Completely overlooked in our GD wrap-up of Saga’s discography is their 1983 record ‘Heads Or Tales’. Here it is.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Saga
ALBUM: Heads Or Tales
LABEL: Portrait, Maze (Canada), Polydor
SERIAL: PR 38999, ML 8007, 815 410-1
YEAR: 1983
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada
LINEUP: Michael Sadler – lead vocals, keyboards * Jim Gilmour – lead keyboards, vocals, sax, lead vocals ‘Scratching The Surface’ * Ian Crichton – guitars * Jim Crichton – bass, keyboards * Steve Negus – drums, percussion, electronic percussion
TRACK LISTING: 01 The Flyer * 02 Cat Walk * 03 The Sound Of Strangers * 04 The Writing * 05 Intermission * 06 Social Orphan * 07 The Vendetta (Still Helpless) * 08 Scratching The Surface * 09 The Pitchman
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Completely overlooked in our GD wrap-up of Saga’s discography is their 1983 record ‘Heads Or Tales’. Here it is. The band, hoping to cash in and go one better than their previous studio album ‘Worlds Apart’ look to the same recipe with producer Rupert Hine at the dials.
The end result for ‘Heads Or Tales’ didn’t quite emulate the promise from before, but still did enough respectably for the band to keep in their label’s good books. Gone are the longer drawn pieces with intertwining lyrics and music for shorter pop/rock constructed pieces adorned for radio consumption.
The other notable aspect of this album is the incredible production from Hine; making Saga sound like a million bucks. Even for the pre-digital era, the technology used to record this album must’ve been on the cusp of the analog/digital era. It sounds wickedly good.
The Songs
The first pair of songs should require no introduction for the long-time fan; ‘The Flyer’ an entertaining high-flying (excuse the pun) piece of Saga magic (as per the album cover perhaps?), while ‘Cat Walk’ is as cat-scratchy as the song-title would imply: tight, sharp and focused.
The shuffly back-beat rhythm propelled by Steve Negus is what keeps ‘The Sound Of Strangers’ ahead of the game, along with an ‘easy on the ear’ chorus that makes it memorable for all the right reasons.
‘The Writing’ starts out with progressive traits and hints at their previous works. It’s got a tough rhythm section underpinning it all, the overall sound slightly darker with a battery of synths coming through; and I do like the way they change direction for the chorus, which is both modern and accessible.
Changing scope completely is the modern synth ballad ‘Intermission’, replete with all of the 80’s tricks of the trade in terms of synth and electronic percussion standing out in the mix. ‘Social Orphan’ for mine is one of the highlights here; a pumping modern blast of prog based AOR not unlike the opener ‘The Flyer’ but with more bite and determination.
‘The Vendetta (Still Helpless)’ has a whimsical vibe, probably due to Hine’s presence in the studio. I always felt that the combination of Saga and Hine was a match made in prog/AOR heaven, it’s a pity they never went beyond two albums they recorded together, but then again, Hine was a busy man recording, producing, and working with his own solo and project related ventures.
‘Scratching The Surface’ has Jim Gilmour on vocals, and features a Genesis like construct amid some fat 80’s synth patterns. I quite like this track, and with Gilmour’s lead vocal, it gives the album a little bit of colour and contrast.
Finishing up with ‘The Pitchman’, could be a watered down version of ‘The Flyer’ and ‘Social Orphan’; it has that same feel, probably a result of ideas sticking in the head during the recording sessions for this album.
In Summary
Both ‘The Flyer’ and ‘Cat Walk’ made it to radio, giving the album some impetus. As expected, ‘Heads Or Tales’ found a modicum of success in their popular markets of Europe and Canada; the album going gold in Germany and Canada but no such luck with the hard to crack US market even though the album was given a significant push by record label Portrait.
As mentioned, Saga’s liaison with Rupert Hine would cease after this effort; the band using Peter Walsh for their indifferent 1985 ‘Behaviour’ album, after which a fracturing of personnel occurred with Steve Negus and Jim Gilmour being asked to leave. They would go on to form the Gilmour Negus Project later in the decade.
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