Topic: Riff-In-A-Jiff
Formed in Oakville, Ontario in the mid-1970's, Saga was built around the core of the final line-up of the band Fludd. Throughout much of the band's long career, they've enjoyed greater success in Europe than they have in North America. This was true right from their early years; their synth/guitar/electric drums-driven progressive rock style was embraced overseas, while going largely unnoticed in the US. They enjoyed modest success at home in Canada with the singles "It's Time", "See Them Smile", and "Don't Be Late".Things changed in 1981 when Saga's fourth album Worlds Apart (pictured) resulted in breakthrough success in North America. Ironically, this success came from their first album recorded outside of North America; the sessions took place in England, with producer Rupert Hine. The first single, "Wind Him Up", took Saga into the Top 40 in Canada for the first time, reaching #22. "On the Loose", the follow-up single, was also well-received. In the US, the two singles were released in reverse order, with "Wind Him Up" climbing to #64 on the Billboard chart (and "On the Loose" reaching greater heights).
While this was the band's most commercial album to that point, it was largely driven by the same elements as their first three equally superb albums, that being Michael Sadler's acrobatic vocals, and the harmonizing and duelling trade-off lines of Ian Crichton's guitar and Jim Gilmour's keyboards.
Worlds Apart achieved Gold status in the US, and the success of the album in Canada won Saga the 1982 Juno Award for Most Promising Group. The promise was realized as Saga has gone on to be one of Canada's best and longest-lasting musical acts.
SAGA - "Wind Him Up" (J.Crichton/M.Sadler/I.Crichton/J.Gilmour/S.Negus)
https://www.angelfire.com/planet/zerofret/annesblog/canriffs.txt
Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J0QdXBY0wo
For Canadian site visitors, hope you all have a great Victoria Day holiday weekend! Have fun!
Posted by planet/zerofret
at 12:01 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, May 16, 2009 1:02 AM EDT
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Updated: Saturday, May 16, 2009 1:02 AM EDT
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It looks like things are getting back to normal here. I was able to re-post the GS tab page, images will upload again, and I'm getting daily stats again. The only thing that still isn't working is that I'm not getting e-mail notices about blog comments. So I just discovered one was left about four days ago that I didn't know about. I'll answer that soon.
not sure
Everything about Girlschool's most recent album, Legacy (2008) -- from the thematic concept on through to the cover art -- reflects the disc's dual personality. Legacy simultaneously celebrates and mourns. The album celebrates the band's 30th Anniversary (and there are guest appearances aplenty, as a who's who of the music industry help the band mark the occasion) while also serving as a tribute to original Girlschool guitarist Kelly Johnson, who passed away in 2007.
The song "Alana Loves Me" comes from Kim Mitchell's Shakin' Like A Human Being (1986) album, a hit machine that also produced the singles "Patio Lanterns", "Easy To Tame", "That's The Hold", and "Get Lucky (Boys & Girls)". It was his most commercially successful album, earning him Juno awards for Album Of the Year and Male Vocalist Of the Year. And speaking of good male vocalists, "Alana Loves Me" features another of those fantastic backing vocal performances by Peter Fredette, impressive here just as he is on "All We Are" (from the Akimbo Alogo album).
I still haven't gotten my guitar into the shop, but I figured that in the meantime I might as well reattach the troublesome string to the peg, and get some work done.