More Gord Memories

[johnfowles]

Originally Posted by lighthead2toe

Iand it was that night he sang "Face of a Thousand People" which I'd never heard before but was immediately hooked on that song.

Reading the lyrics it's not to difficult to see that this man was ahead of his time.

Cheers, RJ.

No., no Ron he was "out to lunch"!!
Lucky you Ron I could only see it on my black and white television in Montreal
My only real memories of notable new purchases are
1 In early 1967 having heard Spin Spin and The First Time Ever I Lay With You on Montreal's CJFM, I popped into our local Record store and found the great Lightfoot! album, in those days I often bought an LP on spec because it had one good track, but this album was exceptional because every track was great.
2 in 1988 whilst on a short trip back to Montreal from the UK, I ventured over to Ottawa and in the Legend Record store at Lincoln Heights I spent C$2.99 plus 0.21 tax on the yellow label Underground Records reissue of "Spin Spin" b/w "Just Like TomThumbs Blues"
3 IN 1998 I was busy installing a flue in a building next to London Airport, and having been warned by reading the Newsgroup that a new Lightfoot album had been released I phoned the London flagship HMV store and wonderfully they had just one copy of “A Painter Passing Through” I asked them to put it aside for me then as soon as I had finished the flue I fled (flew geddit?) the 15 or so miles in to central London. Imagine my chagrin(no actual grin of course) when at the store they denied having a copy but after some gentle prodding the CD was found in the storeroom with my name on it. I then drove fairly rapidly home the 130 miles to Sherborne in a mood of high expectancy, but as usual with a new album I was singularly unimpressed after that first listen.
Just as with the recently revealed Ted Wesley albums (thanks Yuri.. more comments to follow) .I always found that full appreciation and enjoyment of each new GL album required several run throughs to get familiar

[lighthead2toe]

Thought I'd get a bite on this one from John.

Good to hear from you John and of course like myself we have seniority here and "Face of a Thousand People" is a song from the early era and also never came out on a recording, hence a bit more light may need to be shed so all the folks who read this will have a better clarification on the "out to lunch" (pun) if I may.

There have in the past been those in the category of "genius" who have had that label penned on them, Galileo, the founder of the science of dynamics being one.

But rather than dwell on that point of controversy we'll just point out that the complete lyric for the song is available here on this site.

On the "Home' page click on "Tour dates compiled by Wayne Francis." From there Wayne's home page is available (shows a cool house) and a click on that will link into "unreleased songs" and that will show the lyrics.

Today, "Face of a Thousand People" is my favorite Gordon Lightfoot song, and yes John it will be on the bill for the pub jam in November.

Cheers, RJ.

PS.
A wonderful conversation today with Paul Bartlett, student of Red Shea confirmed he's on board for the pub jam as our lead guitar and maybe a surprise or two in store.

[Borderstone]

Well,in terms of seeing "new" Lightfoot album for the first time,it wasn't the grand story some have here.

First completley brand new Lightfoot I ever saw was "Salute" in 1983.

It was at a local (now long gone) record store called Rolling Stone. I was 14/15, and as always,going through the bins. I got to L and there it was.

I thought this when I saw the picture,"That's the dude who sings Sundown?" (I'd never seen his face until then.) I was not impressed being a teen of course and went on to Men At Work.

3 years later I heard "Anything For Love" on a lte rock station and kind of liked it but I didn't think to look fo an LP at all. It wasn't until a trip to a garage sale in 1988 that I found and bought (used) Gord's Gold.

The rest is a story I've told several times,so I wont repeat.

[bjb]

My Dad brought home the first Lightfoot album when I was a teenager, a year or two after it came out, and I'm sure we all (big family) wore it out! I couldn't start my daily chores until I put the record on, and the work went quite quickly while singing along. Loved the brash young guy with the cool lyrics and melodies and the unique style!

When I got my first job, I started my own Lightfoot collection. I have owned all the LPs (some more than once), then all the cassettes and now CDs. Never got into 8 tracks though

One of the first songs I loved was actually his cover of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". What a pure, gorgeously expressive voice! "Looking at the Rain", "Circle of Steel", too many to mention! (Well, ALL of them are favorites, really)

Being an Ontario country kid, I can totally relate to "Brave Mountaineers"

Another favorite is "Make Way for the Lady". I can still do a fine rendition as long as Gord is singing the lead...he is just so in control of the timing, the melody, the expression, etc. There's a song for every mood and there are lots of days I only listen to Lightfoot albums. They're always fresh!!!