Gordon Lightfoot Album by Album

Some time back, possibly a year back I promised to start a Gordon Lightfoot album by album thread. I am only getting around to it now so I hope people are still interested in reading it and chipping in with comments.

I think Lightfoot is still underrated, possibly, as some on here have remarked because he never moved to the US full time in order to achieve superstar status.

Lightfoot has a fairly neat discography so this thread shouldn’t get too complicated. I’m going to follow the style of Chief’s old CSN thread which I greatly admired and try to throw in various unreleased tracks and outtakes in their relevant eras as I go and mention a few bits of history.

If it is OK with everyone I am going to post on a particular album/era, leave a few days for discussion and then post my thoughts on the next album/era.

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1962 - Pre-History: The Two Tones At The Village Corner

Lightfoot’s first release came as a member of the Two Tones, a folk duo with Terry Whelan. They recorded a live album called At the Village Corner in January 1962.

To me At The Village Corner fits into the folk revival scene of the early ‘60s, though it’s not a scene I know much about. The album is sometimes light-hearted in a way that reminds me of Peter and Quagmire’s folk duo in Family Guy! Or more properly it fits with what I have seen of the “pre-history” of many other artists such as Gene Clark, John Denver, the Mamas and the Papas etc. Folk songs, fun songs and a few political references.

I think the album itself is unremarkable, perfectly listenable with unremarkable. At times the duo sound a little bit like Simon and Garfunkel. Does it point to what was to come from Lightfoot? Not really but I do think that one can hear Lightfoot’s voice has something a little special to it especially on more emotive tracks like the Copper Kettle.

As I mentioned, most of the tracks are covers including songs such as Dark As A Dungeon, which seems to have provided some melodic inspiration for Lightfoot’s later The Pony Man and Kilgarry Mountain, much better known as the perennial Irish pub favourite and hit for Thin Lizzy – Whiskey in The Jar. The one original song on here is This is My Song, a decent number written by Lightfoot but nothing special.

The group also released a more contemporary sounding studio single – Lessons In Love backed with Sweet Polly. Again both are unremarkable covers.

On balance, I think is a pleasant, unassuming album which doesn’t really indicate much about Lightfoot’s talent but perhaps hints at where he may have found a few bits of melody for his later songs. Lightfoot himself described this period of career as being paid to practice, that seems to sum things up nicely.

In the coming days I will post about Gord’s raft of pre-first album singles.

 

I'm guessing there haven't been responses because not many people have heard these early recordings, but I'm looking forward to discussion of the United Artists and Reprise albums.

 

I only know his later stuff, but I love me some Gordon.

 

I don't have that early duo album or any of those early singles and I only recently learned of their existence, but I do have all of his UA and Reprise albums (everything through Waiting For You). I still need to get A Painter Passing Through and the newest live album. Looking forward to this thread.

 

I adore Gordon Lightfoot. I didn't know about him until I read the liner notes for The Innocent Age by Dan Fogelberg, who cited him as an influence. I bought this box set -- one of the most satisfying "investments" I've ever made.

http://www.amazon.com/Songbook-Gordon-Lightfoot/dp/B00000J63I/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1442684470&sr=1-1&keywords=gordon lightfoot box set

 

Although The Innocent Age was one of the first albums I bought as a kid, I knew about Lightfoot before that because my parents had the Gord's Gold album and played it often. Hearing Lightfoot's music always makes me feel like I'm sitting in the living room with them by the fireplace on an autumn night.

 

I believe Bob Dylan has been quoted as saying Lightfoot is his favorite songwriter (or something similar anyway).

Very much looking forward to following this thread!

 

http://citizenfreak.com/titles/3050...-live-at-the-village-corner-with-terry-whelan

 

I'd love to find this. Is it still in print?

 

I'd never heard of the Two Tones album either (and I did know about his singles from before the Lightfoot! album). Yet another rarity to keep an eye out for.

 

I'm looking forward to this thread. But as you guessed, I really don't know much about his pre-UA album material.

 

Not a chance unfortunately

 

I am not very good at following these "album-by-album" threads so I'll give my opinion in a nutshell.

I own nearly everything that Gordon Lightfoot has released with my favorite era being from 1968 through 1983 and a skip to 1993 (if that makes any sense). His earlier UA material doesn't really do much for me. It's not that I dislike the albums, they just seem less interesting than the Reprise years. I think he vastly improved upon the UA tunes he re-recorded in 1975 for Gord's Gold- though the second volume leaves a lot to be desired. I don't think he's ever released a bad LP and my favorites are: "Dream Street Rose" (1980), "Old Dan's Records" (1972), "Sit Down Young Stranger" (1970), "Shadows" (1982), "Did She Mention My Name" (1968) (I must find this in mono), "Salute" (1983), "Sundown" (1973), "Summertime Dream" (1976) and "Waiting For You" (1993). Seen him in concert about 7 or 8 times. Though his voice is shot, the shows are very cozy and I don't walk out of the theatre with my ears roaring from his backline.

 

Wasn't there a rock single on Liberty as Gordy?

 

1962 – 1963: Singles!

After finishing with the Two Tones, Lightfoot released his first single Daisy Doo backed with Remember Me (I’m The One). Daisy Doo is a very lightweight, self-penned comic pop song. It has been likened to a song from an Elvis movie and I have to concur.

The song’s B-side is very different, it’s a slow ponderous crooning number with Lightfoot, you guessed it, crooning and crooning rather stiffly. The A and B side belong to totally different musical genres and could easily be from two different artists.

Daisy Doo failed to make an impact and then the single was re-released with the A and B sides flipped. Was this due to demand from DJs? Perhaps it was because Remember Me (I’m The One) shot up the Canadian charts to number 3 giving Gordon his first hit. Musically though, the song seems like a step backward from his work with the Two Tones.

Through-out 1962 and into 1963 there followed a confused mish mash of follow up A and B sides. It’s Too Late He Wins is very much a follow up to Remember Me, another stiff crooner. It’s B-side Negotiations is a fun, comic, light pop song penned by someone else. A total contrast in style but his voice sounds much more like it would during his peak period. It’s Too Late made the Canadian Top 30.

Adios, Adios came next. Another stiff, old-fashioned one. I’m not sure what early ‘60s contemporary he is channelling here. A stiffer, lower more countrified Jim Reeves or somebody? Jim Reeves meets Marty Robins? Lightfoot himself describes this era as sounding a bit too like Jim Reeves or Pat Boone. Adios, Adios failed to chart.

From 3 to 27 to nowhere on the charts suggests that Lightfoot had got all he could out of his crooning phase.

In 1963 Lightfoot released The Day Before Yesterday/Take Care of Yourself in the UK. Neither are self-written. The A side is just another lightweight pop song (though not as contemporary sounding as Daisy Doo or some of the B-sides from ‘62) but I have a real soft spot for the B side. Take Care of Yourself is catchy and could have been written by later Lightfoot!

 

It makes perfect sense if you're referring to Waiting For You. Fantastic album, and I have to confess I don't think I've ever heard a note of anything he recorded in the fifteen years prior to that.

I will say one thing for "Daisy Doo": that opening guitar lick is great. But I doubt Lightfoot himself had anything to do with that. "Negotiations" is also pretty funny, something you can't say for very many Lightfoot songs!

 

I stumbled upon this one while looking for those early singles on YouTube...wow!

 

This is from a large collection of unreleased demos from the period.

 

Is it true that whenever Gordon finds copies of these singles, he buys them just so he can destroy them?

 

Hey MidnightRocks,so glad you started this thread about the great Gordo. The first time I heard him was on AM radio when I was 14 around 1970. I was in bed on a cold,gray,winter day with a high fever,just miserable and then the song If You Could Read My Mind came on and soothed me and haunted me wanting to hear it again. I think the next song I heard, again,on the AM,was Summer Side Of Life and it had the same effect on me. I didn't run out and try to buy the singles just kept my ear to the radio hearing them occasionally and noting the artist by name.

Fast forward a few years and I helped one of my dad's friends move some stuff and he offered to give me cash or records in payment. I went in his basement to see what records he had and woha...the guy had a serious vinyl collection...floor to ceiling around all four walls of his man cave I'd guess close to 10,0000. So, this was a revelation and the guy became a friend and musical mentor. One of the LP's he paid me with was the UA Lightfoot! The one with Steel Rail Blues. I loved the cover of Gord with his Martin D-28 and he just looked like a cool dude. Album wise that's where I started and went to some of the other UA's but I didn't like them as much.

I don't recall which Reprise album I first bought but I think it was Summer Side Of Life which is a masterpiece. After digesting that it was Don Quixote,Sundown,my first current release when it first hit the stores,then back to mine Old Dan's Records and If You Could Read My Mind then on to Cold On The Shoulder,Summertime Dream,and Endless Wire. That's where I stopped and haven't heard any after that. But, that group right there is the stuff of legend. My wife and I love all of them but agree that DQ might be our favorite.

We got to see him when he was promoting Cold On The Shoulder and still it's a top five of all shows I've seen. After they did the last song the crowd went crazy and wouldn't leave so he comes back out and everyone is yelling out requests and he just stands there for a moment mulling things over and says....here's one that I'll send you home with and the anticipation builds as he does a fingerpicking pattern on his Martin D-45 and you can hear a pin drop as he starts to sing....

When it's midnight on the meadow and the cats are in the shed
And the river tells a story at the window by my bed
If you listen very closely,be quiet as you can
In the yard you'll hear him it is the pony man

 

Looking forward to this discussion as well.

The Songbook box is one of the best boxes ever compiled.

 

That's plausible I recently heard of him spending 100 grand to buy and destroy archive footage or recordings of the Two Tones I think.

He definitely drops material that becomes in any way controversial.

He's also a perfectionist and so is sitting on tons of unreleased stuff that apparently doesn't reach his standard.

 

I have both of those early tracks on 45- and just like Lightfoot- am not too enamoured by any of that material.

 

Fortunately, he did approve many unreleased tunes on that "Songbook" box set but none of it is really impressive. Hence the reason they went originally unreleased.

 

Not impressive????????????????

Too Much to Lose
Heaven Don't Deserve Me
Borderstone
Never Say Trust Me

and other are fantastic songs.