SAGA - Behaviour

I remember seeing a SAGA button on some cool kids jean jacket when I was in high school, I didn't know what kind of music it was but I assumed it was heavy metal or something, as I figured that's what all the jean jacket wearing cool kids were listening to back then.

Apparently it wasn't metal - but it was cool. Real cool. I did eventually find that button too, it's in a box in the basement, I need to find it.

Back in the early '80s, premium movie channels were starting to be a thing, and where I lived I think it was called First Choice or something, it doesn't matter, but I was trying to remember because I thought it might enhance the story - sadly it was just more meandering rambling gibberish. Anyway, on the channel guide I saw a listing for a music special by SAGA - live in Montreal - or something very close to that. I had a large ghetto blaster I could hook up the TV connection to for stereo sound, and I got some tapes ready. I was going to record this (to the band, I know home taping was killing music, but I really wanted to have this, and I didn't know any other way to have a copy, sorry, it did lead to me spending a lot of money on SAGA over the years).

It was a mind blowing concert. Who were these guys? I was immediately hooked by songs like "Wind Him Up" and the sing along songs and how the singer could sing, play keyboards, play bass, and take part in a drum battle on "A Brief Case". The bass player would play synth bass, and the keyboard player and guitar player were mind blowing when they traded solo runs. It was mesmerizing, all of it. I played the shit out of that tape. I didn't know most of the song names at the time, I just played it over and over.

From there I started looking for their albums, and In Transit was close to that concert and it blew my mind (I'd find out later when I bought it). However the first album I picked up was Heads or Tales as those were the new songs and it seemed like the band was on the cusp of breaking big in North America, or at the very least getting the respect they deserved at home. Then in 1985 the band dropped Behaviour, and I got it as soon as I heard "What Do I Know" on the radio. I remember playing this loud, very loud and all the time. I still get chills when I hear "Take a Chance" which to me is still a perfect song, and Steve Negus the drummer was all over that one. Of course "You and the Night" was amazing. I loved the album, and I still love the album. As far as I was concerned Ian Crichton's brilliant guitar playing secured his place in the pantheon of rock's best six string heroes. It hardly seems fair to just single out the guitar player when the whole band is comprised of master musicians. It's just that I'm a sucker for awesome guitar.

What I didn't know at the time was the troubled birth this album would have and the internal pressures the band must have been under while writing the album. The musical direction the songs were to take apparently were a cause of tension, the end result was a far more straight ahead rock record than even their previous release. The production felt fat, wet and very 80s. In short, it was everything I loved about music at the time. By the time the band would regroup for 1987s Wildest Dreams Jim Gilmour and Steve Negus would be gone. The two of them would release one album as GNP that despite my best efforts to be a fan boy never did much for me other than a couple of decent songs, but boy did I try. Michael Sadler and the brothers Crichton would release a pair of albums as a trio. The band would get back together again on The Security of Illusion and have a pretty solid second act.

Behaviour may be a divisive record to many fans who jumped on the wagon before I did. I was really close to pulling out In Transit because it was such a great record and closest to what my first experience was like. However I started my journey with the band with Heads or Tales, which I loved, but it was Behaviour that truly hooked me. I've since been along for the ride since. 

I still have to find that button, I know it's around here somewhere.