POP MUSIC REVIEW : Blue Rodeo Turns in a Rough Ride at Bogart’s

Though touted in some corners as the hottest thing out of Canada since Lorne Greene, Blue Rodeo ultimately came off as just another band on Tuesday at Bogart’s, where the quintet’s virtues and its glaring lacks pretty much balanced out.

To its credit, the group offered some well-crafted songs and a rambling musicality that melded a variety of styles and influences. Singer/guitarists Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy’s pub-rock-inspired hooks on “Diamond Mine” and “One Day” suggested real songwriting potential, while the band nimbly rambled through everything from a thrashed-up version of Jimmy Webb’s “Galveston” to an instrumental--with a bass solo, no less--that sounded like a derailed “Train Kept a-Rollin’.”

But most of the songs were top-heavy with portentous lyrics pretending to a mature vision that clearly hasn’t evolved yet. And while it was a minor refreshment to see a new band that is not already in a stylistic straitjacket, it can be wearing to watch one spend each song trying to decide whether it’s Brinsley Schwarz or the Doors. That latter course was chiefly propounded by keyboardist Bob Wiseman, who attacked his duct-taped keyboard assembly with chairs, feet, drumsticks, beer bottles and sometimes hands, conjuring images of a 4-year-old Ray Manzarek throwing a tantrum.