[Wilkie]

Hi Michael,
Probably a question you've answered before, but do you have any background on why TPATP was such a departure from other Saga albums? To my (untrained) ears, it's almost industrial in it's sound, and certainly touches on some different subject matter from other Saga songs.
I seem to be in a minority of actually liking it alot, but I guess it's like cricket and marmite; you either love it or hate it!!

[Baron Von Cruzer]

It was an intentional response to what was trendy at the time, which was Grunge.

[Tillmann]

Maybe the production time (a couple of weeks?) had its influence...? The 90s wasnt a good decade for rock and metal bands, remember Metallicas Load stuff, or Maidens records without Dickinson... 90s were full of grunge, alternative, eurodance and hip hop...

But I like P&P, but I need a special mood for this album ^^
_________________
"I'll be back better than ever now with the new diet - no smoking, no drinking and daily exercises." - Brian Doerner

[Baron Von Cruzer]

The Pleasure And The Pain was Saga's Grunge album. The unpopularity of this album is what led to them going back to the approach of the earlier albums, specially the World's Apart/Heads Or Tales period.

There's a chapter on this period in the authorized Saga biography by Edwin Amerlaan.