‘Marathon’ is the latest effort by Canadian rockers Saga. The title is well chosen since it has been 25 years since their self titled debut album hit the stores. On this CD the band continues the musical direction taken with the 1999 ‘Full Circle’ and the 2001 release ‘House Of Cards’. At the end of February 2003, the band will take ‘Marathon’ on the road in Europe. There are a lot of great songs on this new album. The opener and title track sounds very seventies and is clearly based on the early Saga successes. The rhythm section and vocal melodies on ‘Breathing Lessons’ remind me of U2’s ‘Numb’.

This works very well with a Saga-twist, a great song. The formula is continued on ‘Blind Side Of The Heart’ although with less success. The clear sound on the album is quite heavy. At some times the guitar is a bit too dominant in the mix. Another point of criticism is the way most songs are simply faded out at the end. Why not make the effort of composing real endings to these songs. Nevertheless I must say that in its entirety ‘Marathon’ is a fine record. Fans of Saga won’t be disappointed but I’m afraid non-fans won’t get over-excited.