HEADS OR TALES

"Heads or Tales" is the fifth full-length studio album by Canadian rock/progressive rock act Saga. The album was released through Portrait Records in September 1983. It´s the successor to the commercially succesful "Worlds Apart", which gave the band their international breakthrough. The two full-length studio albums are however bridged by the August 1982 "In Transit" live album.

Saga again recruited producer Rubert Hine and "Heads or Tales" also sounds like the natural successor to "Worlds Apart". Stylistically Saga play a melodic pop/rock oriented and synth heavy music style. Lead vocalist Michael Sadler is arguably one of the greatest assets of the band´s sound, and the more restrained and less classically trained singing approach he adopted on "Worlds Apart" is continued here, making "Heads or Tales" a both memorable and accessible release.

To my ears "Heads or Tales" is not an improvement over "Worlds Apart", and although it´s a good quality release in its own right it is more or less just a continuation and almost a cloning of the predecessor. So if you enjoyed "Worlds Apart", "Heads or Tales" will scratch your itch for more of the same, but there really hasn´t been much artistic development between the two releases. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is still warranted though.