Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Saga
Label: SPV Records
Released: 2003
Rating: 4/5
(review #2: Peter Podbrežnik)
After their stylistic rebirth in 1999, Saga hit a marathon pace of putting out quality albums that blended their classic, original sound with immaculate production. “Marathon” was their third album since the triumphant return to high art-rock standards in the late ’90s, and one more that follows the winning sonic recipe of its two predecessors. Compared to “House Of Cards” (2001), “Marathon” is a touch more laid-back, with more songs parked in mid-tempo, but the band still knows how to light a fire under your feet in places and whip up some high-voltage energy. The time changes aren’t as unpredictable and the instrumental sections are a bit less convoluted than usual. Most of the songs lean harder on strong melodies and punchy, straight-ahead guitar passages. The progressive rock side comes through a little less this time. On the other hand, you won’t find anything that’s outright pop either. Once again, Saga glide along that golden middle ground between prog and pop, perfectly balanced, built as always by the superb Ian Crichton, one of the most overlooked rock guitarists of our time, with his hard-hitting riffs and witty solos, Michael Sadler’s charismatic and at times melancholic vocals, Jim Gilmour’s rich layers of keyboards, and the dynamic rhythm section of Steve Negus/Ian Crichton. The great cover, done in the style of Marvel comics, with the band’s trademark cybernetic grasshopper dropped into Spider-Man’s world, fits the futuristic mood of most of the songs and the messages of some of the lyrics. The booklet is also packed with fun little comic panels showing the bug’s inner monologues and his flights over the city. I’d even say that ever since these wry grasshoppers returned to their covers, the music itself has crept back toward their golden era, or vice versa. In Saga’s case in the new millennium, a fan could tell from the cover alone that what’s inside would be just as impressive.
“Marathon” was the last album with original drummer Steve Negus, who decided to retire after that year’s tour. His drumming here is accordingly among the best of his career, though he was never exactly a technical grandmaster. The album also marks a major turning point in the band’s history in another way. The mysterious sci-fi concept about Einstein’s stolen brain, which had been carried on, with long breaks, since their debut, finally got its epilogue with the last three chapters of the story. If you lined up all the chapters in order on a compilation after “Marathon” came out, you could relive the whole story and discover that the individual chapters complement each other beautifully despite the years between releases, though you still couldn’t quite crack the heart of the story. The band delivered the final answer with the excellent live album “Chapters Live” (2005), where they played all the chapters in sequence and laid the whole concept bare, the one that had fired up the imaginations of so many fans for so many years.
The album is admittedly a bit less punchy overall and set at a calmer pace than its predecessor, but don’t expect that they’ve run out of fuel. The opening “Marathon” proves it right away, with its hard-hitting riff and wound-up rhythm that “hits you right between the eyes”. Without a doubt the punchiest track on the album, it sucks the listener in instantly. “How Are You?” has that recognizable, almost cheeky Saga motif, with the keyboards, guitar and bouncy rhythm playing off each other brilliantly. Ian’s guitar strolls nicely between calm chords and bristling riffs while curtains of keyboards drift through. Besides the excellent, slick chorus, there’s also a tasty instrumental section with stellar, spacey guitar and keyboard solos, proving that Saga still have plenty of prog firepower left. There’s no shortage of more romantic and relaxing moments either. The first is the gorgeous ballad “Breathing Lessons”, with its calm percussion tempo, samples, romantic keyboard curtains, dreamy harmonies and poetic vocals that practically glow with pathos. It looks fairly simple on the surface, but it has a seriously effective, almost “awakening” atmosphere. The energetic “Hands Up” is a proper art-rock missile with an interesting, slightly schizoid motif over a weave of electrified guitar riffs and synths. A treat above all for fans of punchy, uncomplicated guitar passages.
Next up is “Streets Of Gold (Chapter 14)”, the first of the three closing chapters and one of the album’s highlights. After an ambient keyboard intro, Saga slam in with a hard-hitting guitar riff and a duet between Sadler and Gilmour that creates a mysterious, dramatic mood. The bouncing transitions and the acoustic arrangements in between flow nicely into one another, and the epic chorus is the quintessential Saga one. There’s also a good instrumental part, followed by a great, totally unexpected switch into an extremely beautiful epic section. The esoteric ballad “Blind Side Of The Heart” is one of their finest ballads ever and another of the album’s highlights. It’s marked by gorgeous symphonic arrangements, a calm rhythm, tasteful samples and yet another excellent vocal performance. Few singers in prog rock/art rock can conjure up as much romantic pathos as the irreplaceable Sadler. And Ian proves once again on guitar that besides punchy riffs and solos, he’s also got a great feel for subtle ones. “Return To Forever” brings back the wound-up rhythm and that typical Saga atmosphere, where you can picture a swarm of grasshoppers flying over the city while people run panicking through the streets. It has a very singable, melodic chorus with harmonies, and the right mix of electrified riffs, rattling bass, rich keyboard textures and epic vocals, creating a dreamy balance between hard rock and pop.
The futuristic-sounding “Too Deep”, which is set up a bit more experimentally again and has a noticeably darker mood than the rest of the album, opens with interesting keyboard effects and warped guitar distortion, followed by a mysterious chorus with harmonies and a hard-hitting riff that holds the whole thing together. “You Know I Know (Chapter 12)” is another almost standard Saga piece, with a mid-tempo rhythm, sarcastic vocals, a red-hot riff and an apocalyptic vibe. “Rise And Shine” has a lovely Celtic motif on acoustic guitar and percussion, with serene vocals run through an effect. Samples, ambient keyboard curtains and a slightly funky rhythm create a psychedelic mood, while its main charm is the harmonized, romantic chorus. The peak of the album, though, is definitely the closing epic “Worlds Apart (Chapter 16”), the final chapter of the cult concept. A lovely folk-rock intro with a duet between Sadler and Gilmour (with the latter on lead vocals) has a romantic, Celtic touch that even edges toward some of the troubadour moments of the legendary Gentle Giant in its vibe. Of course, that’s gone in an instant with the transition, where a hard-hitting guitar riff and energetic vocals crash in. The beautiful harmonized chorus and magical keyboard curtains are the main sources of the wonderful magic this composition manages to conjure.
The main strength of “Marathon” is the quality consistency of the individual pieces and the high level of melodicism, though there aren’t many songs on it you could call classics (except maybe “Streets Of Gold”, “Blind Side Of The Heart” and “Worlds Apart”). Nor are there any particularly noticeable prog rock moments. This time they put a bit more emphasis on the melodic rock side of their take on art rock, which isn’t bad at all unless you’re a real prog purist (and in my opinion, those folks don’t listen to this band anyway). The excellent “House Of Cards” was pretty hard to top, but with “Marathon” they still made another very good album that’s exactly what most of their fans want and fully comparable to some of their early albums. Meanwhile, the wry grasshoppers have already packed their provisions for the road, having decided to leave their old home and get ready for the next big surprise.
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(review #1: Aleš Podbrežnik)
Yum, yum!!! So what does the new studio album from the Canadian legends bring us, ahem, their fifteenth? I don’t have much clever to say here! With a lineup unchanged since their third record “Silent Knight” (1980), they keep “driving” the same way. In other words, the tried-and-true recipe of cunning old foxes. The band is breathing with full steam and continuing in the direction of their excellent predecessor “House Of Cards” (2001). The cover is interesting, like something lifted from a Marvel comic. The bug-man on it looks like Spider-Man crossed with a mayfly. And the booklet is laced with similar comic panels throughout. Information in verses like: “Tonight we leave this place, we’ll need extra supplies!” or “Cast off your fear, step into the light!” so, who dares become Neo from The Matrix?
What has always adorned the band’s sound and enriched its unique style is the outstanding production. Saga are “recklessly” grandiose at it. Filigree-fine, I mean downright hair-splitting and uniquely “Sagarian” in its precision. And when Michael Sadler’s recognizable, delicate vocals with their melancholic touch come in, you know right away it can only be one band, Saga. The remarkable conversation between guitar and keyboards makes for a phenomenal 50-minute jigsaw puzzle and once again delivers those characteristic harmonic, perfectly synced explosions of guitar and keyboards in the transitions. However many times I write in reviews that “everything is balanced in the production”, Saga are real doctors of science at it. The musical motifs follow the poetry in harmony, and the whole thing further amplifies the band’s musical statement, in which the verses truly come alive. Saga really are a saga, then. A tale, a story… in short, you can genuinely equate them with their name. They’ve pulled it off again. And the genius, seamless “computer drum samples” that underpin the basic rhythm and spice up the sound in “Rise And Shine”, to give the most innocent example… Or in “Breathing Lessons”, where the song (the rhythm itself mimics a heartbeat or breathing in and out) actually breathes. And then there’s another exceptional “sample trick” of a similar kind in “Blind Side Of The Heart”. Among these oddities sit livelier tracks, so the record keeps winding lively through captured moods! Nothing feels forced together.
“Marathon” is, all things added up, a somewhat calmer record than “House Of Cards”, but that won’t put off the band’s true fans in the slightest. It’s once again a real Saga record from head to toe, a splendid, finely polished tale grown out of the band’s unique skills.
Line-up
Michael Sadler – vocals, keyboards
Ian Crichton – guitar
Jim Crichton – bass guitar, keyboards
Jim Gilmour – keyboards, backing vocals
Steve Negus – drums
Production
Jim Crichton
Track list
1. Marathon (4:59)
2. How Are You? (5:22)
3. Breathing Lessons (4:25)
4. Hands Up (3:44)
5. Streets Of Gold (Chapter 14) (5:11)
6. Blind Side Of The Heart (4:35)
7. Return To Forever (4:26)
8. You Know I Know (Chapter 12) (4:36)
9. Too Deep (4:21)
10. Rise & Shine (3:32)
11. Worlds Apart (Chapter 16) (6:10)
Total running time: 51:21
