Dinosaurdays

Formed in Toronto, Canada in 1977, Saga were (and probably still are), one of the best exponents of keyboard orientated symphonic hard rock, alongside the likes of Eloy and Eela Craig. Drummer Steve Negus and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Mike Sadler put the band together with guitar/keyboard/bass playing brothers, Ian and Jim Crichton and keyboard player Paul Rochon. Their self-titled debut album, released on Maze Records in 1978, featured some of the most amazing keyboard dominated hard rock ever commited to vinyl. Polydor Records signed the band up and their first album for the label, ''Images at Twilight", was released in 1980. At this stage, Rochon had been replaced Jim Gilmour and keyboard player/vocalist Greg Chadd had been added to the line up. Chadd was subsequently dropped for this album, "Silent Knight", and the remaining quintet continued to tour and record consistently for a number of years. Their main breakthrough into the US market came with the release of1 981's "World's Apart" album, which featured the concert favourites "On the Loose" and "Wind him up". Very much a conceptual band with sci-fi ideas and themes, Saga seemed to lose a bit of direction and undergo a few fairly serious line-up changes in the early to mid eighties and they split after 1989's "The Beginner's Guide to throwing Shapes" album. The Crighton, Crichton, Negus, Sadler and Gilmour line-up reformed in the early nineties and released the excellent "The Security of Illusion" album, which saw the band back at their best. In the meantime, Ian Crichton had quietly been building up a reputation as an extremely competent guitarist with some solo material to demonstrate the point. There have subsequently been a host of releases from Saga throughout the nineties, in addition to a number of compilation albums as well as a stunning double live album, released in 1998, called "Detours". If you're familiar with this great band's material but feel that their later material is not quite what you would have expected from them, take a listen to 1999 "Full Circle" album. They have indeed gone full circle and are back where they should be - one of the best keyboard orientated symphonic hard rock bands in the world.

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Biography by John Bush
Ex-members of Fludd, bassist Jim Crichton, drummer Steve Negus, and keyboard player Peter Rachon formed Saga (originally called Pockets) in the late '70s with guitarist Ian Crichton and vocalist Michael Sadler. Part of Canada's '70s progressive rock movement with Rush, the group released a self-titled album in 1978, Images at Twilight (1979), Silent Knight (1980), Worlds Apart (1981), In Transit (1982), Heads or Tails (1983), Behaviour (1985), Security of Illusion (1993), Steel Umbrellas (1994), Generation 13 (1995), and Pleasure & the Pain (originally released on Bonaire in 1997 and subsequently reissued on Steamhammer/SPV in 2002). The new millennium has seen the band release a series of albums on Steamhammer/SPV, including 2001's House of Cards and two discs in 2003, Marathon and Full Circle.