Search - Gordon Lightfoot :: Sunday Concert

One foot in folk and one out the door...

Dustin Blythe | Mishawaka, In USA | 03/07/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In 1969, when "Sunday Concert" was recorded, Gordon Lightfoot was on the verge of stardom in America. Already a seasoned and respected singer/songwriter in his native Canada, Lightfoot looked to "make it" in the larger more lucrative folk rock/pop market in the United States.



"Sunday Concert" is a contractural fulfillment album, made to satisfy the requirement of albums due in his original contract with United Artists/EMI. Nevertheless, this is a unique glimpse into Gordon Lightfoot's singing, songwriting and small group playing before his huge "Sit Down Young Stranger/If You Could Read My Mind" album for Reprise and also a portrait of a Canadian tradition, Lightfoot's annual concert stand at Toronto's Massey Hall.



The song selection is relatively brief, eleven songs, and about half of them may be unfamiliar to the casual fan. Of the more familiar singles, "Softly" and "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" are performed with real energy and feeling and are highlights of the album. A more obscure track, "Ballad of Yarmouth Castle" is an early Lightfoot song dealing with a tragic shipwreck, illustrating his compassion and sympathy for the men who sail the Great Lakes and laying the groundwork for his ode six years later to the men of the "Edmund Fitzgerald".



The sound on this disc is acceptable. The production is sparse and the echoes of the hall are clearly heard. For the casual listener who is unfamiliar with Massey Hall this can make the songs sound a bit distant, but overall Lightfoot's voice comes across well. I cannot tell if this has been remastered; there is no notation of this in the booklet, but I cannot tell much of a difference between this and the 1996 Acoustic Highway reissue which was remastered. I purchased the 2003 edition to have the original album artwork which is faithfully reproduced here.



I give this three stars a.)because of the unfamiliarity of some of the songs to casual fans and b.)the sometimes cavernous sound quality. However, the playing and singing are inspired. If you are ready to delve a bit deeper into the folksier side of Gordon Lightfoot, before he hit the really big time, check out "The United Artists Collection" then listen to "Sunday Concert", his only UA album not represented in that collection."