June 29, 1999
Sharps & flats
Gordon Lightfoot's "Songbook" delivers timeless tunes and a
little bit more.
By Seth Mnookin, taken from Salon
1999
Canadian folkie Gordon Lightfoot's "Songbook" is, like
most Rhino retrospectives, a coolly handsome, elegantly annotated and
relatively conclusive collection. And like any set vainglorious enough
to try to capture 19 albums and 30 years on a four-disc box,
"Songbook" is far from definitive, but it ends up
comprehensive enough for aficionados and neophytes alike.
For a time in the mid-'60s, Lightfoot was a songwriter's songwriter,
earning hits for Peter, Paul & Mary and Marty Robbins. By the
mid-'70s, his sonorous baritone and his tasteful arrangements had
helped him earn his own audience as he reached his commercial -- and
artistic -- peak. "Songbook" captures those early days,
beginning with two songs recorded four years before his 1966 debut and
then continuing on through hits ("Sundown"), misses
("Forgive Me Lord") and 16 unreleased tracks up to last
year.
The middle two discs, which feature Lightfoot's wrenching 1970s
output, comprise the heart of "Songbook." On the dirge-like,
steely-eyed "Sundown," the singer struggles through a
cheating relationship. The chilling "The Wreck of Edmund
Fitzgerald" tells the story of a Great Lakes shipwreck with
poetics that would make Dylan proud. With those songs, and on twangy
cuts like "Borderstone," Lightfoot once again emerges as one
of the premier folk songwriters during of the period.
The set does sag a bit around the edges. His earliest work was overly
earnest, and in the '80s he slipped and landed somewhere between
befuddled and easy listening. But even if certain cuts on the first
and fourth discs can't further an overall appreciation of Lightfoot,
they do paint a fuller, if not always pretty, picture. And there are
even some hidden delights amid the later work, like the previously
unreleased "Why Should I Feel Blue" (1982), a gentle,
meandering tune about growing up. Unfortunately, the meditation is
followed by a painful drum machine on "Someone to Believe
In." Then again, few careers are filled end to end with
masterpieces. A handful of unique, timeless gems should be enough for
anyone, and Lightfoot has that, and maybe even a little bit more.
About the writer
Seth Mnookin is a writer and music critic covering New York City at
the Forward.
