Saga - House of Cards. 2001 Canada-Ontario

Saga is one of those time-and-place bands for me. I'm not sure they would have registered at all had they not been part of a great time of my life. Worlds Apart is one of many albums that represents my senior year in high school. And Heads or Tales does the same for my freshmen year in college. Instincts told me to avoid Behaviour when it came around (1985), and it appears that was the right move (ed: confirmed in 2023). And that was it for me and Saga. A few years ago, I bought a CD collection that included Full Circle (1999). It was pretty good, but it didn't have the magic. It was still in the sell bin (gone now), and I thought to myself I should hear it one more time. Nope. It's just not there for me. For whatever reason I decided to pull for House of Cards anyway, since I saw it going for cheap. It's only two years later, how much better can it be? A lot. This is the Saga I know and love. They really recaptured the magic of 1981 to 1984. Maybe not every song is great as it was in the past, but mostly it has that staccato guitar, cheap synthesizer sound, and excellent melodies thing going on. And Michael Sadler sounds exactly the same. Made me feel 18 again. If you're like me and early 80s Saga is in your strike zone, and you forgot all about them since, this would be a good way to spend your loose change.

Ownership: CD: 2001 Steamhammer (Germany). One of those superb "media books" with hardbound cover and excellent detail. They're practically giving these things away now. Way too good to pass up.

5/12/20 (new entry)