''Behaviour'' is the sixth studio album by the Canadian

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

, and was originally released in 1985, two years after the moderately successful '' Heads or Tales''. ''Behaviour'' was itself successful, and managed to outsell its 1983 predecessor thanks to the strong performance of the single "What Do I Know?" (#57). The album contains singer Michael Sadler's most personal song, "(Goodbye) Once Upon a Time", which he said was written about his late father and which still brought up strong emotions when performed years after the album's release. The album reached #39 on the Canadian charts.

Changes and band break-up

The 1985 album was a marked departure for the band as Saga moved on from working with

Rupert Hine Rupert Neville Hine (21 September 1947 – 4 June 2020) was an English record producer and musician. He produced albums for artists including Rush, Kevin Ayers, Tina Turner, Howard Jones, Saga, the Fixx, Bob Geldof, Thompson Twins, Stevie Nic ...

, who had produced the band's last two albums and helped to land the band commercial success during the early part of that decade. There was an overhaul of both the sounds and styles incorporated by the band during the development of the new album, leading Saga to produce a more pop-oriented sound than their previous

works. These changes caused tensions within the band during the production. After the album was released, singer Michael Sadler informed drummer Steve Negus and Jim Gilmour that they were no longer welcome in the band, beginning a rift in the band that lasted until 1991. Speaking in interviews during 2002, at the time the band members regarded this division as only temporary and felt the five members would eventually be reunited.

Track listing

Personnel

Saga * Michael Sadler -

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

, keyboards * Jim Crichton -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, keyboards * Jim Gilmour - keyboards, backing vocals * Ian Crichton -

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Steve Negus Stephen William Negus (born February 19, 1952) is a Canadian drummer, songwriter, who was a member of the progressive rock band Saga for twenty-six years. In the late 80s, he and keyboardist Jim Gilmour left Saga and formed GNP (Gilmour Negus ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, electronic percussion Production * Sharon Benson - Additional vocals on "What Do I Know?" * Produced by Saga and Peter Walsh * Engineered by Peter Walsh * Mastered at Sterling Sound by Jack Skinner * Recorded at

Compass Point Studios Compass Point Studios was a music recording studio in the Bahamas, founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records. The concept of the studio was of a recording facility supported by in-house sets of artists, musicians, producers ...

, Nassau, Powerplay Recording Studios,

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

& Union Studios,

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

* Sleeve Design - Studio Convertino,

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

* Photographer - Fred Ereissing

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Behaviour 1985 albums Saga (band) albums Portrait Records albums