped them off for tone and technique, or the producer and engineers did, but I still like it better than most of the 1980+ stuff. I do love “Heads or Tales” and “Worlds Apart”. I like this because it has that ‘70’s vibe.
Saw Saga at Lulu's Roadhouse in Kitchener and the following night at RPM's in Toronto. Second concert was far better - Lulu's venue sucks for sound, plus Michael was getting over a cold and his vocals weren't 100% that first night. So thankful I got the chance to see them when Steve was still in the band.
anyone know if this is Peter Rochon on keys or Jim Gilmour ??
Personnel in the video details of all my videos ;-) it is Jim Gilmour
@@pilotfish4171 I have doubts. It's most likely Gregg Chad. The studio tracks were recorded in 1978, for their upcoming "Images at Twilight" album. Gilmour only arrived in 1980. Rochon left right after the first album, and Chad was hired a bit before these recordings.
@@Echoes_AJ I pasted the liner notes,maybe they're not accurate?
@@pilotfish4171 That's my bet. Definitely not Gilmour for that time period. It's either right before Rochon left, or just after Chad came in. Rochon actually contributed writing on a couple of tracks for IAT even though he's not on the album. He could still have been there for these earlier recordings and been replaced by Chad mid-project. This is nebulous!
@@Echoes_AJ I agree. These were early recordings of Saga
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