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Sun, May 9, 2004
Lightfoot makes a welcome return
By JANE STEVENSON
GORDON LIGHTFOOT
Harmony
(Linus-Warner)
*** (out of five)
THE BEST THING about Lightfoot's latest album -- in stores Tuesday -- is that the man himself stayed around long enough to finish it.
After a life-threatening stomach aneurysm in September 2002, the 65-year-old Lightfoot emerged from a six-week coma ready to add flourish to some barebones tracks of him singing and playing guitar.
Lightfoot took nine of his own basic vocal and acoustic guitar recordings and beefed them up with overdubs by his studio band, while adding two live recordings from a 2001 Massey Hall gig to round out the 11-song collection.
Brimming with his gentle, folksy touch, there are lyrical love songs (the title track, Inspiration Lady, End Of All Time and Sometimes I Wish), reflective and philosophical explorations (River Of Light, Shellfish, and Clouds Of Loneliness) and more straight-ahead stories (Flyin' Blind, The No Hotel and Couchiching).
Lightfoot also serves up some venom on No Mistake About It, describing the movements of an alluring girl as both "a raptor" and "a snake."
Standouts are the warm-blooded Harmony and Inspiration Lady, the campfire-worthy tale Flyin' Blind and the descriptive and funny The No Hotel.
Lightfoot, who doesn't expect to have tour dates in Toronto until next year, has indicated he'd like to stage a benefit for McMaster University Medical Centre in the fall.
[This message has been edited by Char1 (edited May 09, 2004).]
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- Borderstone
