Artist: SAGA
Album: HEADS OR TALES REMASTERED (CD)

Year: 1983/ 1994
Media type: CD

Heads Or Tales is the fifth studio album by the Canadian progressive rock band Saga and was originally released in 1983. The album was the second of the band's to be produced by 1980s producer Rupert Hine.

Saga reached here their peak, not for their progressive performance, but rather for the quality of the recording: indeed Rupert Hine produced a SUPERB atmospheric, flashy, echoed and powerful album: I have rarely seen a better recorded album than this one! Saga has a quite new style here: they substantially reduced their complex & anthemic progressive elements to the profit of accessible, dynamic, colorful, ambient, fresh and flashy textures, putting in evidence many powerful lead & backing vocals. There are some electronic drums parts like on "Scratching the surface". I hardly detected saxophones on the "Social orphan" track. There are omnipresent powerful rhythmic keyboards sounding like trumpets, a bit like on the Frank Zappa's "Easy meat" track: I wonder if there are not saxes included in these powerful arrangements. Even more than on the "Worlds apart" album, Saga here sound a bit like The Fixx of the 80's, as reveal the voices, some fresh keyboards and the varied guitars. However Saga is absolutely not The Fixx: Saga is quite less ethereal and subtle: they are still more progressive rock here than The Fixx is. Also, The Fixx is more ambient new wave oriented, so that their music is more simple. I give you the challenge to find a better recorded album than "Heads or tales" before 1984!

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TRACKLIST:

1 "The Flyer" (Jim Crichton, Michael Sadler) – 3:41
2 "Cat Walk" (J. Crichton, Jim Gilmour, Ian Crichton) – 4:25
3 "The Sound of Strangers" (Sadler, J. Crichton, Gilmour, I. Crichton, Steve Negus) – 4:08
4 "The Writing" (J. Crichton, Sadler) – 4:12
5 "Intermission" (Sadler, J. Crichton, I. Crichton) – 5:27
6 "Social Orphan" (Sadler, J. Crichton) – 3:23
7 "The Vendetta (Still Helpless)" (Sadler, J. Crichton, Gilmour, I. Crichton)– 3:44
8 "Scratching the Surface" (Gilmour, J. Crichton) – 5:15
9 "The Pitchman" (J. Crichton, Sadler, I. Crichton, Gilmour, Negus) – 5:38

Bonus:
10 "Cat Walk" (Extended Version) – 4:25

LINE-UP:

Michael Sadler - Lead vocals, keyboards
Jim Crichton - Bass guitar, keyboards
Jim Gilmour - Lead keyboards, vocals, sax, lead vocal on "Scratching the Surface"
Ian Crichton - Guitar
Steve Negus - Drums, percussion, electronic percussion