I just loaded my iPod up with 107 songs by Lightfoot. From his early years to present. These one-hundred-and -seven songs represent my favorite Lightfoot songs. For me, part of the greatness of Gord's early material and his mid-seventies era music, is the attention to detail in recording techniques and instrumentation. Seems to me that when Gord was very popular in the 70's the record companies put a lot of money in the production quality of their artists. Brass and orchesteral arrangements by Nick DeCaro, engineering and mixing by Lee Herschberg and produced by Lenny Waronker. Some of the most recent Lightfoot recordings have been self-produced and I just don't think the production value has been as high as in years past. I mean no disrespect to Gord or the current engineers he has worked with lately but there's a reason why artists seek to work with famous Producers and recording engineers. They may hear a quality or beauty that the artist doesn't or can't describe and these pros help to bring that beauty out of the artist. Granted this is not always a success but that's the way I see it.
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