SAGA
HOUSE OF CARDS
As an exceptional phenomenon in the history of rock music, Saga is a band definitely worth mentioning. They count among the undisputed protagonists of a genre that was referred to as ´art rock' (later this particular style was renamed prog rock) and are considered legitimate successors to groups like Yes, King Crimson, or Emerson, Lake & Palmer, combining symphonic elements with rock passages and epic arrangements. However, unlike those other acts, Saga have survived to this day - in their original line-up at that (!!) - and have even remained faithful to themselves stylistically all these years. Their characteristic style, their typical trade marks, the staccato-like guitars that are underlined by virtuoso keyboard cascades, the synthesis of progressive rock and classical quotations, and on top of all this vocalist Michael Sadler's voice, are a long way away from wearing themselves out. And what is more: their current album House Of Cards, a collection of eleven new compositions, each one of them well worth listening to, sounds fresh and inspired, contemporary and modern all at the same time, without ever neglecting the most important elements of the unambiguous Saga sound.

"No other band sounds like we do. You can recognize a Saga track among thousands of other songs, no matter which era of our band's history the number in question stems from," declares bassist Jim Crichton, not without pride. "At the beginning of our career we described our style jokingly as ´medieval funk', an indication of the band members' sense of humour, but it also shows that we knew precisely from the start that we were creating something unusual. These days we no longer need fantasy terms to define our music. It's simply Saga." Listening to ´God Knows', the opener of the new album, it becomes immediately apparent what Crichton is talking about: it's hardly possible to imagine a more timeless Saga anthem. But also the subsequent numbers ´The Runaway', a track about the fascination of the Internet, ´Always There', or ´Once In A Lifetime' could not have been penned by anyone but Messrs. Sadler, Crichton, drummer Steve Negus, keyboard player Jim Gilmour, and guitarist Ian Crichton. After a few minutes House Of Cards proves to be an intense and inventive Saga recording with lots of wonderful songs as well as the continuation of the ´chapters' series, which is particularly popular with the fans and has been an integral part of the band's albums for some 22 years. "The ´chapters' are a kind of musical puzzle," explains Crichton. "We have a precise outline of the whole story, and every album reveals more information. To make it more of a challenge for the fans to work out the whole tale, the ´chapters' do not appear in chronological order but at random. On our debut album featured chapters 5 and 6, the last recording parts 9, 10, and 13." House Of Cards contains sequels 11 and 15 in the songs ´Ashes To Ashes' and ´We'll Meet Again'. "We may reveal the rest on the next album," reckons Crichton, hinting at a resolution of the story. "Let me just say this much: it's about what's going on in the world, about politics, culture, and religion."

Next to these typical Saga elements there are also a number of innovations on House Of Cards. "I think that the new numbers venture even more strongly into different extremes. There are some very quiet passages where we rely on acoustic guitars, and then there are rock sections that sound heavier than ever before." Saga composed a total of over 30 numbers between spring and autumn 2000. "The songwriting process was repeatedly interrupted by gigs in Canada and Germany, which in effect only meant that were in a position to transfer a lot of the energy from our gigs onto the record." 30 tracks, eleven of which actually made it onto the final product, are an indication for the group's undiminished creativity. House Of Cards was produced by Jim Crichton at his Sound Image Entertainment Studios in Los Angeles, California. "I own two studios in L.A.," the bassist explains, "so I ended up having do everything: play music, produce, engineer and be the coffee boy."

Luckily on stage Crichton can concentrate exclusively on his bass guitar. As early as this coming March, Saga are due to embark on their next European tour, providing their fans with everything they expect from this group. "We don't have to reinvent Saga," he says. "We still play our original sound in the original line-up, as we have done all these years. There's no reason to change our music as long as we can come up with as many new and exciting ideas as we did on House Of Cards."

HISTORY
The Canadian rock act Saga consists of former members of the groups Fludd and Truck, who got together in summer 1977 and originally called themselves Pockets. When the trio Jim Crichton, Steve Negus and Michael Sadler was supplemented by Ian Crichton (guitar) and Jim Gilmour (keyboards), they changed their name to Saga. From the start, the band's success crossed every border, and even their early releases Images At Twilight (1979), Worlds Apart (1982) or Head Or Tales (1983), which contained world hits like ´Humble Stance', ´Wind Him Up', ´On The Loose', ´The Flyer', ´How Long', or ´Don't Be Late', entered the radio charts worldwide, and the group's style - a mix of "... synth epics and monumental rock" (HiFi Vision), their "... rock without that lumberjack mentality" (WAZ) - has sold over Seven million albums to date. The mid-Eighties saw a temporary split when keyboarder Jim Gilmour and drummer Steve Negus, who brought out a solo album in 1986, left. Saga continued as a trio (supported by a number of renowned guest musicians like Curt Cress, ex-Honeymoon Suite keyboarder Ray Coburn, or Trevor Morell), and brought out the two internationally acclaimed albums Behavoir and Wildest Dreams. At the beginning of the Nineties, Saga, to the delight of their many fans, toured for the first time in their original line-up again, signed a new recording contract, and brought out their impressive comeback album The Security Of Illusion in 1993. The subsequent world tour turned into a global march of triumph, and the international press enthused about the return of the five Canadian elite musicians. Steel Umbrellas, which had been composed for the TV series 'Cobra', saw the light of day in 1994, followed by a concept album called Generation 13 (1995), which dealt, in terms of content, with the excesses of today's consumer society, as well as Pleasure & Pain (1997) and their most recent studio recording Full Circle (1999). Saga celebrated their twentieth stage anniversary in June 1997 during their extensive Pleasure & Pain tour and recorded a total of eight shows in Germany, Austria and France with a mobile recording studio, the result of which was released a few months later on the live album Detour. Full Circle sees Saga ready to prove their exceptional live qualities once agai

TRACKS
God Knows * The Runaway * Always There * Ashes To Ashes (Chapter 11) * Once In A Lifetime * Only Human * That's How We Like It * Watching The Clock * We'll Meet Again (Chapter 15) * Money Talks * House Of Cards

DISCOGRAPHIE
SAGA (1978)
IMAGES AT TWILIGHT (1979)
SILENT KNIGHT (1980)
WORLDS APART (1982)
IN TRANSIT - LIVE (1982)
HEAD OR TALES (1983)
BEHAVIOUR (1985)
WILDEST DREAMS (1987)
THE SECURITY OF ILLUSION (1993)
STEEL UMBRELLAS (1994)
GENERATION 13 (1995)
PLEASURE & PAIN (1997)
DETOUR - LIVE (1998)
FULL CIRCLE (1999)
HOUSE OF CARDS (2001)