The 1981 Listening Post - Saga - Worlds Apart

 Saga - Worlds Apart

#387

September 1981

Saga

Worlds Apart

Genre: SynthProgArena

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

On The Loose

Amnesia

I always thought “On the Loose” was Loverboy but that’s “Turn Me Loose” and now hearing the aforementioned again for the first time in ages I think those two should be played back to back forever. You get turned loose and you are on the loose. That’s an epic story right there.

This is considered to be Saga’s masterwork and, all, who am I to argue with a marillion fans? And it does have Chapters 5 and 8 of the Einstein saga (Get it? See what I did there?) but I have always been left confused by that story.

Will some Saga fan explain this Einstein thing to me and why all the Chapters were released out of order? Is it coherent when put together?

These guys come across as very earnest and intense. They’ve got something to tell you and it’s urgent that you hear them and when you do you are left…with really nothing. I really want to be let in on the urgency but I’m afraid they don’t know how to or are unable to reel me in to that larger story.

But, man, it’s all so EPIC!

https://music.apple.com/us/album/worlds-apart/1457350358

The 1980 Listening Post - Saga - Silent Knight

Saga - Silent Knight

#321

August 1980

Saga

Silent Knight

Genre: Rusharillion

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Compromise

I don’t know what’s going on. Like, that first song, “Don’t Be Late (Chapter Two)” is about a young Albert Einstein. But I didn’t really get it. It might as well be about Neil Simon’s Chapter Two. It sounded fine and all but I didn’t follow the story line. And, that storyline apparently picks up later on “Too Much to Lose (Chapter Seven)” but what happened to Chapters 3-6??? 

Ah.

Apparently this story is told out of order and is from the previous albums? But, why? Why are Chapters four and six on the first album and One and Three on the second album but you have to wait for the third album for Chapter Two? 

I have a headache and that’s not just from the music.

So, Saga fans, I have to ask: Is there any value in listening to a playlist of The Chapters?

This is a pretty ambitious album but I get the feeling they can do better. Well, I know they can, cuz I’ve heard better but not the immediate next stuff. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/silent-knight/1457350188 

The 1985 Listening Post - Saga - Behaviour

Saga - Behaviour

#305/940

August 1985

Saga

Behaviour

Genre: SynthPop

3.25 our of 5

I always thought of Saga as a second tier Genesis. They were proggy but not all that terribly interesting to me. And then, like Genesis, they pared down that prog sound for something more consumer/radio friendly. And in that, they were, too, second tier. It’s all here, though. Big keyboards, epic vocals, tight arrangements, well performed stuff. It’s just not all that exciting. 

I was able to play 6 games of Sorry with my 8 year old while this was on. It was like Muzak for people from the 80s. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/behaviour/1451316449

The 1985 Listening Post - Saga - Behaviour

Saga - Behaviour

#305/940

August 1985

Saga

Behaviour

Genre: SynthPop

3.25 our of 5

I always thought of Saga as a second tier Genesis. They were proggy but not all that terribly interesting to me. And then, like Genesis, they pared down that prog sound for something more consumer/radio friendly. And in that, they were, too, second tier. It’s all here, though. Big keyboards, epic vocals, tight arrangements, well performed stuff. It’s just not all that exciting. 

I was able to play 6 games of Sorry with my 8 year old while this was on. It was like Muzak for people from the 80s. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/behaviour/1451316449