We Got Time

It’s startling to realize that that song by the Haunted from a few posts back was the first bit of Canadian content on this site. So here are a couple worth-your-while tracks from one of Bob Wiseman’s early solo records, one with the ungainly title of Bob Wiseman Sings Wrench Tuttle: In Her Dreams. (There is no Mr. or Ms. Tuttle – it’s just the old fake-collaborator conceit at work.)

If you’re a domestic reader, feel free to skip ahead, but…. Here in the land of Canada, Wiseman is best known to many as the keyboardist for Blue Rodeo in their early days. His work did indeed greatly enliven their first couple albums – those organ swirls on “How Long” always make me grin – but what I’ve heard of his solo stuff is more interesting. Here we have some highly Dylanesque folk-rock (including a genuine narrative protest number à la “Hurricane”) filtered through cracked Canuck sensibilities. When Sings Wrench Tuttle first came out I sneered at the loopy vocals & haphazard rhythms, but, well, I was young & stupid.

• Bob Wiseman, “Airplane on the Highway”
• Bob Wiseman, “Bhopal (Driftnet Plan)”

(Not sure how in-print the album currently is, but Wiseman’s own site is here.)