Some Gordie Lightfoot album reviews taken from
www.allmusic.com 
OLD DAN'S RECORDS 1972
A country influence (via pedal steel) creeps into the arrangements on Old Dan's Records. Also included full time is a drummer making this a much more contemporary sounding album, as Gordon Lightfoot began to move away from his folk influences and into the pop/rock field. Sure, there still is the folk songs, such as "The Same Old Obsession," but this album was the seed planted which would flower in upcoming releases. A pivotal point in Lightfoot's career. James Chrispell
DON QUIXOTE 1972
Perhaps one of his most Canadian releases, Don Quixote is a very pleasant folk sounding album. From "Alberta Bound" to "Christian Island" to "Ode to Big Blue," Lightfoot pays tribute to the many and varied places that make up his homeland. Also of note are such love songs as "Beautiful" and the lovely "Looking at the Rain." All in all, there's not a bad cut here. It's well worth your time. James Chrispell
SUNDOWN 1974
Lightfoot's commercial peak came with this album, which topped the US charts, containing both the #1 title song and the Top 10 hit "Carefree Highway." But songs like "Somewhere U.S.A." and "High and Dry" are textured, catchy folk/rock on a par with the better known tunes. William Ruhlmann
COLD ON THE SHOLDER 1975
Once you find a formula that works, why not try it again? That is just what Gordon Lightfoot does on Cold on the Shoulder. He doesn't vary from his success of the Sundown album by much, although some of these new tunes are a little more upbeat. Highlights include the hit "Rainy Day People" and the title track. Not another watermark, as it's sort of a holding pattern, but nothing bad about it either. James Chrispell
SUMMERTIME DREAM 1976
With Summertime Dream, Gordon Lightfoot produced one of his finest albums, and wrapped up a six-year period of popularity that he would not recapture. Propelled by his second biggest hit, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," Summertime Dream summed up the sound that had served Lightfoot so well in his post-"If You Could Read My Mind" days. This distinctive sound featured Lightfoot's strummed six- or 12-string guitar complemented by Terry Clements' electric guitar lines and Pee Wee Charles' pedal steel guitar accents. The material here is excellent, and the singer's voice is at its strongest. Mixing upbeat songs like "Race Among the Ruins," "I'd Do It Again" and the title track with beautiful ballads such as "I'm Not Supposed to Care" and "Spanish Moss," Lightfoot and his band deliver a tasty smorgasbord of intelligent, grown-up music. As for "Edmund Fitzgerald," its continued popularity more than 20 years after its release attests to the power of a well-told tale and a tasty guitar lick. Jim Newsom
ENDLESS WIRE 1978
Endless Wire should have been called "Endless Touring Makes You Tired" for that is what these songs sound like. Lightfoot began going through the motions here, and although there are some good tunes here such as "Daylight Katy" and "Hangdog Hotel Room," others appear to be weary without being arranges as such. He even re-records "The Circle Is Small" without any better results than the original. The downward slide had begun. James Chrispell
DREAM STREET ROSE 1980
Dream Street Rose is an underrated album from the downside of Gordon Lightfoot's career, when his chart performance was sagging and his new albums began to appear after longer intervals. The excellent title track made a weak showing on the adult contemporary charts, and the album itself was his first collection of new songs to miss the Top 40 since the early '70s (although it outperformed everything that followed it). MIA on compact disc until 2002, Dream Street Rose is well worth hearing for loyal fans, particularly those who enjoyed his previous albums, Endless Wire and Summertime Dream. The three albums aren't very different with their occasional seafaring songs and characteristic folk-rock sound, but Dream Street Rose never rocks as hard as its predecessors sometimes did (Summertime Dream's "One Man Band," for instance). The old Leroy Van Dyke hit "The Auctioneer" is a fun closer on an otherwise somber outing, but the demanding lyric inadvertently spotlights Lightfoot's mumbled vocal deliverya problem that increasingly plagued his later albums. Despite Lightfoot's declining vocal abilities and uneven material, Dream Street Rose has several highlights that fans won't want to miss. Greg Adams
SHADOWS 1982
A surprisingly strong collection from Gordon Lightfoot six years after the hits had stopped, Shadows finds him shedding his folk-singer image for that of an adult contemporary singer. There are keyboard textures here where previously there had been all stringed instruments. The change obviously reflected the performer's attempt to remain contemporary, and though Shadows found no radio airplay and little sales, the music on this disc is very good, mature and melodic. Songs like "In My Fashion" and "Heaven Help the Devil" sound like classic Lightfoot, built around folk song structures but more heavily orchestrated than in the '60s and '70s. "14 Karat Gold" sounds like a hit, while the title track and "All I'm After" are reminiscent of classic Lightfoot ballads like "Beautiful," with the acoustic guitar mixed upfront but augmented with tasteful keyboard colors. "She's Not the Same" borrows its introductory licks from "Down in the Boondocks," while "Triangle" hearkens back to the singer's lyrical story tales of old. Throughout this fine disc, Lightfoot's attractive baritone voice sounds great. Shadows is a little-known recording well worth checking out. Jim Newsom
SALUTE 1983
By the time of his 1983 release, Salute, Gordon Lightfoot was well on the downside of his commercial success, but personally, the period was something of a turning point for him. Lightfoot had overcome a drinking problem and was on the rebound from having divorced his wife. Salute finds the singer revivified, and co-producer Dean Parks has toughened up his sound with '80s synthesizers and electric guitar. The results are mixed: Tracks like "Salute (A Lot More Livin' to Do)," "Someone to Believe In," "Without You," and "Broken Dreams" spruced-up and bristling as they are didn't yield any hit material. That being said, the attempt to update Lightfoot's sound wasn't as tasteless or as disastrous as it might have been. Most of the material is listenable enough and stays true to Lightfoot's long string of mature, emotionally sensitive songwriting ("Gotta Get Away"). On the subtler numbers where the production is toned down, a few gems emerge: "Whispers of the North" and "Knotty Pine" are beautiful odes to Canadian nature, and "Tattoo" is a bona fide winner of a love song that deserves more attention than it ever got. While Salute failed to reverse Lightfoot's commercial fortune, it's far from an embarrassment and the Lightfoot faithful should seek it out. Formerly out of print, Rhino reissued it on CD in 2002. Jim Esch
EAST OF MIDNIGHT 1986
Not quite the sellout that the white-suited Lightfoot-as-Julio Iglesias cover photo would lead you to believe, but an anemic effort nonetheless. After spending four years away from the studio, Canada's Troupadour King returned in 1986 and recruited keyboardist\producer David Foster to help him manufacture a comeback single. Unfortunately, the result, "Anything for Love," sounds more like standard MOR cheese than the second coming of the Gord. Ditto for the inert gloss of "Stay Loose." All of which provided more fuel for critics who, as early as the mid-'70s, had written him off as a spent force, sinking artistically faster than the Edmund Fitzgerald in a November gale. This is not to say that East of Midnight is completely without merit. Lightfoot's best work has always emerged when he dispenses with elaborate orchestration in favor of simply allowing his peerless, world-weary baritone to wrap itself around sparser acoustic arrangements, which he does to more encouraging effect on "Morning Glory" and "I'll Tag Along." Considering that this is the man who gave us "Early Morning Rain" and "For Lovin' Me," however, the rest of the album comes across as slick and sterile as a white dinner jacket. Andrew Vance
WAITING FOR YOU 1993
Anyone fearing that sobriety and serenity might dull Gordon Lightfoot's creative edge can rest at ease. Having apparently freed himself of several personal demons, Waiting for You delivers the most consistent Lightfoot to be heard since the late-'70s. While most tracks feature bass, drums, electric guitar, and/or keyboards (the synth washes sometimes overpower), for the most part the instrumentation is used sparingly, for color. The overwhelming feeling one derives from Waiting for You is of an intimate back-porch session soaking up the sounds of a rejuvenated Gordon Lightfoot and his guitar. Roch Parisien
A PAINTER PASSING THRU 1998
With the release of A Painter Passing Through, Lightfoot appears to have found home and has turned in his best work in years. Gone are the uncertain arrangements of the past; in their place, there is a welcome return to the essence of the Sundown musical era. Full of pastoral points of view, A Painter Passing Through shows that Lightfoot has regained his voice and his ability to tell stories that enthrall the listener enough to keep them coming back for more. Of note are "Much to My Surprise," "On Yonge St.," and the title cut, which show a personal simplicity while also giving a great eye for detail. "I Used to Be a Country Singer" is an electric country-rock tune that is a joy to behold. If one can forget the past ten years or so of Lightfoot's career, get ahold of A Painter Passing Through and bask in the glow of one of music's premier storytellers. It's Gordon Lightfoot at his best in years. James Chrispell