I don't think Joe is being mean or argumentative or saying he doesn't like Lightfoot anymore...he's just stunned like a lot of us were when we experienced the voice change for the first time. It is a shocker! My last "new" purchase before Painter was East of Midnight, which I really, really liked. In the early 90's I purchased the UA Collection...nothing new there just old stuff put together in one place. Then came Painter. I had to special order the cassette version because I didn't have a CD player yet and our stores only carried the CD version. When they called me to tell me the tape was in I left work early to go pick it up. Excitement, excitement! My collection of GL works does not include Waiting For You because my country music interest went into high gear in the late 80's, so although I still played all my GL stuff on a regular basis my purchases were country music. If I had purchased Waiting I probably would have been prepared for what I heard on Painter. I was so hurt I cried myself to sleep. I felt like I'd lost a very old and dear friend. It was a real crusher for me. When I awoke the next morning I realized that I was still here and so was he and that was a very good thing! I saw him in concert last summer for the first time. He knows very well that the voice he used to have is not there but he is so gifted that the arrangements are carefully crafted to compensate and give the audience a great show. I was very impressed. He likes what he's doing and it shows. My old friend came back to life for me that night. I have a pet phrase...there's more than one way to skin a cat. He can keep skinning cats, as far as I'm concerned, in whatever way keeps him in front of us. I'm looking forward to his PBS special (I get to see it twice because my cable provider picks up two PBS affiliates that ARE showing it!) and his concert in either Hagerstown, MD or Alexandria, VA next spring. Ever onward...
|