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Gordon Lightfoot’s ninth album, Sundown is one of his most successful albums, charting #1 on the pop chart in the US. In his native Canada, the album topped the RPM 100 for five consecutive weeks. The title track is one of his most famous songs, reaching similar popularity to The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (1976) and If You Could Read My Mind (1970), both of which are in very different styles. Another highlight track of the album is Carefree Highway, a personal favourite of mine.
I’m a huge fan of the late Gordon Lightfoot and even got to meet him before (plus I know his old steel guitarist), so I’d be happy to discuss him more. In fact, the name of one of my alt accounts on here is a direct reference to Gord.
If you like the sound of his music, I’d highly suggest checking out Gord’s Gold. It is a different take on a compilation album, since a lot of the songs are re-recorded, allowing for a new take on an old classic. Canadian Railroad Trilogy is probably the best example of this. The song was originally released on his second album, but hearing a matured voice sing the song on Gord’s Gold (plus a more refined instrumentation/arrangement) allows for a bit of a different listening experience compared to the raw, more emotional take from the original. Sundown and Carefree Highway (both from the Sundown album) are both on Gord’s Gold, however neither are re-recorded.
He released a second volume of Gord’s Gold (named Gord’s Gold Volume II) but I’m not as big of a fan, I just feel the re-recordings aren’t as well done as they were with the first volume. It’s still a good record to be sure, but the first volume was (I believe) his best selling album, and it’s for good reason as it’s far better.
As for his sound, I definitely agree with you! His voice, guitar work, and all his other instrumentation are excellent. I’ve always loved the steel guitar work on his records too, and not just because I know the guy who did them. Try imaging Wreck without the steel guitar, it just wouldn’t be the same
I will check it out. I've recently been getting back into more rootsy music as I get older and it's just so soulful and most of it, being mostly older music, has that MOJO as far as the production and spirit imo. I'm glad my s.o. is a curator of music, or else I would have probably just kept dicking around with my small pool of stuff. I record a little bit myself, and I think almost every song is perfect, as is, as art, as long as the performance is weighty. And some people can just turn it on yknow? I think alot goes into the process and everyone's gotta really feel what they are doing, at every step. Or else you end up with something that's trying too hard or over produced or what have you.
I totally feel you. Old music really does just have a different feel. I don’t listen to a whole lot of modern stuff, partly for that reason. There’s some good modern music to be sure, I recently discovered that Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories is a masterpiece, but I typically stay in the 60s-70s when listening to pop/rock. I also like classical and jazz so I go further back with that stuff obviously.
I agree completely. 60-70 are where most of my music is. I've found a lot of amazing new music that hits that spot, and it tends to all be self made hip hop kinda stuff. But over the last maybe 7 years, I've been stuck in that time. Right now, my fav is Richard Thompsons early stuff like fairport convention, Richard and Linda.
I'm pretty lucky in that I'm a musician, and I never really found myself seeking music out, but my s.o. has like really good taste and whatever she puts on becomes my favorite. It's quite a blessing, cause I'm kind of a snob lol.
It sounds like you probably have a very very similar taste as I.
I’ve been playing piano since I can remember (probably 3 or 4) and guitar since a couple years after that. My girlfriend used to be really into songwriting, and her dad is a professional musician. All of that has allowed me to really be in the music scene, for which I’m very fortunate. I’ll often go to her parents’ place just to jam out with her dad, it’s awesome.
I feel like I’ve heard the name Richard Thomson but I can’t say I know any of it. I’ll take a closer look tomorrow as it’s rather late here and I’m about off to bed. From what I can tell, though, you seem to have a great taste in music!
If you like Gordon, you will dig it for sure! He's my fav guitarist. He's been making music for a while and is pretty prolific. There's lots of it. I'd start with some Liege and Liefe, I want to see the bright lights tonight, Henry the human fly, and the acoustic classics 1 and 2.
Its sort of like 60/70s psychedelic folk rock deeply rooted in British and celtic traditional stuff with amazing lyrics, and amazing female vocals too. The female vocalist of fairport, sandy denny, was Robert plants fav, and she sings on the battle of evermore.
It was nice talking to you. And your super lucky! I'm sure you appreciate that now very much. Music is my life tbh. And I still don't know shit lol. Have a good night!