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Auburn Annie · 10-31-2003, 12:41 PM

Sigh ... "His star faded long ago, and his rare recordings over the past decade or two have seemed but dim echoes of former glory."

I leave comments to the rest of you. At least he likes the CD - and Gord - but apparently thinks of him as a forgotten folkie or something. Sheesh!

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***** doing the master proud, October 21, 2003

Reviewer: Jerome Clark (see more about me) from Canby, Minnesota

Tribute albums are a dicey business. Most don't work for the simple reason that they give you no particular reason not to prefer the work of the artist being honored. No one will say that of this tribute to the great Canadian folk singer and songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. His star faded long ago, and his rare recordings over the past decade or two have seemed but dim echoes of former glory. Now he's getting his due again. Not, of course, that his records are back on the charts and the radio, but his rich talent is being rediscovered and celebrated, as witness Beautiful, which it certainly is.

Lightfoot and his admirers could hardly ask for better than this. All but one performer (Maria Muldaur) is a fellow Canadian, and each finds his, her, or (in the case of bands) its or their way into a song's core to fashion a distinctive, sometimes surprising reading. You know these songs, you think, but the artists here appear committed to forcing you to wonder if you know them as well as you think you do. One could argue, as I have from time to time, that "Summer Side of Life" is Lightfoot's single greatest creation, and I love the version on his three-decade-old album of the same name. But Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (Stephen Fearing, Colin Linden, and bandmates) set it afire, giving it a fierceness appropriate to its (of course) non-preachy antiwar theme; Lightfoot's too smart to preach, and all the more effective a preacher for that. Jesse Winchester, who gives a wonderfully funky Memphis touch to "Sundown," somehow finds the humor that few of us knew was there all along. Murray McLauchlan delivers a touching, Celtic-tinged "Home from the Forest," about a dying old man's dreams of his country youth. Connie Kaldor's soulful "If You Could Read My Mind" and Maria Muldaur's heart-wrenching "That Same Old Obsession" will not leave you soon, nor will you want them to. And did I mention the one non-Lightfoot song, Aengus Finnan's gorgeous and deeply felt "Lightfoot"?

I would have liked to hear "Leaves of Grass" and "Crossroads" more than "Drifters" (done decently enough by Ron Sexsmith, but one of Lightfoot's inferior later compositions) and "Go Go Round" (a piece of piffle with which Blue Rodeo does its best). But that's okay; I can always go back to the Lightfoot originals. In the meantime, these gifted Canadians -- and one American -- have done the master proud.

10-31-2003, 12:41 PM	#1
Auburn Annie Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Upstate New York Posts: 3,101	Sigh ... "His star faded long ago, and his rare recordings over the past decade or two have seemed but dim echoes of former glory." I leave comments to the rest of you. At least he likes the CD - and Gord - but apparently thinks of him as a forgotten folkie or something. Sheesh! ***************************************** *** doing the master proud, October 21, 2003 Reviewer: Jerome Clark (see more about me) from Canby, Minnesota Tribute albums are a dicey business. Most don't work for the simple reason that they give you no particular reason not to prefer the work of the artist being honored. No one will say that of this tribute to the great Canadian folk singer and songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. His star faded long ago, and his rare recordings over the past decade or two have seemed but dim echoes of former glory. Now he's getting his due again. Not, of course, that his records are back on the charts and the radio, but his rich talent is being rediscovered and celebrated, as witness Beautiful, which it certainly is. Lightfoot and his admirers could hardly ask for better than this. All but one performer (Maria Muldaur) is a fellow Canadian, and each finds his, her, or (in the case of bands) its or their way into a song's core to fashion a distinctive, sometimes surprising reading. You know these songs, you think, but the artists here appear committed to forcing you to wonder if you know them as well as you think you do. One could argue, as I have from time to time, that "Summer Side of Life" is Lightfoot's single greatest creation, and I love the version on his three-decade-old album of the same name. But Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (Stephen Fearing, Colin Linden, and bandmates) set it afire, giving it a fierceness appropriate to its (of course) non-preachy antiwar theme; Lightfoot's too smart to preach, and all the more effective a preacher for that. Jesse Winchester, who gives a wonderfully funky Memphis touch to "Sundown," somehow finds the humor that few of us knew was there all along. Murray McLauchlan delivers a touching, Celtic-tinged "Home from the Forest," about a dying old man's dreams of his country youth. Connie Kaldor's soulful "If You Could Read My Mind" and Maria Muldaur's heart-wrenching "That Same Old Obsession" will not leave you soon, nor will you want them to. And did I mention the one non-Lightfoot song, Aengus Finnan's gorgeous and deeply felt "Lightfoot"? I would have liked to hear "Leaves of Grass" and "Crossroads" more than "Drifters" (done decently enough by Ron Sexsmith, but one of Lightfoot's inferior later compositions) and "Go Go Round" (a piece of piffle with which Blue Rodeo does its best). But that's okay; I can always go back to the Lightfoot originals. In the meantime, these gifted Canadians -- and one American -- have done the master proud.