Heads or Tales

Not to be confused with heads or tails, the practice of throwing a coin in the air.

Heads or Tales
Studio album by Saga
Released	September 1983
Recorded	The Farmyard, Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire, England
Genre	Progressive rock, new wave
Length	40:23 (vinyl) / 47:47 (CD)
Label	Portrait, Maze
Producer	Rupert Hine
Saga chronology
In Transit (1982) Heads or Tales (1983) Behaviour (1985)

Professional ratings

Review scores
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Allmusic

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 Rupert Hine. Although it did not receive the commercial success of the previous collaboration between the band and Hine, both "The Flyer" and "Cat Walk" became respectable radio hits for the band with the album eventually securing gold status in Canada (50,000) and Germany (250,000). A third single from the album, "Scratching the Surface", making a regular appearance in the band's concert line-up during the late-1990s and 2000s as a piano solo played by singer Jim Gilmour during a break by the other band members. The song reached #45 in the Canadian Singles charts, April 1984.

Track listing

Side One

No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
1.	"The Flyer"	Jim Crichton, Michael Sadler	3:47
2.	"Cat Walk"	J. Crichton, Jim Gilmour, Ian Crichton	4:24
3.	"The Sound of Strangers"	Sadler, J. Crichton, Gilmour, I. Crichton, Steve Negus	4:09
4.	"The Writing"	J. Crichton, Sadler	4:14
5.	"Intermission"	Sadler, J. Crichton, I. Crichton	5:28

Side Two

No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
6.	"Social Orphan"	Sadler, J. Crichton	3:24
7.	"The Vendetta (Still Helpless)"	Sadler, J. Crichton, Gilmour, I. Crichton	3:55
8.	"Scratching the Surface"	Gilmour, J. Crichton	5:26
9.	"The Pitchman"	J. Crichton, Sadler, I. Crichton, Gilmour, Negus	5:46

Bonus track (CD only)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Cat Walk" (Unabridged)	7:44

Personnel

Saga:

• Michael Sadler – lead vocals (all but 8), keyboards
• Ian Crichton – guitar
• Jim Gilmour – lead keyboards, backing and lead (8) vocals, sax
• Jim Crichton – bass guitar, keyboards
• Steve Negus – drums, percussion, electronic percussion

Production:

• Judith Salavetz, Spencer Drate – art direction, design
• Stephen Durke – front and back illustrations artwork
• Andrew Scarth – assistant engineer
• Stephen W Tayler – recording and mixing engineer
• Larry Williams – inner sleeve photography
• Producer – Rupert Hine

External links

• Heads or Tales at Discogs (list of releases)