Gordon Lightfoot Forums - cd review-toronto star

Greg Quill - Toronto Star - Oct.2, 2003 - CD Review. "Beautifu" A Tribute To Gordon Lightfoot

Almost impossible to knock, this heartfelt, occasionally impressionistic nod to Canada's great troubadour is a worthy addition to any roots music collection, with some wonderful performances of Lightfoot classics - Bruce Cockburn's eerie take on "Ribbon of Darkness," Jesse Winchester's rhythm crazy version of "Sundown," Murray McLauchlan's romantic, Celtic-influenced arrangement of "Home From The Forest," Harry Manx's swampy reworking of "Bend In The Water," James Keelaghan's brave, full-throated run at "Canadian Railroad Trilogy", Blackie and The Rodeo Kings' raucous "Summer Side Of Life." Most of these gems stand up under some fairly heavy tinkering, and some don't. As cute as it may have been in the 1970's, "Go Go Round" is a dated clunker of a song, despite Blue Rodeo's vigorous attempts to pump it up with ringing guitars and a neat, perky country feel. "Black Day In July," Lightfoot's commentary on the Los Angeles race riots, still beats on the ear like a badly written tabloid news report, even though Tragically Hip do their best to give it a bleak, desperate edge. And a couple - Connie Kaldor's version of "If You Could Read My Mind," and Cowboy Junkies' anguished pass at "The Way I Feel," only to serve to remind us that Lightfoot is at his best is simply unapproachable, a singer without equal and a magic poet, something Aengus Finnan might have considered before recording "Lightfoot," a cloying, lumpy paean that thumps away at the end of this otherwise fascinating collection like an overly eager acolyte's premature eulogy.