Customer Reviews

Wildest Dreams

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sure it's not one of Saga's progressive masterpieces, but I think people who bash this record fail to see in what circumstances it was recorded and why. Wow, I thought Saga fans were smarter than that. They're basically destroying what they don't understand. Oh well, allow me to enlighten you w/ some objectivity by taking this album aside from the others and having a look at it for what it is- a great record!
This was digitally recorded in the 80's-which was a time that was not very accepting/forgiving of 70's acts. Saga, always being on the edge of technology and slightly tweaking their sound occasionally to fit the times w/out selling out, went a little commercial, but not as badly as other reviews of this record state. Isn't Saga allowed to try something different?
Wildest Dreams is a pleasant, tasteful and at times, poppy record. A great follow-up to the frighteningly excellent 'Behaviour.' To say this is a sell out makes it sound like Bon Jovi or Poison kiddie nonsense. At times this is almost like Roxy Music- mature and sophisticated.
"Only Time Will Tell" is a gem. "Chase the Wind," "We've Been Here Before" and "Angel" are brilliant and deserve to be heard. I won't get into the other songs, I've stated my case for Saga here, it's just sad to see a great band get raked over the coals for trying something contemporary for those times and which sounds refreshing during the death knell of rock music. At least Saga got theirs before MTV killed integrity.
Wildest Dreams is also a great 'chick' record for those times when you want some energy on the stereo w/out being told to turn it down. Oh yeah, The Stones were smart to release the same 'safe' record for 40 years, no bad reviews-(see 3rd sentence).

Back in '87, I caught 'Only Time Will Tell' on the radio and went out to pick up Wildest Dreams (on vinyl) and really enjoyed it on the first listen. No mean feat as it usually takes a few listens for me to warm up to new material.
Keith Olson, as the producer, allowed the instruments to breathe to give this cd a very lush and warm sounding recording.
Wildest Dreams finds a change in the Saga lineup as Jim Gilmour and Steve Negus are absent. Curt Cress picks up admirably from Steve and provides a break from Steve's hi-hat intensive drumming style. Jim Crichton's nice bass grooves drive a lot of the songs not to be outdone by his brother's amazing and underrated guitar work. The keyboard and vocal work is up to Saga's normal standards - great.
I find the fourth and eighth tracks are the weakest but that is just in comparison to the other strong tracks on the cd.
If you are thinking of starting to pick up Saga material, start with Worlds Apart, Silent Night or Heads or Tails (with apologies to the Behaviour fans - I have yet to pick this up). Definitely, put this cd on your next to-do list.

This is some of guitarest Ian Crichton's finest work. Excellently produced by Keith Olsen. Maybe a little mainsteam, but the Full Digital Recording makes this CD sound perfect. A must have for guitar buffs. Great Riffs!

I cannot describe the disappointment I felt after hearing this album for the first time. I think it's a damn shame that an awesome group like Saga can be brought down to this level because the general public can't appreciate the depth to this group, the incredible talent. After coming off the incredible albums "Worlds Apart", "Heads Or Tails", and "Behaviour" it almost broke my heart to hear "Wildest Dreams". Out were the progressive sounds of the past and in was the pop tripe that everyone was doing. Saga was no longer unique. It's not to say that it's all bad, in fact it's got some great music on it (as I've said in other reviews, there is no such thing as a bad Saga album, they're all good in one way or another). The most ignominious depths to which they've descended, though, in their long career has to be the songs "Chase The Wind" and "Angel". All I need to support my claim is the fact that when I played this album for some friends when it came out one of the girls heard the beginning of the song "Chase The Wind" and said "oooo, I like that song already". She being an MTV junkie. Over all the album has some good songs, and on its own it's a pretty good album but it falls far short of past Saga masterpieces. I just got the cd after all these years of listening to the flat album and I may hear a dimension to the cd that the album lacked and alter my opinion but I tend to doubt it. The problem I think is that Saga's career was building and building from the beginning to the point of the creation of one of their finest albums, "Worlds Apart". I think successive albums didn't sell as well (they weren't carbon copies of "Worlds Apart") and in a desperate effort to regain the success of the past they found a producer (Keith Olson) who worked with such groups as Foreigner, Heart, and even, later on, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. Mr. Olson came in and over produced this album, that's one of its biggest problems. Surprisingly to this day Saga has dealings with Mr. Olson and has thanked him in all the liner notes of every following album up to and including their newest masterpiece, "Full Circle" (I highly recomend this album to all Saga fans). "Wildest Dreams" does have some treasures though, some songs that attain that high standard of quality. There are two incredible songs that are really cool ("We've Been Here Before" and "The Way Of The World") and another that is really good ("Don't Look Down"). The only problem with the last song on the album is that the musical concept is almost copied on their next album, "The Beginner's Guide To Throwing Shapes". That song being called "Giant". That's the "light at the end of the tunnel" about this album, though, the album after it, "The Beginner's Guide To Throwing Shapes", is one of my favorites and I rate it as being my 5th, right after "Heads Or Tails". What I think happens is that after a failure like this Saga goes back to their roots and creates a masterpiece and then they start building their success to the point where they're right on the edge of cracking the American market, they panic and start second guessing themselves and lose their perspective. As much as I've bad-mouthed this album, though, I still think it's better than most things other acts put out and I still listen to it fairly often. I just hope Saga never makes another album like this again.

Sounds very eighties pop in the worst way, definitely not prog-rock. Tell your ears to get ready to hear what sounds like "Rough Trade", a Canadian band from the eighties. Recommend their early stuff and absolutely get their latest "House of Cards"

1987 - Atlantic Records - Full Digital Recording
Produced By Keith Olsen
Barcode # 0 7567-81794-2 6

SONGS INCLUDE :
"DON'T PUT OUT THE FIRE"
"ONLY TIME WILL TELL"
"WILDEST DREAMS"
"CHASE THE WIND"
"WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE"
"THE WAY OF THE WORLD"
"ANGEL"
"DON'T LOOK DOWN"

Saga turned into a stripped down pop band on this one. This CD just plain stinks along with Pain and Pleasure. I love this band but this one along with Pain and Displeasure are horrible. Stay away from these! I guess these are for completists only. I refuse to own this one. I had it on cassette back in the distant 80s and I sold it to a Richard Simmons lover.

No one had this CD but you guys at Amazon did.
Fast and precise service from Amazon - very professional. My CD arrived fast from the US to Canada and was the correct CD. Thank-you so much for your service when others failed to deliver.
All the best
Cam Strong

This is a great CD. Not a bad song in the lot. Years later I listen to it regularly. Great songwriting and even better playing and singing. If you're disappointed in this, go back to playing with blocks in the sandbox....

This cd has three good songs on it which are the first three tracks..especially don't put out the fire and only time will tell. The rest of the cd is pretty medicore..way too watered down..trying to be comercial in the worst way.