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Martin/12 · 03-13-2003, 03:11 PM

I agree--East of Midnight seemed a very pop-focused project. Surprisingly, Gord regarded it as one of his best accomplishments. There are definitely some very good songs on there, but at least a couple seem to have been created by the "Anti-Lightfoot". What's worse, several of the songs could have been much, much better if they had not been produced with the adult-contemporary pop sound. If you have ever heard light arrangements of the East of Midnight (the song), A Lesson in Love, or Morning Glory--you can realize those songs' true potential. The song, East of Midnight is especially good in a simple unplugged arrangement. It's almost unrecognizable from the album--in a good way.

I think the orchestration is the problem--which is why people seem to like and hate different songs. You can hear the same sound in some of the cuts on Songbook.

I believe Gord was really searching for a new sound, because pop music had left his kind of genre behind. He took this project on himself after convincing execs that he had a vision for it, but needed "hands off" for him to do it right. He didn't even use his regular musicians.

It seems Gord was very disappointed with the reception of EOM--which is why he quit producing for several years--the worst travesty of all! Still, it has some good stuff. I like A Lesson in Love, I'll Tag Along, Morning Glory and the light version of EOM. These are the songs he has always favored in concert. Anything For Love--which he co-wrote with David Parker (?) was very weak IMO.

03-13-2003, 03:11 PM	#4
Martin/12 Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Columbus, OH, USA Posts: 74	I agree--East of Midnight seemed a very pop-focused project. Surprisingly, Gord regarded it as one of his best accomplishments. There are definitely some very good songs on there, but at least a couple seem to have been created by the "Anti-Lightfoot". What's worse, several of the songs could have been much, much better if they had not been produced with the adult-contemporary pop sound. If you have ever heard light arrangements of the East of Midnight (the song), A Lesson in Love, or Morning Glory--you can realize those songs' true potential. The song, East of Midnight is especially good in a simple unplugged arrangement. It's almost unrecognizable from the album--in a good way. I think the orchestration is the problem--which is why people seem to like and hate different songs. You can hear the same sound in some of the cuts on Songbook. I believe Gord was really searching for a new sound, because pop music had left his kind of genre behind. He took this project on himself after convincing execs that he had a vision for it, but needed "hands off" for him to do it right. He didn't even use his regular musicians. It seems Gord was very disappointed with the reception of EOM--which is why he quit producing for several years--the worst travesty of all! Still, it has some good stuff. I like A Lesson in Love, I'll Tag Along, Morning Glory and the light version of EOM. These are the songs he has always favored in concert. Anything For Love--which he co-wrote with David Parker (?) was very weak IMO.