Salute

Bill Allen · 07-27-2002, 11:07 AM

To Florian or anyone:

I thought Salute (1983) was a classic. It has four or five gems and I cannot believe some of the songs are not on greatest hits albums (This Tatoo). Strangly, I cannot find the CD anywhere to Purchase. Is it still in print, and if not, why not. My old cassette recording of this album is about to give out. I would appreciate some help here.

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Bill Allen

07-27-2002, 12:33 PM

Salute will be out on CD this August

Chuck Darling · 07-27-2002, 05:37 PM

Dear Bill,
I agree 100%...Salute is a fantastic album!!The title song "Salute A lot more livin to do" got me through a very tough time in my life 13yrs ago.. I wish Gordon would plug in again!!!

Chuck.

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Ever Onward...

seahawk11 · 07-29-2002, 12:59 PM

I agree, this is just about his most over-looked record, I think because it came so quickly on the heels of 'Shadows'. 'Tattoo' is one of his most wonderful songs; and I love the whimsical 'Biscuit City'. A pretty solid album other than 'Whispers of the North', which is a cool title for a song, but the song itself doesn't stand up (IMHO).

Chuck Darling · 07-29-2002, 07:30 PM

Salute not great??

"May all your Martini's be forever dry"..

Fantastic Lyric!

Think about it...

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Ever Onward...

joveski · 07-31-2002, 12:25 AM

personally, i think it's one of his best albums.

it marks a transition i think. shadows still has that 70's feel to gord's music and has his 70s voice.

salute has a different sounding voice (better than east of midnight) and has a real up to date feel to it. it should have had a lot more commercial success as well.

songs like the title track, knotty pine, without you, biscuit city and broken dreams are gord classics with a different feel to his 70s output.

mende

Chuck Darling · 07-31-2002, 06:45 AM

Hey whatta bout this from Something to believe in"
"Livin a life a ease don't make your meals taste better, if you please" another great lyric!

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Ever Onward...

[This message has been edited by Chuck Darling (edited July 31, 2002).]

Rob1956 · 08-03-2002, 06:46 AM

Yep, I have to agree that Salute is a great record. I was taken aback by a couple of things when I first heard it. First was the change in Gord's voice. After Shadows just a year before ('82) where his voice was reaching down to the lower registers (14 Karat...She's not the same...Shadows) Salute
seemed to find him having lost a lot of those lower tones. It may have been intentional, but I just thought he had quit smoking or something, anyway, I liked it.
Secondly, Dean Parks unique electric guitar
sound added much to Gord's sound.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Gord stopped drinking around that time, and started to lose weight and get healthier, maybe that's why his voice changed. I remember reading in USA Today when Salute came out that he was disappointed in the sales of DSR and Shadows, and was looking to do more of an upbeat record..paying special attention to a more in-your-face guitar sound and more back beat with the drums. As usual, Warners didn't promote it much.
Gord seems to like releasing albums in the spring..DSR was in March, WFY was in April of
'93, PPT was in May of '98, maybe his next one will be this coming spring...anybody think it will be on Rino,who might actually promote it a bit? Maybe Gord will show up on an American tv show or two!

Bill Allen · 08-08-2002, 05:09 PM

quote:Originally posted by seahawk11:
I agree, this is just about his most over-looked record, I think because it came so quickly on the heels of 'Shadows'. 'Tattoo' is one of his most wonderful songs; and I love the whimsical 'Biscuit City'. A pretty solid album other than 'Whispers of the North', which is a cool title for a song, but the song itself doesn't stand up (IMHO).
Thanks Seahawk. I do like Whispers, but then for some reason I like the whole album, it just seems to flow. Maybe some Lightfoot purists don't care for the album because he dared to "rock" just a little. As Chuck says, Plug it in again, Gord.

Bill Allen · 08-08-2002, 09:33 PM

quote:Originally posted by TheWatchman:
I don't think that Salute is one of his better albums at all. Whispers Of The North is a great song. Biscuit City is excellent!

Buy the CD, crank up the first song, and as you float through the rest of the album, let me know what you really think.

Hurst · 10-04-2004, 08:37 PM

I think the main reason Salute was so overlooked was the drastic change in his voice and the song Knotty Pine. Sorry, but that song is just plain boring; instead of that one, he should've included Never Say Trust Me or Why I Should Feel Blue. I like the title track, Someone To Believe In, "Whispers", Biscuit City, and Broken Dreams. Without You is also nice. When I first bought this album in '83, it was kind of weird hearing Gord singing with that 'rock' sound.

Rob1956 · 10-05-2004, 09:39 AM

Sometimes it's fun to revisit topics from the past. I have to respectfully disagree, "Knotty Pine" is one of my favorite tunes of Gord's. I like its starkness, just Gord, and electric guitar, a bass guitar and chimes. The narrative weaves between a favorite pine tree in the forest, and a favorite woman in his life.
There are metaphores all over the place, I think it's a much more complex song that it seems on the surface.


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