Customer Reviews

Heads Or Tales

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Heads Or Tails (1983). Saga's fifth studio album.

Back in the late 70s and 80s, many different hardrock and progressive rock bands from Canada finally received attention from the States, each band with their own trademark sound, such as Aldo Nova, Rush, Triumph, and others. One of the more obscure bands that most people don't know much about is Saga, a progressive hardrock band with a sound that's crossed between early 80s Rush and then-popular new wave rock. This isn't a bad thing because this style fusion actually works quite well. The band is comprised of vocalist Michael Sadler, guitarist Jim Crichton, bassist Ian Crichton, keyboardist Jim Gilmour, and drummer Steve Negus, all of whom are exceptional on their individual parts, and combine together to form a great band. They found a good start with Saga(1978) and Images At Twilight(1980), and achieved success around the world with Silent Knight(1981) and Worlds Apart(1982). These two albums put Saga on the map and they showed great promise for the future. While most progressive rock bands fancied long 10-20 minute prog rock suites, Saga opted for their own unique approach: On each album, there were several songs with a different 'Chapter' designation, and as more albums came along, more Chapters were created. When put together, they create a whole massive story. This set Saga apart from most other prog bands of the day.

Then in 1983, Saga brought back producer Rupert Hine who worked with them on Worlds Apart, and released Heads Or Tails. This newer album takes a slightly heavier and more commercial approach than their previous efforts, but they still stay true to their roots. The 'Chapters' are gone now unfortunately (they will be back later in 1999), but the band manages to churn out a solid and accessible album with many catchy rockers throughout the disc. Here's the lowdown:

1) The Flyer- Excellent way to open the album, and probably the best song on here as well. Fast, energetic, and catchy. Makes for a great single. *****

2) Catwalk- Here the band slows it down with this groovy new wavish dance track. Different from anything they've done, but very good (Also included at the end of this remaster is an extended version of Catwalk). *****

3) The Sound Of Strangers- Even slower now, yet this track also rocks. The keyboards will grab your attention here. *****

4) The Writing- A mid-paced rocker which could sound like a track off of the previous album. A good change from the newer style of the other tracks. ****

5) Intermission- The title is sort of self explanatory because it's a balladish 'intermission' right smack dab in the middle of the album. Very melodic with great guitaring and background keyboards. *****

6) Social Orphan- This track picks the pace back up and delivers a solid rocker similar to 'The Flyer'. Pretty good track. ****

7) The Vendetta (Still Helpless)- Another mid-paced track. Doesn't quite stand out much, but it's still enjoyable. ***

8) Scratching The Surface- One of the album highlights, and one of my favorite songs on here. This overlooked track is a slow-paced, yet optimistic rocker which should have been a single. Excellent keyboards, vocals, and drum beat. *****

9) Pitchman- The album ends with a mid-paced prog rocker, also similar to Saga's previous albums. Quite good and underrated somewhat. *****

Overall, Heads Or Tails proves to be an outstanding followup and alone stands out among the crowd. It's one of my favorite Saga albums, and it's just too bad that this good band goes overlooked in this day-in-age of watered down modern nu-rock and boyband drivel. 5 stars overall. They did a great job with the remastering and the tracks all sound crystal clear. My only gripe is that I wish there were some liner notes inside the booklet that detail the band's history. Oh well, no big deal. My verdict: IF YOU LIKE CLASSIC ROCK WITH A BIT OF AN 80'S SOUND, BUY THIS NOW.

Other albums that sound similar to Heads Or Tails:
-'Worlds Apart' by Saga
-'Behaviour' by Saga
-'Power Windows' by Rush
-'Signals' by Rush
-'90125' by Yes
-'1984' by Russ Ballard

As the other reviewers, I must agree on the rating of the songs. They are a part of Saga`s greatest years, which is the 6 first albums ( the live-album IN TRANSIT included )About the bonus track on this new edition, so were we in Europe fortunate to get hold of this ext. version already in 1987, when the album were re-released on cd by Bon Aire - a German record company. The so called "Unabridged" version are 7:44 as the album version are 4:24, and the extension are all Ian Crichton with his fabulous skills on his guitar. This is a must have for the real Saga-fan.
But ofcourse, all of the songs are superb, and when my old cd and original vinyl albums sounding great, the remastered edition must sound even better - or is it actually possible ? You will enjoy this one !!

Another cd in the long list of remasters completed in the Saga catalog. This one comes with the bonus track of the Extended version of Catwalk. The remastering is very bright and crisp and peircing on the high end, just like the original Rupert Hine production of this album. I love this album. Great tracks like THE FLYER, INTERMISSION, and the incredible PITCHMAN. This is the period where Saga blended pop with progressive and it worked very well. I like this one much better than it follow up BEHAVIOUR. I don't like the square black box the keep putting on the cover art on the remasters. Basically it is a black border and it is not necessary. Jethro tull did it on the first three remasters and then the next three had not border, I think people were unhappy. This was a period when everything rupert hine produced was right up my alley. The Fixx, Chris Deburgh, Howard Jones, Camel, Rush etc. Its a good one.

1983 es el año en que lanzan "Heads or Tales", siguiendo la línea que comenzaron con el aclamado "Worlds Apart" de 1981, y nuevamente bajo la producción de Rupert Hine, exploran su lado menos progresivo, guardando siempre ese estilo con arreglos inconfundibles gracias a los teclados de Jim Gilmour y la guitarra de Ian Crichton, crean un conjunto de canciones más sencillas y pegadizas, donde el lado más comercial que le viene muy bien a la voz de Michael Sadler sale a relucir en temas como "The Flyer" (que hasta la fecha es uno de los favoritos en sus conciertos), la fabulosa "Cat Walk", más adelante en "The Writing" y "Social Orphan" (Dos canciones inolvidables de toda su discografía), vienen a redondear un disco exquisito con temas como "Intermission", "Pitchman", "The Vendetta (Still Helpless)" para entregar cerca de 40 minutos de la mejor música hecha en los 80.
"Heads or Tales" es el quinto álbum de Saga y uno de sus mejores trabajos, en mi opinión, indispensable en su discografía, y el disco que hizo que se convirtieran
en uno de mis grupos favoritos, únicos en su estilo, manifiesto de unos grandes músicos, que imponen su clase más allá de cualquier moda o estilo.
2 años más tarde llegaría "Behaviour", último con su formación clásica, redondeando una especie de trilogía de Saga en la primera mitad de los 80.
Pocos grupos saben poner sobre sus grabaciones originalidad y sello propio como estos Canadienses, para los que los conocen, y para quienes no, un disco para descubrir interpretado por unos grandes músicos en su apogeo!

Excellent album by the prog rock act from Canada that's still going in 2010. Several radio-friendly tracks here, especially the memorable Flyer, done with that uniquely tangible sensibility of a band that's accustomed to delivering quality. Scratching the Surface, which still gets some radio play in Canada, is by far the best track on the album, and probably my favorite song by the band. Instantly recognizable as Saga, yet moving and inspiring at once. Great album.

I think this one was overlooked probably because it followed the very popular World's Apart. I do think it is a great CD however. There is a lot of energy and great prog/rock songs. I love Flyer and Pitchman. Scratching the Surface is also a great song. Overall this CD is a great effort that has been sadly underrated. It is also important to mention Rupert Hine who I think is a great producer. I love his work with Rush and Saga.

This Saga release is one of Saga's more upbeat albums. They are usually know for their half and half type of presentation. If you are a Saga fan, this album has to be in your collection. A deffinite favorite.

It's quite hard to look at Heads or Tales as either an improvement or a step backwards over its predecessor, Worlds Apart. While being musically more daring, by evidence of even more elaborate and intricate dual guitar - keyboard attacks, I always had the feeling that the songwriting had suffered a bit. 'Catwalk', 'Sound of Strangers' sounded like rather unfinished songs. It's unfortunate that the songwriting didn't live up to the crowning achievement of its predecessor.

I must acknowledge, however, that Heads or Tales' crisp & raw sounding mix, coupled with very unusual digital-analog combination of sounds for its era (owed to Gilmour's PPG Wave synthesizer) did the album good for not having sounded like anything that was on the early 80s musical scene.

Heads or Tails was a production masterpiece. Rupert Hined drenched the album with his precise, elegant, rock/pop edge (as he did for the Fixx, Cafe Jacque, and himself, Stevie Nicks, Tina Turner among others). However, this remastered version is thin....the fullness of the original mix has been completely lost....I'm very sad...I loaned my original to a fellow music lover, who, conveniently never returned it...so, I purchased this remastered version recently. I'm thrilled to have the CD, but, very disappointed in the remastered version...I will have to go and find the original version now. Doh.

I've loved this album ever since it came out in the early 80's. I prefer prog-rock that has a stong pop edge to it (like Yes with Trevor Rabin - 90125, Big Generator; Styx - Cornerstone, Paradise Theater; and Kansas - Audio-Visions, Vinyl Confessions) etc...

I think "Worlds Apart" is by far Saga's greatest accomplishment because it perfectly melded their earlier progressive rock sound with very accessible pop melodies, lyrics and arrangements. I think it's sort of a shame that they didn't continue in that vane for at least one more album, however...

"Heads Or Tales" marked a new beginning in the Saga saga (sorry), and since I love that era in music, I relished their new sound on this album. The keyboards are more dominant (and dated) yet the guitars are still quirky and rock hard enough to call it progressive.

Standout tracks according to me: The Flyer, Cat Walk, Intermission, and The Pitchman, however, I really like them all (with the exception of Scratching The Surface - too wimpy - this song is a good example of the overuse of 80's-sounding keyboards)