The "one" Gordon Lightfoot album you could never do without!
Now,I know questions like this one are not new.
Also that it's very-very hard to choose just 1 album out of such a great collection of work. I'm just curious to find out from all of us true fans,if we could actually choose and live with just one Lightfoot album,pretedning that we have no choice of course. ;) After much deliberation on my part and taking into the fact my favorite songs of all & so forth....without a doubt,I would always have to have "Sundown". Main reasons being these: 1. Sundown is the first GL song I ever heard. 2. There's not one song on the album that I ever skip or like less than others (that not being any reflection on my list of 150 favorites.) 3. Overall,with all due love for SDYS,Shadows and Harmony....it is his difinitive album. That said,let me know which is the "one" and why. :cool: I'll be reading! |
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Hi Borderstone! I agree - "Sundown" was the first album I ever heard and there's not one song on it I don't like: "Christian Island," "Seven Island Suite," "Rainbow Trout," "High and Dry," "The List," not to mention the title song! I also liked "Summertime Dream" (obviously, with the "Fitz" and "Race Among the Ruins"). My other favorites as "Old Dan's Record's" and "Don Quixote." Among the new ones, I love "Painter" - like Gord said at one of the Massey May concerts this year when someone yelled out a request, "Sorry, too muh of a body of work!" - Well, I wouldn't want to call it "too much!" SherylKat
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Re: The "one" Gordon Lightfoot album you could never do without!
Let's see.....if someone put a gun to my head and ordered me to pick ONE, AND ONLY ONE Lightfoot album.......I'd probably take "Shadows".
Why ? Because I'd be scared to death, and it's at the front of my LP collection and therefore most readily accessible. |
Re: The "one" Gordon Lightfoot album you could never do without!
Summer side of life....
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Songbook, Wait! I'll bet that is not allowed.
My first choice for a regular album would be "Don Quixote." |
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Re: The "one" Gordon Lightfoot album you could never do without!
Bo-Stone: I must agree, without hesitation. Sundlwn LP. And while I'm at it, the audiophile Mobile Sound Labs High fidelity 1/2 speed( i think the shop talk goes on it ) version of the album, of course i would insist on an old "Dual" brand high-end direct-drive tangential tone-arm with counter-balance, top-o-the-line dimaond needle stylus -Pickering as I recall - not the cr** v15 cartridge that came with my old other wise incredible Scott stereo system.
Oh - and a 3k-watt Honda generator as back up or source for power , if its the desert island scenario - and two old/new JBL 15" 3-way acoustic suspension speakers, for that "warm bass sound" that suits the album, along with a McIntosh vacuum-tube amp, and a years supply of diet pepsi and power bars. Really - Sundown - for all the reasons I have heard plus: there are a representative cross-section of nearly his whole spectrum of music styles- or maybe better stated - song types. Think about it a minute - the differences between: Sundown - and Circle of Steel. - "hard" & "soft" sounds Watchman -no vibrato and Too Late for Prayin - vibrato Somewhere USA - not meant imho to be *important*, but fun, versus Sevel Island Suite - where i believe he is trying to convey something important. Is There Anyone Home - my favourite "ethereal" mood song, versus ,say Carefree Highway - not hard to figure out. And as you said, it is a defining album (I believe you said "definative" for [his career ?]for the period - and imho for Lightfoot - of what he was searching for in his "sound" not fact, just my opinion, based losely on the progression of albums from his last UA album, to Warner first - Sit Down/IYCRMM album - "sound" progressing, searching.... through the near-perfect DQ i agree, and a personal favourite of mie as well -ODR, to my all-time favourite only have one - Sundown. My closest 2nd would be DQ or COTS - surprised no one mentioned that - I thin of that as the end of his "Broad-Brimmed" period, last album before significant introduction of new instruments, and very good - Summertime Dream with its epic of course we all know - TWOTEF. On 2nd thought - if we could have any "release" - I'd reconsider and maybe take GG1 - as it captures his 74-ish Broad-Brim sound, with that added in re-recording to the UA songs, and I'd have CRT, IYCRMM, Beautful, SONGS i COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT. hMMM is that you final answer - yes - GG1. GG1 it is. ~geo steve |
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Actually, "Songbook" hadn't occoured to me! :eek:
Nah,it's cool,if it's Songbook,that's your choice. :cool: Heck,if it's the hard to find "Yellow Bird" that's how you feel! LOL! :biggrin: |
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Hello Everyone.... Tough Question.
Old Dan's Records It's Worth Believn' Farewell to Annabel That Same Old Obsession Can't Depend on Love Hi'way Songs WOW... going over those songs again... They are my all time favorites but I understand your choices also....Don Quixote my second favorite followed by Shadows.... Real Tough question. Interesting answers everyone. Wes |
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The one?
It would be "Did She Mention My Name"? A girl I was dating in Santa Ana my sophomore year of college named Jeannie Merrit introduced me to GL with that album. I was mezmerized by the strings on "Does Your Mother Know?" and by Red Shea's guitar on the title track. Add to that the intro to "Mountains and Maryann," and it takes me back to memories of a very nice girl with exceptionally good taste in music. For turning me into a lifelong GL fan, Jeannie, thank you! |
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wow a tough one and a decision I would hope to never have to make but for the # and widest selection, I'd have to go with Songbook.
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Oh that's a hard one B. But the winner for me is Don Quixote. Can't live without that one.
Bill :) |
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I agree -- Don Quixote for me.
But also Did She Mention My Name Gord's Gold would be cheating! |
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I have to agree with several of you and pick "Sundown." It just has great song after great song (not that most of Gord's albums don't). "The Watchman's Gone" being one of my absolute favorites.
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Bill: geodeticman's eyes narrow, lookin' downwind and narowin', he squints in the late afternoon sunshine, spits a chaw of 'baccy off near the hitchin' post, and says to Bill:"You callin' me a cheater with Gord's GoldI, Pilgrim?"geodeticman loosens his six-shooter holster loop, and taps leather, in no particular hurry...."I done said....at.. I mean uhm.. Sundown...is my hands-on favourite....but if'n I COULD take any release, I would take GGI....a knowin' it was not really an album....so you rekin ya wanna ...take that back.... Bill....? women and children are being scurried off ofthe street while geodeticman, otherwise known round these here parts as geo steve.....starts thinking he sounds foolish, and is going off thread... er.. uhm OK then as I said first... the one ALBUM. I would particularly think reperesent his many-hued variety of songs, styles, and that gol-dern rootin-tootin broad-brimmed period..... Sudown!The crowd sighs with relief, sensing the regular geodeticman they know starting to blabberty as normal, and realize he was just funnin'em.
Yup, Bill, you are right, I recognized a release per se, was not the call, just wishfull thinking, Sundown, with DQ, COTS, or ODR mt equal and closest 2nds. lol ~geo steve |
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Imagine Sundown as a double album with these selections :) :
Christian Island Cabaret Nous Vivons Ensemble Cotton Jenny Saturday Clothes It's Worth Believin' Your Love's Return Ten Degrees & Getting Colder Can't Depend On Love Borderstone ;) |
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DQ is a good one, also Endless Wire and Summertime Dream.
I really can't decide, but IMHO any album of Gord's beats any album by anyone else! :biggrin: |
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I could not be without Harmony. This CD is a testament that GL's songwriting ability has not diminished.
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"Shadows" is my personal favorite. I'd pick that one if I had to choose.
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East Of Midnight (don't see how I survived without it) and Waiting For You.
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Sundown. I love the song and I love the album. The song was what made me a fan of Gord's music when I was a mere child of 10. The CD was the first thing I ever had the man autograph as an adult. I love all the songs on this album, and if I could only listen to those 10 songs for the rest of my life, I would be happy. In fact, I think I'll put it in right now and have a listen.
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I probably don't know enough to make a decision, but I used to really like that harmony cd. I bought 3 and gave away 2 so far. I thought he was on this wonderful spiritual journey... Now, I don't feel like playing it anymore and life on earth is back to normal.
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Isn't this question like trying to choose a favorite finger???
I know I have grown to love all of his albums, seriously. My favorite still has to be "Salute". It's the first one I ever had him sign the first time I met him in 1999. The song "Tatoo" is one of my all-time favorites. |
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Hi Kelly,
I just read your post this morning and thought it very interesting that you would mention Tattoo. Never in my life had I felt so strongly about getting a tattoo until last night. I don't know why, but I suddenly was feeling a tattoo on my chest of a dove with it's wings outstretched flying right at you. (Probably won't get the tattoo, no one would see it anyway except maybe a mammography technician.) |
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Cor Blimey young Steve you have managed in one fell swoop to get the scoop on a future thread I was planning Some time ago I was musing aboot earlier threads that posed such perennial questions as "what are your (top 5/10/very favourite GL (love) songs" and came up with great idea for a thread.This began to form in my mind during the long (8.5 hour) drive from NJ to Toronto on Nov. 15th 2006. I remembered a very long running BBC radio programme first broadcast on 29 Jan. 1942 so it is the world's oldest radio programME. Each week a celebrity was asked to imagine being marooned on a Desert Island with only a gramophone and a power supply and limited to his/her choice of a limited number of Desert Island Discs see:- the "wiki" at:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Island_Discs In a flash I was mindful of
I therefore wanted to propose a thread that would imagine that you were going to be marooned on a Desert Island with a CD Player and a generator but that you could only have just the one Lightfoot Compilation CD, and if so what would you want on that one CD-R.The problem as that any attempt to compile a "best" of GL collection is of course doomed to failure because as we all know it is exceedingly difficult to impose any limit due to the fantastic range our "jongleur' has presented us with. I suddenly realised that what was needed was some form of discipline and this implied setting some basic rules. Taking my cue from the fact that 80 minutes as evidenced by the 4 Songbook CDs which are about 76 minutes each and 21-24 tracks and that Gord has so far released the famous 20 "original" albums including Sunday Concert, plus what is in effect a 21st comprising the 16/18 "rarities" included in Songbook. One complication is that both "Gord's Gold" albums contain rerecorded versions with different track times, plus GG1 has the extra track "If It Should please You" that is not included on any other album I thought about these rules and eventually concluded that good starting rules would be [list=1] [*]There must be at least one track from each of those 21 albums [*]to cover a few cases where in your case there are two tracks that you simply could not live without there must be a maximum of two tracks from any one album [*]As there are a significant number of other GL recordings that never made it onto an actual "official" album that you might want to include (in my case the sadly neglected single hit "Spin Spin" and the magnificent, recorded for a television special, "Face Of A Thousand People") plus any of the songs on the early albums "Two Tones At The Village Corner", "Early Lightfoot",Canadian Talent Library, Warner Demos plus the rare tracks on the La Cave bootlegs "Yellow Bird" and "Get Together" and a few more bootlegs, there should be a further one or two from that category. The next problem is devising a simple way to determine the Total Running Time of your selection, ideally with provision to add and remove tracks easily and recalculate that time, WARNING for those liable to get bored or with a propensity of getting bad headaches what follows will be "techie" talk and is incomplete so skip it rather than complain please:- Bear in mind also that the maximum capacity of a blank CD-R is not actually 80 minutes but 700MB worth of audio files in CD format ("wav" files are what you basically get if you "rip" tracks from a CD.Plus the complication that you may be selecting from a set of mp3 files compressed from wavs. I mention that point because I have in fact managed to burn one perfect audio CD that has a TRT of 80 minutes 52 seconds from a folder of mp3s that the simple DOS utilty mp3indx shows is indeed 81 minutes yet ripping it to wavs produces the file total of way over 800MB for reasons I completely fail to understand.I am still however investigating this discrepancy and hope to report back in due course. In order to get the TRT I can see the following methods:-
Err Umm "Cloud Computing"?? what's that then??? I thought you'd never ask!! To be honest I was not really sure but fortuneately recently I received a newsletter which had a link to a page at:- http://www.wxpnews.com/RK5CBN/080812-Google-Docs where I was pleased to read:- "There has been a lot of talk lately in tech circles about "cloud computing," but what is it, really? The "cloud" refers to the Internet (based on the symbol used to represent the Internet in network diagrams) and computing "in the cloud" refers to using applications and services that are provided over the Internet, rather than being installed on your local computer. Perhaps the best- known aspect of cloud computing is "software as a service" (SaaS). With SaaS, instead of buying application programs, you rent them. Google goes further, with its online applications such as Google Docs, an "in the cloud" word processing, spreadsheet and presentation application that's intended to compete with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint" so what you say??. well if I can recall my rusty spreadsheet skills I should be able to create an online spreadsheet come database containing drop down lists for every album sand suitable check boxes and with the track time for every track that everybody could then access and pick their own selection from and see immediately without having to count on their fingers and toes the Total Running Time of their then current selection. I have yet to decide for my own use if the rules could be relaxed to allow a double CD, noting that Gord's Gold 1 of course is esentially a double album OK enough for now else this will never get posted . 'sides which I will be away all next week but I'll continue ASAP with a suggestion for a customisable CD jewel case front insert and my own Desert Island GL Compact Disc details Phew OK Ron and CHar the coast is now clear!!!! |
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OK I edited that posting 6 or 7 times but failed miserably to get all the text the same font and size plus the numbered lists kept appearing incorrectly but at least now it is fully readable
A major problem was that, as I know Steve has discovered there is an upper limit of 10000o characters before a posting will be accepted (5000 for Private Messages) so I had to continuously edit to get there. There is a character count in Microsoft Word (Tools>Word count) but either it or corfid is highly inaccurate because when I was down to corfid 10300 Word claimed only 8883!!! |
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MY Fat ASS is partial to Shadows
Bill |
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Sir John, lol,, its just my pleasant primary preponderance of pre-cognitive prescience, I learned this on the planet Vulcan...:cool:
hope I did not "steal you thunder" or "let the air ouf your balloon", John ..lol..... the thread sounds fun...are you going to post it in a unique thread ? er.. it probably is and I didn't see it yet.... BTW - do you remember in 2006 or 7, there was a thread (I have not researched yet) where the "desert island scenario" was mentioned in this vein......if only wording in one post reply.... but the premise was the same in at least the post, if not the thread.... but thats OK, I've always thought it was party poopers that said "Oh thats been done before".... well we wanna do it AGAIN ! lol far as I'm concerned, you wanna do that thread, my prescience and old posts notwithstanding, I say go for it.:clap: Look at the Florian-originated "What is your favourite [Lightfoot] song and why? - its up to like 1 billion posts now, falls back down in cold storage, then anytime someone wants to post, it rises to the top again - thats cause its a classic ! Just as the desert island scenario - a neo-classic at least... so lets do it. I don't know 'bout you John, but the requirements make my simple head hurt.......can you bottom line-it, even giving the 'skip this part of this post if shop-tech-talk bores you" courtesy which, as you and I have discussed, I have used when I would spew loquaciously for 15,000 characters and have to bleary-eyed, chop it into something readable...lol:rolleyes: And BTW - I like your webring home page et al , John, I signed in. You Geodesic rascal, you. That dirty word - geodesic...oh no....was only for prevocative/evocative reasons - lol.....I still have 2 of 6 parts to send you in PM 'cause of that stupid 5,000 character count max on PM's, or are you back up on hotmail ?:confused: it woud not be so bad if PM's had a max character exceeded warning.... and/or a word count that is accurate, problem I am familiar with on those in structured programming is that some algorithms require spell-check compliance to have words accurately be counted.... hence the lower numbers, from code I have seen...ostensibly the code does not recognize large numbers of raw first-draft verbage as all "words" - especially my two-finger hunt-and-peck, with a drummers speed, but terrible errors count, my first drafts of anything are comical.... word count... wait a minute.....not word count... CHARACTER count.... my programmatic problem should not even be concerned with word-recognition... oh well... OK so.... are we to post mid thread for our desert island choices, or.... I'll look out at thread titles, maybe you have a new one there versus pg 2 this thread.... either way sounds fun. I'm gonna have to think though ?, dang it....:eek: lol ~geo steve p.s. talbot10/bill - why on your fat ass ? why the self-deprecation ? re: your post above on Shadows ? |
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John I did not know what a jongleur was, so I looked it up. My guess was a Mediaevil times troubadour by context, but the French sound threw me, so I then guessed maybe a multi-skilled entertainer because of the sounds-like "juggler" quality to it. Sounds French, and maybe the term jugglers comes from it ? here is what I saw when I looked it up:
the jongleurs, a group of travelling entertainers in western Europe who sang, did tricks, and danced to earn their living; the troubadours in the south of France and the trouvères in the north; and the minnesingers, a class of artist-knights who wrote and sang love songs - Encycl. Brittanica -pretty much what the context looked like ! I was wondering about all this prescience you'd mentioned on desert island.... i see.... And regarding COR BLIMEY , which must be a British exclamation of exasperation or frustration by context, I found this : *from*: "The Phrase Finder" Cor blimey Meaning An exclamation of surprise. Origin A euphemism (specifically a minced oath) derived from 'God blind me'. hhm much similar to what I once heard the origin of the British adjective "Bloody" was: a contraction of By-Our-lady [the Queen]. Say it fast, and one can guess at a stretch that is the case - your opinion John ? As a gen-u-ine England'er ? pretty much what the context looked like Now, importantly, return for me to: ON-THREAD: since the rules bent to allow any release, I'll go with Quote:
For the purist, a single LP or CD , I'd still stick with Sundown - which has all of his "range of song types for the first half of the '70's", IMO; except one - the great love Ballad eg "Your Love's Return", "A Minor Ballad", "The Last Time I saw Her", and I don't know why I overlook the enigmatic IYCRMM, in that genre of his, I guess because I think of it as unfulfilled love....I think the song is magnificent; almost defining for Gordon Lightfoot, at least for maybe a 5-year period - especially to people who were/are not Lightheads that did/do not know of his great works previously such as CRT, Softly etc/. I wonder what song people associate with him career-wise, when asked as a non-fan, but know of him and a handful of hit songs. Surely Sundown, TWOTEF, IYCRMM, Carefree Highway in my experience are candidates; and in my experience they are the 4 songs that people who know of him; but are not fans, but are at that stage of (barest of knowledge of his music): "Oh yeah...I LOVE that one song..uhm.... Read my Mind, your mind, that one". AND, its not unusual they do not connect Sundown with it [IYCRMM] at that level of "song on the tip of their tongue of his" they loved [in college, High School, etc - I hear that a LOT in the 50 - 55 age group of my contemporaries, i think because it was his first IMO widespread Gold blockbuster. Then, thinking of the sound of IYCRMM, they then have difficulty "hearing in their mind" the other 3 of the big 4 they probably heard many, many times on the radio, other 3 being Sundown, TWOTEF, and "Carefree Highway"- which could not be MORE different - which for one thing completely diffuses the categorical, ignorance-based criticism of Lightfoot, that is in my experience "All his stuff sounds alike" - look at just those 4 are SO different from one another, except maybe the 2 from Sundown. I can really picture people not connecting any one to the other two at all when they can count on one hand the tunes they can almost work out in their head, but may not know the names of... I know that is a bit off-thread there, but its not substantive enough a of subject for its own thread. Or is it ? Actually, it might be - as in A Thread: "What songs in your opinion uniquely define GL's different styles, or best typify them." - I may try that. Shortened-up so it'll fit in the thread name spot ! For this post, this thread, it builds on to my album choice reasoning.. - that of Sundown, for the vary reason of so many styles of Gord's - Sundown vs. Too Late for Prayin, etc. Thats my choice, if one. ~geo steve |
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"Don Quixote" is an Album I could never do without ! :)
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Bill :) |
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Hi BillW and thanks,
I just noticed that you also couldn't do without "Don Quixote" ! Fantastic Album !!! As far as pics some in the group have a few, but posting them here is another thing ? :biggrin: :) |
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Start a thread in SMALL TALK and post some pics or send a link to a photosite where you might have put them. I use OFOTO..
I am still going thru my pics of the glorious province of Nova Scotia and will put a few up soon. |
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:) LOL...Patti...you are funny, girl. :)
On the weird side, if I got a tattoo, it would be a dove...no joke about that. Let's see....I would have to go with The United Artist Collection. I love it so much but it might lose it's place when I get the rest of Gordon's music. I am loving the Salute and Cold On The Shoulder cd's very, very much. There is some good music on those two. :) |
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Summertime Dream. It is the only recording I've paid to own in three formats (album, tape and CD).
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OK Steve I am replying briefly using my "wondertoy" Nokia N800 on a rather tenuous free unsecured connection in the money grabbing downtown Chicago Sheraton.which will probably be the last hotel in the US providing free internet access not a recommended hotel.
"Jongleur" was how lady lane described Gord in her description of one of her recent vistories which you probably have not yet seen because the Nova Scotia reprobate is so far behind in his job or might as I suggested have voluntarily resigned from. AFAIK Steve my hotmail is now working allright at least for incoming emails so scribble way unencumbered by any word or character total an unecessary and unwelcome restriction |
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Nightingale, :) I really wasn't joking. I was really feeling like that would be a good tattoo to get, but I don't have a special someone.
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As well as a high $11.25 per 24 hours for internet access , there were no free phone calls except room to room and local or "toll free" calls racked up a charge of $2.25 per minute for ten minutes and 10cents/minute thereafter. But those charges pale into insignificence compared to use of the (non) gold plated 3 computers in the "Business" Center. I gathered that merely sitting in front of one even if not using the internet I would be charged a ridiculous 60 cents per minute ($36.00 per hour). No thank you very much!! To be fair as a magnanimous gesture the Business Center actually allowed you to use a computer for nowt to print out an airline boarding passes for which you were allowed a staggering 3 minutes to complete!! |
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Hi borderstone.I would have to say Songbook for sure. :) I have already worn out on complete box set of that and i am now on my second.
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