Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Saga
Label: SPV Records
Released: 1993
Rating: 4.5/5
After “The Beginners Guide To Throwing Shapes” (1989), a thoroughly solid return to their progressive rock roots, Saga took a few years of well-earned rest. During that time, keyboardist Jim Gilmour and original drummer Steve Negus rejoined the band after years away. The two had left in 1986 to put out the short-lived joint project Gilmour-Negus Project (GNP). Since going solo hadn’t exactly worked out for them, since plenty of Saga fans were dying to see them back, and since they were itching for new musical challenges in the band that had brought them their biggest success, it was only a matter of time before they came home. Their return was a huge bonus that gave the core trio of vocalist/keyboardist Michael Sadler and brothers Jim (bass/keyboards) and Ian Crichton (guitar) extra motivation to record a new album, and it brought back the raw prog rock energy the band had when they made their best work in the early years.
On “The Security Of Illusion,” Saga keep following the progressive rock roots they revived on the predecessor, only a whole quality level higher. Gilmour’s return means the keyboard sound is far more eclectic again, and the guy also serves up some of his best arrangements up to that point. Negus, with his “70s”-flavored drumming style, gave the band back that massive rhythmic backbone that you could miss quite a few times in his absence. Both indirectly lit a fire under the other three original members, who deliver some of their best performances to date on this very album. Jim’s bass, for instance, is pushed almost to the max of what he’s capable of. The biggest “star” here, though, is none other than Ian, who once again doesn’t skimp on delicious riffs, solos and complex passages wherever he feels like dropping them. Michael’s mighty vocals brim, as usual, with incredible charisma on the more energetic parts and with the pathos he can pour into the calmer pieces. With Gilmour on board, he could finally concentrate fully on singing and this time dropped the keyboards. The album mostly has a noticeably rawer sound, no longer typical of the 80s (goodbye, electronic-tinged synths, guitar synths and percussion) and already more modern. The production, as is tradition for them, is brilliant across the board.
This time the album has a special, rather comical intro in “Entrance,” a short Mediterranean-sounding instrumental on a looped accordion that also recalls circus music (you can even hear the audience chatting in the background). But right after that, the album sounds anything but circus-like (unless you mean the odd instrumental acrobatics). With “Mind Over Matter,” Saga immediately hand us a pretty direct, decisive energy boost. Despite its seemingly simple structure and a gorgeous multi-part chorus, there’s again no shortage of witty instrumental sections, where Ian’s string-scraping is the real highlight. “Once Is Never Enough” has a great spacey keyboard intro, followed by a witty, totally unexpected but classic Saga transition as the vocals kick in alongside sawing guitar and a sharpened rhythm. Distorted guitar riffs weave nicely with the spacey keyboard curtains, giving us the band’s signature sound from their best days. You can really tell here how Jim’s keyboards have deepened the band’s whole sound again.
“Along Again Tonight” is a very pretty love ballad. I’m usually not a huge fan of this kind of ballad, but most of the lyrical ballads this band has made sound seriously convincing. Michael has always been a master of ballads where you have to leave your heart on the table. Besides, his vocals can never come off as cheesy. Same story this time, as over a gentle, melancholic backing of keyboards and guitar, he easily puts the listener in a trance. “I’ll Leave It In Your Hands” has a rather soft AOR intro on keyboards that also hints at a ballad, but then it morphs into a pretty energetic number with a strong vocal melody, wound-up riffs and a punchy rhythm. In the second half Ian treats us to a delicate solo, which in a heartbeat drops us right back into the main chorus. The title track “The Security of Illusion,” surely one of the album’s centerpieces, opens with a magical acoustic guitar intro, joined by extremely emotional vocals and a soft layer of keyboards. It’s a mid-tempo, acoustic-driven song, pretty atypical for the band, that hypnotizes with its far-too-beautiful acoustic guitar and keyboard arrangements and a dreamy chorus. Saga prove themselves masters of ambient, too, for the first time in a long while.
The punchy “Stand Up” opens with a classic hard rock riff, the kind Ian has always loved, before ambient keyboard curtains and vocals drop in. Besides the hard-hitting chorus, it’s another track with the power to carry the listener off into a trance. An interesting mix of hard rock and ambient prog finesse. “Days Like These” is one of the most interesting experiments on the album, since it’s pure neo prog. Quite a strange move for a band that some even count as the founders of neo prog to make a song that reminds me a bit of early Marillion (the rhythm is pretty close to the one in “Market Square Heroes”). Besides the full-on neo prog rhythm, it’s also a surprise that lead vocals were sung by Jim Gilmour for the first time in ages (last time was on the classic “Scratching The Surface”). Anyone who knows that one knows that, on top of his excellent keyboard chops, Jim is also a very solid singer. His keyboard skills, meanwhile, shine on the short, orient-tinged instrumental “Voila!”, where he plays a tasteful piano motif.
“No Man’s Land” is again the embodiment of classic Saga, with a simple melodic chorus but plenty of instrumental twists. The rhythm section hits at full steam while wound-up guitar passages cut through it. Numerous time changes also provide shorter dreamy moments. In the second half they surprise us with an interesting jazzy instrumental interlude, where we can once again enjoy the back-and-forth solos from Messrs. Ian Crichton and Jim Gilmour. The closing “Without You” starts out in an extremely dramatic way, with a proper hammering march on the drums. Then heart-wrenching vocals and a melancholic layer of keyboards come in. It’s basically yet another love ballad, but Saga dress it so skillfully in colorful instrumental outfits, which they keep changing as they go, that it ends up as one of the best pieces on the album, at least in terms of expressiveness. Jim’s guitar passages during the time changes are a feast for the ears, while the drums sound downright brutal in places. The ending might be a touch too quick, followed by that opening Mediterranean circus motif again, which wraps up the album right where it started
“The Security of Illusion” was without a doubt a huge return to the peaks of art rock and, in my opinion, one of their best albums up to then, period, comparable even to the early ones. The band no longer tried to record a hit single, and it shows, because the album is marked throughout by remarkable consistency of overall mood (even though I probably belong to the few who liked their more pop-leaning experiments too). It also showed how much Gilmour and Negus meant to the band, though they’re far from being some kind of saviors, since Saga held their own just fine as a trio. But back then they were always missing that little piece of their signature sound that made them closer to prog than to pop or classic rock. And that’s exactly what this album brings back, which is a joy for most of their fans, who got to see a united band stride successfully into the 90s. Sadly, the band wouldn’t be able to hold on to the high art rock standard they restored with “The Security Of Illusion” in the following year, as they’d make their weakest record up to that point, more or less the result of unfavorable circumstances.
Line-up
Michael Sadler – vocals
Ian Crichton – guitar
Jim Crichton – bass, guitar
Jim Gilmour – keyboards
Steve Negus – drums, percussion, keyboards
Production
Saga
Track list
1. Entrance [instrumental] (0:49)
2. Mind Over Matter (4:41)
3. Once Is Never Enough (5:28)
4. Along Again Tonight (4:15)
5. I’ll Leave It in Your Hands (4:42)
6. The Security of Illusion (5:42)
7. Stand Up (4:20)
8. Days Like These (4:46)
9. Voila! [instrumental] (1:41)
10. No Man’s Land (5:20)
11. Without You (6:47)
Running time: 48:31
