Haywire - Wired The Best of Haywire

Haywire were nearly the shit through the late '80s to the early '90s. They dropped their debut in '86 and the two singles from Bad Boys seemed to be everywhere. Haywire were suddenly in the mix with the big Canadian acts: Corey Hart, Gowan (yeah before Styx he was the real deal baby) Glass Tiger and of course the king himself Bryan Adams.

Then the band really broke with their second album, and "Dance Desire" was a huge hit. The whole album was rock deliciousness with some spectacular guitar work from Marvin Birt and Paul MacAusland's soaring vocals. The power ballad "Thinkin' About the Years" features some jaw dropping work by Marvin. Marvin was (still is) a monster player. I love Marvin.

Then the band seemed to disappear right when they were red hot. Three years later they emerged with Nuthouse in 1990, right when Haywire's bread and butter musical style was about to be flushed down the toilet. Which was a shame as the guys went all in on being a rock band with all of the most extravagant sundae toppings. While it wasn't as good as Don't Just Stand There, it wasn't without some really killer moments. "Operator Central" is as good as anything they'd done, and even the rather over the top bombastic rocker "Short End of a Wishbone" has held up really well.

Their last album Get Off from '92 showed a band trying to stay current and was pretty good, but sadly features one of the worst covers I've ever seen. Still, the songs represented here, "Buzz" and "Get Back" are pretty solid and frankly when mixed with the other songs from the band's discography are surprisingly cohesive.

If there's a word that needs to be repeated it's that one: COHESIVE.

This is an album that totally works all the way from the first cut through to the last track. Okay the second to last track. I don't really count the remix version of "Dance Desire" as anything other than a curiosity. Never was a fan of the bloated cuts. Still it is what it is. The songs were nicely sequenced and while they loosely followed the chronological order of release it wasn't absolute. It really was incredibly cohesive (yes it was).

The band was so good, and was consistent through their entire career. Heck the band is still out in the summer playing classic rock festivals. I saw them in the summer a year ago, on one of the hottest days we'd had that year. They were first up in the afternoon and part way through their set Marvin looked like he was going to pass out. Someone brought him a chair and he ended up sitting down with a fan pointed at him. I wasn't that far from the stage and he was white as a sheet. He still killed it and made it through. Love me some Marvin.

Paul made a pointed joke about them being all original members after almost forty years. Which I found hilarious as a couple of the acts on the bill that day maybe had one original member and some none at all ... ah, rock and roll. It's all about the name.

The band after all these years is still:

• Paul MacAusland - vocals
• Marvin Birt - guitars and backing vocals
  
• David Rashed - keyboards and backing vocals
• Ronnie Switzer - bass
• Sean Kilbride - drums

Paul was (is) a hell of a singer, but to me what made Haywire tick was Marvin Birt. The guy in my opinion is one of the best to strap on, plug in and rock out. Google the guy and you'll get a pretty picture of a cricket. 

Now the album packaging is really top shelf, and the records are pretty to look at. I just wish the band had opted for proper credits and lyrics. Oh well you can't always get what you want.

Wired The Best of Haywire wasn't an album I needed. I had all of their albums already, but dang it when I found the album with the coloured discs and shiny cover I figured it would make me a nice Christmas present ... it did, and I thanked my dog profusely.