Secret Single: Saga, “Wind Him Up”

Dw. Dunphy February 22, 2011 3

Last week brought the news that Michael Sadler has rejoined the band Saga as vocalist. There are, no doubt, many questions that information spurs on; questions like, Michael Sadler left Saga? Saga still exists? What the heck is Saga?

In America, you would recognize the band from two songs, “On The Loose” and “Wind Him Up,” both released in the 1980′s. In their native Canada, Saga had done somewhat better. Still, it would not be a complete insult to the band to wonder how they had been active for so long, seemingly invisible, after their biggest release Worlds Apart had come and gone.

It’s actually a somewhat disappointing story because, in their quiet toiling in the prog rock circuit, they were actually doing some pretty good work. Network, an album that took some time for me to warm to, has actually become for me one of their best efforts. Worlds Apart, on the other hand, tends to tip its hand to when it came out but there are some good songs and good memories to be recalled there.

The band soldiered on without Sadler for one album, The Human Condition. Don’t ask me how Rob Moratti fared as vocalist on it because I haven’t actually heard the album. While I could never claim to be some rabid, die-hard Saga fan, I recognized that Sadler’s voice is inextricable from the group’s identity and  didn’t break a sweat trying to hear the record (If you have, let me know what I missed, if anything).

But that’s not why we’re here, is it? Welcome back Michael Sadler to Saga with this, one of their biggest hits from 1981.

Side A – Wind Him Up

Side B – Amnesia

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  • http://jackfear.blogspot.com Jack Feerick

    Welcome back, Michael Sadler; your declamatory vocals were missed, as were your onstage sweatpant boners.

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  • http://www.bullz-eye.com Anonymous

    As a junior high school kid, I thought these guys were awesome. When I found a used copy of Heads or Tales in the early ’00s and popped it in on the way to work, I heard a completely different band – one that filled every single nook and cranny with a riff, or a noodle, or something, anything. I still like “Wind Him Up,” but while I admire Ian Crichton’s guitar prowess, he is the definitive overplayer.

    Sorry, Jack, but I can’t bring myself to click that YouTube link. I just don’t want to know.