Biography
The underground, 1989: In America, Nirvana’s Bleach sells 10,000 copies. Sonic Youth almost breaks up while recording Goo, Negativland is sampling U2, and Husker Du is a Husker don’t. In the UK, acid house is taking over and everyone says rock is dead. In Toronto of that year, multi-instrumentalist Bob Wiseman takes a break from the drama of Blue Rodeo to record his first solo album Bob Wiseman Sings Wrench Tuttle: In Her Dream for Warner Bros, an album Chart Magazine would eventually list on its top 100 Canadian albums of all time. Unlike most artists at the dawn of the 1990s, Bob decided to mess with his new corporate overlords from the get-go. Wiseman invented reclusive songwriter “Wrench Tuttle” as a front and kept the ruse up for much of time on Warners. While on tour in Europe earlier with Blue Rodeo Wiseman had even sent letters to himself as “Wrench Tuttle” in order to open these letters in front of the more gullible music press (we’re looking at you Denise Donlon). Taking on the pseudonym freed Wiseman from both the country rock of Blue Rodeo and his own treated piano-avant past. Instead, Bob Wiseman Sings Wrench Tuttle is spare blues and raw pop delivered with Wiseman’s heartfelt yelp. 20 Years Later, 2009: The kids are dancing to rock music, the corporate music industry has to evolve or die, and Bob Wiseman is still standing, having collaborated with everyone from The Hidden Cameras to John Oswald. Wiseman still spends much of the year on the road (including stints with Feist and Wilco). The Blocks Recording Club is proud to re-release this album in limited edition vinyl.In 1989 Wiseman was forced by Warners to delete a song about Pepsi-Cola’s collusion in the coupe that installed Augusto Pinochet as dictator of Chile. In fact, the first run of 2000 copies was destroyed. ROCK AND TREE is restored in this new addition. As well, the digital version of the music will be available for free right here on the freemusic archive. If the longevity of Bob Wiseman Sings Wrench Tuttle says anything it’s that great music is forever while the bad habits of the music industry do go away, even if it takes 20 years.
