GL desert island discs

[pmwinters]

OK guys, here's the deal...if you were secluded on a desert island and could only have 5 Lightfoot albums, which ones would you choose? Here are my choices and I would love to hear what other GL fans would choose as well.

1. Complete Greatest Hits (Rhino, 2002). Features all of Gord's well known hits, such as Sundown, Canadian Railroad Trilogy, If You Could Read My Mind, Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, and many others. Great sound quality as well.

2. Gord's Gold Vol. II ( Warner Bros. 1988). Some Gord fans were put off by the re-records of 14 of the 18 tracks, but I liked them. The newly recorded tracks had the feel of a " live in the studio" performance which for now at least is the closest we can come to a post-1969 official live album. The re-cuts of Endless Wire and Race Among The Ruins are particularly noteworthy.

3. Sundown ( Reprise, 1974). A masterpiece. An album that doesn't require any use of the "skip" function on your CD player. Rock solid throughout.

4. East Of Midnight (Warner Bros., 1986). A departure from the traditional Lightfoot sound. it included the use of synths, drum programing, saxes, background vocals and cutting edge technology. This was a slick, well crafted LP that showcased some of Gord's best compositions.

5. Waiting For You (Reprise, 1993). A return to the direct acoustic sound that most people identify with Gord's music. A real "band album" that was finished in a month in early 1992 without the use of outside studio musicians. Showcases the talents of the touring Lightfoot band and includes beautiful acoustic pieces as well as a couple of terrific folk/rock numbers like the rollicking Fading Away.

Well that's my take. I'd love to hear other opinions from forum members on their own choices for "desert island discs".

[3pennies]

Should greatest hits albums count?

[Unsettled 1]

That's a tough one...but for me I think it's:
Gord's Gold Volume 1
Old Dan's Records
Cold on the Shoulder
Sundown
Summertime Dream

All great songs, and he was in his prime...

[bjm7777]

Shadows, Sundown, Don Quixote, Cold on the Shoulder, and Lightfoot!, his eponymous debut...

[johnfowles]

Bilimey "Desert Island Discs" was going to be the subject of a planned thread from me!!
For those who do not know that is also the title of the longest running BBC radio programme yes with two "m"'s
from the wiki at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Island_Discs
"Desert Island Discs is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme (surpassed only by the Geand Ole Opry, 28 November 1925), and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio.Originally devised and presented by Roy Plumley, each week a guest ("castaway") is asked to choose eight pieces of music, a book and a luxury item for their imaginary stay on the island, while discussing their lives and the reasons for their choices. The programme's theme is
By the Sleepy Lagoon composed by Eric Coates in 1930. Since 2006 it has been presented by Kirsty Young"
Of course limiting ones choice to only eight pieces of music for Gordfans is a no no
It has to be assumed that the castaway has the luxury of originally a turntable but nowadays a CD player and obviously the luxury item would have to be a portable generator of some sort probably solar powered.
My plan instead of a bland 5 album limit would be to strictly enforce a single CD limit
with the contents being your favorite Gordsongs (at least those you simply could not live without in your enforced exile) which is about 23 or so tracks totalling 70 minutes absolute tops (or a few minutes more if your CD burner and software supports overburning) .
I quickly realised that everybody's choice changes from day to day and that even 23 tracks is a tad on the tight side and extremely difficult to devise. so I came ip with an idea to instill some discipline into the process, taking my cue from the fact that there are just 20 official "original' albums (including Sunday Concert but exluding the various "Hits" and Golden compilations).In addition there are a few unreleased gems that I for one would wish to take into account in particular the 1968 television version of "Face Of a Thousand People"
Other more patriotic fans might like Oh Canada orThe Star Spangled Banner or even the annual Auld Lang' Syne
My rules would therefore be to enforce a minumum of one track from every album and then depending on how many of the epics you select in those 20 (I would have to include Seven Island Suite but happily ignore TWOTEF and CRT) the total time may be made up with up to a maximum of two tracks from any one album plus say one other recording (such as the aforementioned FOATP)
To do this one can either hand write a list with track times and do the math
(cursing the Phoenicians I think it was who decided that there shou;ld be only 60 secomds in a minute not a convenienty decimal friendly 100 and 60 minutes in the hour not 100 and 24 hours in a day not 10!)
To make the track selection process easy what I need to do is to create an online spreadsheet containing a page for each album listing every track on it with its running time and a check box in front then all tracks checked can be listed on a summary page with the resultant CD's Total Running Time.one could then fine tune one's selction until you get close to the desired 70 minutes
I am not sur that I can achieve this using Microsoft Excel but intend doing so when I can find the time (I know exactly how to do this using an old DOS program called Surefire
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/surefire/
but that would require everyone interested installing that program) if I can do it in Excel then it could be uploaded to Microsoft's own Online Office Excel or possible adapted to the equivalent Google Docs Spreadsheet format as a fine example of cloud computing.
If anybody who has the consumate skill in Excel wishes to try his hand and brain to do that please contact me for suggestions
As this is one of my pet projects I'll be back one way or another

[jj]

Originally Posted by johnfowles

My rules would therefore be to enforce a minumum of one track from every album
[/SIZE]

I may have missed some of the guidelines, but a track from every album? :

Steel Rail Blues
Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Did She Mention My Name
The Circle Is Small
Leaves of Grass
Minstrel Of The Dawn
Miguel
It's Worth Believin'
Ordinary Man
Seven Island Suite
All The Lovely Ladies
Never Too Close
If Children Had Wings
On The High Seas
14 Karat Gold
Whispers Of The North
Morning Glory
Restless
Much To My Surprise
River Of Light


some others i may have shockingly overlooked,
perhaps just too many decades of aural over-saturation

[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

PMWinters, my 5 desert island albums are as follows:
East Of Midnight
Sundown
Summertime Dream
Waiting For You
Shadows (Considered Gord's Gold I, but some said compilations are out.)

JohnFowles, your suggestion is also good, but I would need a lot more time to come up with that list.

[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

Now that I've had more time, here's one song from each non-compilation album:
Early Mornin' Rain
Song For A Winter's Night
Pussywillows, Cat Tails
Affair on 8th Avenue
Leaves Of Grass
Your Love's Return
Summer Side Of Life
Can't Depend On Love
Looking At The Rain
Is There Anyone Home
Now And Then
Spanish Moss
If Children Had Wings
Sea Of Tranquility
Shadows
Whispers Of The North
A Lesson In Love
Restless
Much To My Surprise
End Of All Time.

[Kelly Davis]

1. Salute - is still my favorite GL album (first one I ever had him sign - got 4 more to go)

2. Shadows - Great, great songs on this - think about all of the tunes from this album he still does live.

3. Summertime Dream

4. Summer Side of Life - there is so much variety in the syle of the songs onthis one.

5. Old Dan's Records


There you have it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lisa J]

1. sundown all time favorite
2. don quixote
3. gord's gold
4. dream street rose
5. endless wire

JJ,
these two songs you've mentioned, I have never heard
Much To My Surprise
River Of Light.

I feel silly for asking, but on which albums are they located?

[charlene]

MTMS - A Painter Passing Throgh
ROL - Harmony

[jj]

Originally Posted by Lisa J

JJ,
these two songs you've mentioned, I have never heard
Much To My Surprise
River Of Light.

I feel silly for asking, but on which albums are they located?

Hi Lisa. Char has listed the albums, yup

Can't find ROL on YouTube but it used to be there, I'm sure you have the Harmony cd.

Can't find Gord version of the other at YouTube but I love Brian's take:

Gordon Lightfoot (cover) Much To My Surprise 1...