I used this topic in the alt.lightfoot news group a few years back :

Does anyone else attribute Lightfoot's career highpoint to the Lenny Waronker/ Nick DeCarlo combination ?

Personally, I do. Of course, the songs came first, but they made 'em sweet.

RMD

hmmm. In part.
Yes, the songs came first, and they are both acclaimed producers with an impressive list of contributions over a wide variety of artists (nick decaro is favorite of mine).
I also think timing played a large part, that whole folk/rock sound that became popular in the seventies fit with Gord's sound (hand in glove, so to speak).
While I think they (Waronker and DeCaro) played a large part in the success of those albums, I can't say I attribute the highlight of his career solely to them.

And yes, 'they made 'em sound sweet'.
lsh

[ August 22, 2006, 23:36: Message edited by: LSH ]

LSH,

Thanks for correcting my spelling of Decaro.

Timing is "everything", I guess. Right place, right time. It just seems that his popularity diminished after the Waronker years. Coincidence ? Maybe so. Perhaps his songwriting was at its strongest at the peak of his fame. I just can't separate the Waronker/Lightfoot combo. Since I don't have a time machine, I'll never know, but "It's Worth Believin'".

RMD

ah, I tried to do that inconspicuously, but you're welcome. I was listening to lightfoot first, but actually gained some knowledge of DeCaro's work when I got into Rickie Lee Jones.

I believe it was a confluence of influences, and all the right ingredients at the right time... there is no denying it was a dynamic and highly effective combination of talent.

Maybe things wouldn't have gone so well if all those ingredients hadn't been in place... believe on my friend :)

So right about them sounding sweet. Sweet, soaring strings.

The talent was there, the opportunity (or right timing) dropped by and lady luck made it a trifecta win.

What a heady time for all of them. They made magic.

I can't imagine what it was like for them to sit back after all the hard work and just know that it came together so perfectly. And that after all these years it still can cast a spell the way it did all those years ago.

Times changed, music shifted to different genres and it happened so fast that had he been any later it may not have happened at all for him. What a horrid thought...

It makes me laff when I hear him say about one of his great songs "this song worked out kind of well" or "this was a pretty good song"...
sheesh...the master of understatement...

[ August 23, 2006, 06:40: Message edited by: charlene ]

So right about them sounding sweet. Sweet, soaring strings.

The talent was there, the opportunity (or right timing) dropped by and lady luck made it a trifecta win.

What a heady time for all of them. They made magic.

I can't imagine what it was like for them to sit back after all the hard work and just know that it came together so perfectly. And that after all these years it still can cast a spell the way it did all those years ago.

Times changed, music shifted to different genres and it happened so fast that had he been any later it may not have happened at all for him. What a horrid thought...

It makes me laff when I hear him say about one of his great songs "this song worked out kind of well" or "this was a pretty good song"...
sheesh...the master of understatement...

[ August 23, 2006, 06:40: Message edited by: charlene ]

I find his modesty to be a very endearing trait.

Does anyone know if he has ever touched on the Waronker/DeCaro contributions in any of his interviews ?

I believe it was the change in popular music that diminished his popularity. He tried to join the mainstream with East Of Midnight, but the older Lightfoot fans didn't buy into it. They wanted the folkier Gord, which he returned to in the 1990s.

I'm just glad he didn't go the disco and heavy metal route.