The long-running Canadian progressive rock band (formed in 1977) were one of many groups that have used their time off the road to create new recordings. But for their made-in-lockdown album, Symmetry, Saga have chosen to do something special: new versions of classic songs from older albums, rearranged for acoustic instruments, played with guest musicians, and introducing new feels (even a touch of bluegrass?) into the band’s stately, majestic prog-rock epics.
“For the most part, it’s not just taking our old songs and playing unplugged versions of them,” Saga vocalist Michael Sadler told Goldmine. “We actually reimagined them as new arrangements. In some cases there are brand-new melody lines, because you have to make adjustments when breaking a song down, especially with all of the keyboards and the kind of guitar that (guitarist) Ian (Crichton) plays. If you break that down to a smaller, more intimate setting, a lot of things don’t translate.”
Reimaginging their songs for Symmetry necessitated, in some cases, rebuilding them from the ground up. Sadler recalled not just adjusting vocal keys, but also, in the case of “Wind Him Up,” changing the lyric to make it current. He even developed some new vocal melodies.
“It was a great challenge,” Sadler said. But the band didn’t want to let fans down by just putting out a rote regurgitation of old songs. “That’s not what this record is, and that’s what I hope people realize, because you have to hear it to actually get it, what we’re trying to do with it.”
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THE GRAND POOBAH!
SINCE THEIR INCARNATION in the early 1970s, the band Poobah have recorded over a dozen albums with various lineups, while openi ng for some of rock and roll’s biggest names.
THE MAKING OF PEARL
JANIS JOPLIN IN 1970: A NEW B AND AND THE MAKING OF HER CLASSIC ALBUM, PEARL.
There Must Have Been Something in the Water
If The Beatles never happened, if the British invasion never occurred, then music fans around the world would more than likely never have been exposed to some of the finest white blues singers that the U.K. produced between 1964 and 1970.
The SAGA Continues
SAGA WERE NOT THE ONLY band to make an album during the pandemic — far from it.
Ten Years After MORE THAN 50 YEARS LATER
DRUMMER RIC LEE TALKS TO GOLDMINE ABOUT A TEN YEARS AFTER DELUXE EDITION OF THE A STING IN THE TALE ALBUM AND HIS RECENTLY RELEASED MEMOIR, FROM HEADSTOCKS TO WOODSTOCK.
SUZI QUATRO IS BACK!
WITH A NEW ALBUM, THE DEVIL IN ME, THIS PIONEERING FEMALE ROCKER REMAINS AS DRIVEN AND DETERMINED AS EVER
RE-SHAKE & RE-MAKE
WITH THE RERELEASE OF THEIR DEBUT ALBUM, SHAKE YOUR MONEY MAKER, THE BLACK CROWES FLY HIGH BY REFLECTING ON THEIR ROOTS.
LOVE FOR PEARL
2021 will be a big year for fans of Janis Joplin. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland is curating a special exhibit devoted to her that is scheduled to open in May.
Q&A WITH JANIS' SIBLINGS, LAURA AND MICHAEL JOPLIN
Q&A WITH JANIS’ SIBLINGS, LAURA AND MICHAEL JOPLIN
CHERISHING CITY TO CITY A timeless classic by GERRY RAFFERTY
It’s early 1978 and the new single by Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty, “Baker Street,” is blasting out on the airwaves on my small transistor radio.
