AMG Review of Contact: Live in Munich

Alex Henderson
All Music Guide

Saga have had their share of lineup changes along the way; one of the most talked about came in late 2007, when longtime frontman Michael Sadler left the band (Rob Moratti was hired as a replacement the following year). Sadler had been Saga's lead singer from the beginning; he was around back when the Canadian prog rockers were still calling themselves Pockets (which was also the name of an Earth, Wind & Fire-ish soul-funk band that recorded three LPs for Columbia in the late '70s), and his departure came after no less than 30 years with the band. Documenting a 2007 show in Munich, Germany, Contact: Live in Munich was recorded/filmed during Sadler's final tour with Saga. InsideOut/SPV released Contact in three different formats: a two-DVD set, a two-CD set, and a limited-edition two-DVD/two-CD set. The Munich performances are heard in all three formats, although the two-CD version lacks some bonus tracks from an appearance in Mannheim, Germany. Saga's 2007 lineup -- Sadler, guitarist Ian Crichton, bassist Jim Crichton, keyboardist Jim Gilmour, and drummer Chris Sutherland -- is in good form during a concert that offers a lot of early favorites (including "Careful Where You Step," "Wind Him Up," "Scratching the Surface," "On the Loose," "Humble Stance," and "The Flyer"), but also contains some more recent material such as "Book of Lies" and "Can't You See Me Now" from 2007's 10,000 Days (which turned to be Sadler's final studio album with Saga). Contact: Live in Munich obviously isn't designed with the casual listener in mind; casual listeners would be better off sticking to collections of early Saga recordings. But longtime followers will find it to be an enjoyable document of Sadler's final tour with Saga.