"On the Loose" by Saga

      Hello friends, I'm glad you tuned in tonight, as the big 'ole, bad 'ole Radio Dial brings you another classic forgotten hit! This one is a true fist pumper, a perfect selection to blast with your windows rolled down on a long nighttime drive! It's time to rock out with 1981's “On the Loose”, by Saga!

“One day you feel quite stable, the next you're comin' off the wall... But I think you should warn me, if you start heading for a fall...”

Reaching #26 on the pop singles chart, and mainstream rock #3, “On the Loose” was pulled from Saga's Worlds Apart LP. The track would turn out to be Saga's only US top 40 hit, though two other singles by the Canadian rockers charted on the Hot 100. “Wind Him Up” reached US #64 (and was the first single from Worlds Apart - “On the Loose” was the second), and '83’s US #79 charter “The Flyer” from the Heads or Tails LP.

Featuring lead guitarist Ian Crichton, his elder brother Jim on bass, expert drummer Steve Negus, awesome synthesizer work courtesy of Jim Gilmour, and Michael Sadler on lead vocals, (who was purportedly recording the vocal track while standing atop a barn to get the proper level of passion from his voice), “On the Loose” is a power pop masterpiece with clear inspiration from prog and hard rock, which can draw easy comparisons to the music of fellow Canadian rockers Loverboy.

A commentary on the often explosive release of the stresses of day to day to life, Sadler sings that “instead of reaching conclusions, I see you reaching for something else.”

I take this to mean that when the source of the stress cannot be changed or eliminated, finding something that reduces the stress is often the only obvious solution. This could be as wide ranging as redirecting the stress in a constructive way, such as with sports, or creative pursuits (like singing atop a barn, for example), numbing the stress (as with drug or alcohol use – not the best option), or, (and I don't recommend this...) exploding into destructive behavior (which brings on its own set of issues, but anyway...) Once all the pent up tension and frustration pours out, one truly feels ON THE LOOSE.

“I see no harm or danger in escaping... if the method suits the style. We put the mind on idle, and let the others take it for awhile.”

On a personal note, “On the Loose” is one of the many songs I now classify as a “Freecade track”. My great friend and fellow ‘80s historian and musicologist Greg Free had a killer arcade set up in his Ohio basement several years ago, which far surpassed many actual arcades from back in the day. (He still has a killer arcade, he’s just since moved out of the Buckeye State.)

Incorporating his last name into the name of the arcade itself, the Freecade featured recessed black lighting, cork flooring, a pool table, a fully stocked bar, and pretty much every classic 80s arcade game you would ever want to play. Galaga? Check. Pac-Man? Yes, indeed! Dragon’s Lair? Absolutely! Tron, Q*Bert, Defender, Centipede, Tempest, Track & Field, Donkey Kong… it was an amazing sight to behold. His game room even offered up obscurities like Pooyan, Omega Race, and Chicken Shift!

As would fit the locale, Greg always had a steady stream of quality eighties music playing in the Freecade, and one of the many songs that I grew quite fond of from hearing it on my visits there was Saga’s lone top 40 hit, a song I barely remembered from it's 1981 chart run.

In fact, in March of this year, I was enjoying a repeat of Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 radio show, and when Saga’s hit started to play on the countdown, I was mentally transported back to the Freecade, valiantly trying to top my high score on Gorf, with a Bellhaven Scottish Ale in hand. Good times, good times. (Although you could argue that listening to Saga while playing a classic arcade game truly is a 1981 memory, even if the actual event took place in 2007!)

“When the pace is too fast, and I think I won't last, you know where I'll be found...
I'll be standing here beside myself, getting ready for the final round.”

So click the video below and check out Saga's hit, and let me know if any fond memories come flooding back to you! It would also be an excellent choice to play to get yourself motivated for a new adventure or chapter in your life. Fist pumping! Tonight you're ON THE LOOSE!

“No one can stop you now, tonight you're on the loose. No one to tell you how, tonight you're on the loose.”

"A Very Strange Medley" by Barry Manilow

      Hey friends! Tonight, the Dial is taking you on a brief side trip into the world of “silly”. We do this on a yearly basis on April Fools’ Day, in order to tap into a bit of the unique vibe of the holiday. The song we’re spotlighting tonight? Soft rock superstar Barry Manilow’s "A Very Strange Medley".

“There's barkin’ at the kitchen, yellin' in the hall, ringin' at the door bell, poundin' on the wall… kids outta sight, and kids in the way, no time to cook on this hectic day.”

Also known as the “V.S.M.”, what makes Manilow’s song strange is its subject matter – the lyrics are a string of TV commercial jingles that Barry wrote and performed before his pop music career took off. In order, we hear spots for Kentucky Fried Chicken, State Farm Insurance, Stridex, Band-Aid, Tough Green Bowlene, Dr. Pepper, and Pepsi, and it concludes with a rousing rendition of the classic “You Deserve a Break Today” campaign for McDonald's. (Which is so much better than the lame “I’m Lovin’ It” ads they’ve been using for far too long now, I’m just sayin’.)

Never released as a single, or to radio stations, “V.S.M.” nevertheless ended up in many music collections due to its inclusion on the quadruple platinum 1977 Barry Manilow Live LP, which features renditions of Barry’s biggest hits up until that time, including “Looks Like We Made It”, “Daybreak”, “This One’s For You”, and a medley that combines “Could It Be Magic” with “Mandy”. 

“Give your face somethin' to smile about, give your face somethin' to smile about...
with Stridex. Doot-doot-doot, doo- doo-doo-doo-doo-doo… with Stridex.”

This is a fun time capsule for those of us who were TV watchers in the ‘70s, although I have to admit that I had no idea what “Tough Green Bowlene” was even back then, and indeed I wasn’t sure what the guest vocalist was singing (Barry gives her a shout out as “Monica”) when she sang the name of the product. Barry’s LP had no lyric sheet, and there was no easy way to look this stuff up back then, so I wondered about it for years until an internet search decades later identified the jingle as belonging to a toilet bowl cleaner that I never saw the ads for back in the day. 

"Its not a cola... there's colas by the score, so drink Dr.Pepper, the joy of every boy and girl. It's the most original soft drink ever in the whole wide world." 

Manilow’s LIVE album is full of banter between the songs, and in the introduction to the V.S.M., he relates how his “trashy” friends love the medley, and his “artsy fartsy” friends are totally embarrassed that he would record such a song. Because my parents raised me that “fart” was a bad word, (I was told to say “I broke wind” instead…) I always felt a little naughty listening to Barry’s spoken intro, and I developed the opinion that Manilow was just a little bit bad-ass because of it.

I also get a kick out of hearing the audience roar with delight upon recognizing each of the ad campaigns, and the moment early on when Barry starts to chuckle during the opening KFC jingle. 

"You deserve a break today, so get up and get away, to McDonald's... 
So get up and get away, to McDonald's... McDonald's... McDONALD'S!!!!" 

So I invite you to check out this amusing ride through TV commercial breaks of the 70s, delivered with spirited enthusiasm by Barry and company. And if you find a supply of Tough Green Bowlene somewhere, keep me in the loop as I’d like to know if it really beats the bathroom bowl blues!