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http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/stor...content=172299

Q&A: Gordon Lightfoot
By Jason Keller
Anyone with even a modicum of knowledge about Canadian pop culture history needs no introduction to Gordon Lightfoot. The enduring folk star is one of this country’s most valued and individual singers, proudly waving the red and white while delivering 20 albums over 40-plus years of around-the-world performing. Ahead of his long-running Massey Hall party, which gets under way Wednesday (November 18) and runs to Saturday (November 21), the local legend discusses his buddy Bob Dylan, trophy cases and the status of his facial hair.


Bob Dylan said recently you’re still one of his favourite artists. What kind of relationship do you two have?

I’ve known him for a long time, and I think he plays me on his satellite radio show. We had the same management for a time, so through the years we reconnect. We had several great parties over in Rosedale when I lived there. I haven’t seen him in a while, but nobody’s getting any younger.

You’ve won nearly every conceivable music award and national honour. You must have a trophy case at home.

They gotta give ’em to somebody. I accept graciously and move on. It’s encouraging and makes me keep perfecting the imperfections. But the stuff is spread out around the house. I would have to go looking for it.

Looking back on your discography, what do you consider the most important entry?

I like East Of Midnight (1986) because I produced that one. A lot of people think David Foster did, but he just produced one track. His being such a gigantic presence at that time, he took full credit whether he wanted to or not. It was a really good album. Check it out.

What’s the status of your facial hair these days?

I’ve got a moustache, but you can barely see it because it’s really close to the skin.

Has anyone ever proposed making a movie about your life?

A couple of documentaries, but I haven’t time for it because I’m too busy doing shows and looking after my family. If someone asked me, I’d have to think real hard. I sometimes even wonder if it’s necessary. There’s so much out there, and so many people do them. I just want to play great shows for as long as I can. I’m a performer. I was under contract to record companies for 33 years and I’ve made 20 albums. That’s not too bad an achievement, considering all the bullshit that’s gone along with it.

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Interesting little interview. Thanks, Charlene...

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Good little interview was very enjoyable to read. :)

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nice char....glad he managed to wash it all down

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;)

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That would be a long movie

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Hmmm? East Of Midnight? Ya gotta admit the man's got good taste! What a sweet album!

Bill :)

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The albums credits show Mike Hefferman and Barry Keane as contributors. I wonder why Terry Clements and Rick Haynes didn't participate.

It's not important........just wondering.

I can see why Lightfoot takes a great deal of pride in that effort. Producing and arranging is a heck of an undertaking.

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EAST OF MIDNIGHT
With his song "If You Could Read My Mind," Gordon Lightfoot holds the distinction of being one of Canada's first songwriters to have a hit single before the CRTC introduced the Cancon quotas in 1971. Hence, if the cream always rises to the top, then the Orillia, Ontario native would have to be considered one of this country's premiere and most respected musical talents.
Although his music always has fallen into the "soft" category, programmers who farmatted that music form have previously been reluctant to play Lightfoot's new material, choosing instead to rely on his "oldies, goldies." It's certainly an enigma for the singer/songwriter, who still resides in the fashionable Rosedale district of Toronto - yet it is one he intends to solve with his new album.
It is one of the goals he set before embarking on East Of Midnight - to garner airplay for his singles and not neccesarily on the A/C or country charts. His first single from this set, "Anything For Love" a collaboration with David Foster, climbed to NO. 14 position on the A/C charts and to NO. 39 on the singles chart as of August 20.
"This album is different," Lightfoot explains. "When I started to make this one, there was a question mark about whether it was practical to make another album or not."
"So, I went down to Los Angeles and told the record company people, ' If I'm going to do this - then give me the ball and let me run with it.' I wanted to make the album myself and I wanted to do it here in Canada. So, I didn't have anyone to answer to or anyone to mess around with. I just got into it and made sure it was done right."
Admitting the track done with Foster "drew instant attention" to the project, Lightfoot stresses, "the finish on this album and the quality of the material is going to make an important album out of this one. Actually, we have a bit of a luxury going on here. We seem to be tearing up the A/C charts - and that's not a bad place to be." He also hopes one of the songs will cross over "into the Top 40" and is quite sure it will eventually.
"A/C is a good base to start with," he offers. "Country is not...because the stuff is simply not country music - even though it is getting played on those stations. It's not meant to be a country album."
"A Lesson In Love" for instance, features the first ever Lightfoot guitar solo captured on vinyl. "It's a better album than it would seem," he contends, "because of the other stuff that is out there. The competition is vast and the game is good."
Lightfoot took a 3 year respite between recording his previous album, Salute, and East Of Midnight, spending the majority of time whittling down approximately 50 "concept" songs to the present number. Yet it was precisely due to the competition and the challenge they offered his pride that Lightfoot decided to re-enter the studio and record once again. He recognizes also with today's softening formats his music will be listened to by a younger audience and in this respect he agrees he is fortunate that stations are demographically widening their audiences.
"I think they (radio stations) are playing to the baby boomer audience and sure it's a young set, but I'm equally sure that demographically, they've got a 30 year span. It's nice they're changing," he concludes, "for many years they wouldn't touch my stuff. They were always pure rock and roll."

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lots of session players on that one, for sure...good question re the RH TC

across music in general, i certainly love the albums that are made with the live players and recorded pretty 'off the floor' with colour added as needed

as an analogy, most of the animation films out there are created with most the the voice actors never even crossings paths and the whole thing is mixed together seamlessly so the audience would think a 4 minute scene had everyone in one room concurrently and it was pulled off in a few takes

some of these albums strike me as being like that, where other than the foundation bed tracks (percussion, bass and guitar) being captured, everything else was added piece meal with restrictions on # of tracks to work with in those days so you'd end up with multiple tracks being bounced down to free up some fo the tracks that had previosuly been assigned...anyone who ever owned a even a 4 track recorded would know about this...new folks have no clue (ie. how many tracks does Garage band offer or IS there even a limit at all? i know in my edit suite I'm contrained to 99 video tracks...i've never used more than a dozen)

anyhow, I think one (even Gord) can lose some objectivity with some decisions as to what to choose for final mixes or arrangements when so much time is spent in post production mode and one's listened perhaps hundreds of times to the same or alt-arrangments and mixes...i guess Ken must have been a good sounding board for fresh opinions along the journey to what became the final EOM product

I am going to give her a fresh listen after reading BillW's sweet comment, it's been years...I will be skipping over the Foster track...as someone said, gotta hand it to Gord for occasionally checking out new avenues...if it wasn't for the challenges of the circumstances, I'd have loved to have heard an album like Harmony recorded and released in Back Here on Earth fashion ie. pretty much straight off the studio floor ...on the last track (Sometimes I Wish) you can hear the blip of Gord's guitar before the last verse...there was no way for Doidge to effectively mute that...I love it cos it reminds me how that whole album was basically resurrected from the ashes...I'm sure that guitar track would have been redone given the chance...and those vocals were only meant to be guide vocals for the bed tracks...I wish a camera had been rolling during that time and capturing the various challenges Gord, the band and foremost, Doidge overcame...I'd be hanging on every word if a documentary such as that came to be, i think it would be an eye opener for many

btw, if any know of youtube links to 'off the floor' recordings, please share:)


ps) from Wayne Francis's site notes:

This was a titanic recording effort on Lightfoot's part, taking up huge periods of time in 1985 and much of 1986 in post-production and single remixes. One final recording of Forgive Me Lord was undertaken which turned out very well but once again was not included on the finished album. In January 1985 Stay Loose; Morning Glory and Lifeline were finished. June saw East Of Midnight; I'll Tag Along and A Passing Ship undertaken, while in December A Lesson In Love; Let It Ride; Ecstacy Made Easy and Anything For Love ended recording for the year. Feeling he needed one more song when Forgive Me Lord was deemed unsuitable for the album, he recorded You Just Gotta Be in March 1986 completing his longest recording effort for a single album.

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Another thing I wondered about (besides where my keys are) is what the back photo was meant to imply. He's sitting at an old-time elementary school desk with an apple on the desk behind. Did it mean

1) He learned a lot from the project

or

2) He was a good teacher

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He could have been thinking back on the teacher that told him 'do the best with what you've got'..

or when he had to stand on a stool cuz he couldn't come to terms with a slide rule...and it isn't any different now than it was then..

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There are many options, only he has the answer.

red bag (16)
 

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