Amazon.com review of "Beautiful" CD

[Auburn Annie]

Sigh ... "His star faded long ago, and his rare recordings over the past decade or two have seemed but dim echoes of former glory."

I leave comments to the rest of you. At least he likes the CD - and Gord - but apparently thinks of him as a forgotten folkie or something. Sheesh!

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***** doing the master proud, October 21, 2003

Reviewer: Jerome Clark (see more about me) from Canby, Minnesota

Tribute albums are a dicey business. Most don't work for the simple reason that they give you no particular reason not to prefer the work of the artist being honored. No one will say that of this tribute to the great Canadian folk singer and songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. His star faded long ago, and his rare recordings over the past decade or two have seemed but dim echoes of former glory. Now he's getting his due again. Not, of course, that his records are back on the charts and the radio, but his rich talent is being rediscovered and celebrated, as witness Beautiful, which it certainly is.

Lightfoot and his admirers could hardly ask for better than this. All but one performer (Maria Muldaur) is a fellow Canadian, and each finds his, her, or (in the case of bands) its or their way into a song's core to fashion a distinctive, sometimes surprising reading. You know these songs, you think, but the artists here appear committed to forcing you to wonder if you know them as well as you think you do. One could argue, as I have from time to time, that "Summer Side of Life" is Lightfoot's single greatest creation, and I love the version on his three-decade-old album of the same name. But Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (Stephen Fearing, Colin Linden, and bandmates) set it afire, giving it a fierceness appropriate to its (of course) non-preachy antiwar theme; Lightfoot's too smart to preach, and all the more effective a preacher for that. Jesse Winchester, who gives a wonderfully funky Memphis touch to "Sundown," somehow finds the humor that few of us knew was there all along. Murray McLauchlan delivers a touching, Celtic-tinged "Home from the Forest," about a dying old man's dreams of his country youth. Connie Kaldor's soulful "If You Could Read My Mind" and Maria Muldaur's heart-wrenching "That Same Old Obsession" will not leave you soon, nor will you want them to. And did I mention the one non-Lightfoot song, Aengus Finnan's gorgeous and deeply felt "Lightfoot"?

I would have liked to hear "Leaves of Grass" and "Crossroads" more than "Drifters" (done decently enough by Ron Sexsmith, but one of Lightfoot's inferior later compositions) and "Go Go Round" (a piece of piffle with which Blue Rodeo does its best). But that's okay; I can always go back to the Lightfoot originals. In the meantime, these gifted Canadians -- and one American -- have done the master proud.

[SomewhereupinMichigan]

Wait a sec, Annie! I had read this review previously too and I reacted in a completely different way than you did, apparently. Perhaps because I focused more on his next two sentences:

"Now he's getting his due again. Not, of course, that his records are back on the charts and the radio, but his rich talent is being rediscovered and celebrated, as witness Beautiful, which it certainly is."

All in all, I thought this was a very favorable review and, yes, let's face it: Gord's star has faded - long ago, his recordings in the past 15 years have been rare (2), and frankly while you, I and Gord's legions of die-hard fans still love 'em, they have not lived up to his earlier glory. Then again, I would argue this is true of most every singer. Most later-in-life recordings do not compare with earlier material. Consider: Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan and going back further, especially Frank Sinatra. The only possible exception of Gord's contemporaries who I can think of immediately is David Crosby who, once he straightened himself out and survived his near-death experience has bounced back with stellar material in the past few years that compares very favorably with late 60s-early 70s C,S & N material.

So I was pleased with Jerome Clark's review. Wish we could get more of this kind of favorable press for Gord and his music!

[Auburn Annie]

I guess the part I disagree with is "...rare recordings over the past decade or two have seemed but dim echoes of former glory." Sorry, but I don't see "Drifters," "Restless," "Tattoo" or other songs from later albums as lesser works, or 'dim echoes'. The voice has faded but the intelligence in the writing has not. That's all I was sighing about.

[TheWatchman]

Restless, I'll Prove My Love, Fading Away, Drifters, On Yonge Street, Much To My Surprise, Whispers Of The North and Biscuit City are as genius as anything he has ever written. Certainly they did not receive the airplay and get the same recognition from the music industry, but that's not an accurate measure of talent anyway.

His voice is not the same, but it wasn't since Salute anyway. "Waiting For You" is one of my favorite CD's.