Massey Hall- "Harmony" Album

[sunspot]

I didn't attend Massey 2005 but I guess I'm a little surprised that the "Harmony" album didn't get a little more attention in the set lists.

Is Gord dissatisfied with some of these songs and the way the album was recorded? I really think "River of Light" has a sound that could have been part of the "Sundown," "Cold on the Shoulder," and "Summertime Dream" period. Inspiration Lady and Sometimes I Wish are also keepers.

Maybe Gord will do another album and doesn't want to go out with the unorthodox way "Harmony" was done. If so, that's great news.

Looking forward to Aug 13-14 in Aurora, IL. The tickets just arrived from TicketMaster.

John/Minnesota

[seafarer62]

I didn't attend Massey 2005 but I guess I'm a little surprised that the "Harmony" album didn't get a little more attention in the set lists.

Is Gord dissatisfied with some of these songs and the way the album was recorded? I really think "River of Light" has a sound that could have been part of the "Sundown," "Cold on the Shoulder," and "Summertime Dream" period. Inspiration Lady and Sometimes I Wish are also keepers.

Maybe Gord will do another album and doesn't want to go out with the unorthodox way "Harmony" was done. If so, that's great news.

Looking forward to Aug 13-14 in Aurora, IL. The tickets just arrived from TicketMaster.

John/Minnesota

[Auburn Annie]

I wouldn't say dissatisfied, exactly, but remember these started as demos that the guys in the band built on while Gord was in hospital. So HARMONY doesn't have the same polish from rehearsals and re-recording to perfection that he's accustomed to doing. But they were, to his ears, the best of the bunch he had to work with at the time. Working on it kept his mind off his surgeries and focused on the future.

He did three songs from HARMONY on Saturday night, the title track, Clouds of Loneliness and Couchiching. He likes to mix old with new, and with so many to choose from over 40 years, 3 out of 27 or 28 from the new album is about right. At other venues he may add another from Harmony and drop something. I think he keeps 60-70 songs in active rotation, though some of the biggies like Wreck and CRT, Beautiful, Early Morning Rain, If You Could Read My Mind and Sundown turn up in most concerts. So you've got a half dozen standards, two or three from the latest album, and a whole slew of other fan favorites to pack into two hours. Nobody ever gets everything they want to hear - or he'd be onstage for months at a time, LOL.

He did say somewhere he had another ten songs so far for the next album, and there has been talk of another live album culled from past concerts, so maybe after this tour winds up and before he starts again in 2006 he might be in the studio working on another.

[Auburn Annie]

I wouldn't say dissatisfied, exactly, but remember these started as demos that the guys in the band built on while Gord was in hospital. So HARMONY doesn't have the same polish from rehearsals and re-recording to perfection that he's accustomed to doing. But they were, to his ears, the best of the bunch he had to work with at the time. Working on it kept his mind off his surgeries and focused on the future.

He did three songs from HARMONY on Saturday night, the title track, Clouds of Loneliness and Couchiching. He likes to mix old with new, and with so many to choose from over 40 years, 3 out of 27 or 28 from the new album is about right. At other venues he may add another from Harmony and drop something. I think he keeps 60-70 songs in active rotation, though some of the biggies like Wreck and CRT, Beautiful, Early Morning Rain, If You Could Read My Mind and Sundown turn up in most concerts. So you've got a half dozen standards, two or three from the latest album, and a whole slew of other fan favorites to pack into two hours. Nobody ever gets everything they want to hear - or he'd be onstage for months at a time, LOL.

He did say somewhere he had another ten songs so far for the next album, and there has been talk of another live album culled from past concerts, so maybe after this tour winds up and before he starts again in 2006 he might be in the studio working on another.

[jeffyjo]

Maybe Gord hasn't "lived" the songs as much due to the medical circumstances. Or maybe, he is all too painfully aware of the way the album was constructed, and wishes he could have made the album he would have made if healthier.

Jeff

[bjb]

What I found really cool was that each night he sang Couchiching, introducing it as the fun culmination of a long-time feeling that he should incorporate the word Couchiching into a song...

PS It was very well received

[swede]

I had the honour of meeting Mr. Lightfoot after the Friday night Massey concert. I mentioned that I thought the songs on the Harmony CD were great and wished he would do more of them in concert. He replied re the necessity to rotate numerous songs, but I do hope he finds a way to fit in more of Harmony songs in the future.