SAGA reveals details about “The Human Condition”

For months, thousands of Saga fans have been asking themselves anxiously: how will the band sound after vocalist Michael Sadler’s departure? Before going into any more detail, let’s answer the big question: on their latest album, The Human Condition, Saga still sound unmistakably like Saga but with a big dash freshness. The essential elements of the sound which the band has continuously developed over decades, their rocking attitude, haunting melodies, virtuoso solo passages and intelligent arrangements, haven't changed one bit in 2009. And what is more: the band members, Ian Crichton (guitar), Jim Crichton (bass, keyboards) and Jim Gilmour (keyboards) have used the recent line-up change for an artistic evolution of their expressive means. To cut a long story short: The Human Condition is 100% Saga, and much more.

Let’s travel back in time: autumn 2007 saw founder member Michael Sadler leave the band to set off to pastures new. No farewell in anger, no personal or musical differences – as we have frequently seen in other bands –, but an extremely amicable separation from a musician who is looking for new challenges, privately as well as artistically. For the remaining musicians, Sadler’s departure never called into question the group’s existence. Saga immediately started a global search for a new frontman and struck lucky in January 2008 when they came across Rob Moratti, until that time vocalist with the Canadian act, Final Frontier.

With Moratti as their new band member, Saga got together and arranged the material they had been individually writing for six months. The Human Condition was produced by Saga and mixed by Pat Regan at the Sound Image studios in Van Nuys, California, in February 2009. The result is a spirited recording with nine versatile numbers which redefine the borderline between rock music and progressive attitudes. The Human Condition features vocal melodies consisting of several voices, Crichton’s unmistakable staccato guitars and sweeping solo passages which extend into the spheres of fusion and jazz. The Human Condition substantiates the good news about Saga’s unaltered sound: they are continuing their great career and are set to present many more examples of their great creative power.

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