Beautiful: A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot (IMPORT)

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 7, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Borealis Records
• ASIN: B0000CGOVZ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,303 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars doing the master proud, October 21, 2003

By 

Jerome Clark (Canby, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beautiful: A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot (IMPORT) (Audio CD)

Tribute albums are a dicey business. Most don't work for the simple reason that they give you no particular reason not to prefer the work of the artist being honored. No one will say that of this tribute to the great Canadian folk singer and songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. His star faded long ago, and his rare recordings over the past decade or two have seemed but dim echoes of former glory. Now he's getting his due again. Not, of course, that his records are back on the charts and the radio, but his rich talent is being rediscovered and celebrated, as witness Beautiful, which it certainly is.

Lightfoot and his admirers could hardly ask for better than this. All but one performer (Maria Muldaur) is a fellow Canadian, and each finds his, her, or (in the case of bands) its or their way into a song's core to fashion a distinctive, sometimes surprising reading. You know these songs, you think, but the artists here appear committed to forcing you to wonder if you know them as well as you think you do. One could argue, as I have from time to time, that "Summer Side of Life" is Lightfoot's single greatest creation, and I love the version on his three-decade-old album of the same name. But Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (Stephen Fearing, Colin Linden, and bandmates) set it afire, giving it a fierceness appropriate to its (of course) non-preachy antiwar theme; Lightfoot's too smart to preach, and all the more effective a preacher for that. Jesse Winchester, who gives a wonderfully funky Memphis touch to "Sundown," somehow finds the humor that few of us knew was there all along. Murray McLauchlan delivers a touching, Celtic-tinged "Home from the Forest," about a dying old man's dreams of his country youth. Connie Kaldor's soulful "If You Could Read My Mind" and Maria Muldaur's heart-wrenching "That Same Old Obsession" will not leave you soon, nor will you want them to. And did I mention the one non-Lightfoot song, Aengus Finnan's gorgeous and deeply felt "Lightfoot"?

I would have liked to hear "Leaves of Grass" and "Crossroads" more than "Drifters" (done decently enough by Ron Sexsmith, but one of Lightfoot's inferior later compositions) and "Go Go Round" (a piece of piffle with which Blue Rodeo does its best). But that's okay; I can always go back to the Lightfoot originals. In the meantime, these gifted Canadians -- and one American -- have done the master proud.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An above average tribute album, February 23, 2004

By 

Dustin Blythe "I love Amazon!" (Mishawaka, In USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beautiful: A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot (IMPORT) (Audio CD)

I think I speak for most people when I say that tribute albums only tend to make you want to hear the originals again. Maybe that is the point, but usually you only want to listen to the cover versions once and then sprint to the original album never to return. This album is an exception. First of all, most of the artists are Canadian and that lends an air of sincerity and empathy to their vision of the song. Second, notice that no one tried to tackle "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". That shows that these artists know better than to try to better a signature song and that they had the wisdom to mine the vast Lightfoot songbook and highlight the more obscure, yet accessible songs. Gordon Lightfoot has long been underrated as a songwriter with eclectic tastes in music and a keen ear for a poetic lyric. This album goes a long way toward showing how Lightfoots songs could be interpreted many ways without losing the power or sincerity of the lyric. The arrangements are fresh and modern. While this can often be jarring, in this case it is refreshing since it refocuses your attention to the lyric. One particular highlight for me was Connie Kaldor's reading of "If You Could Read My Mind". This is a song that we have all probably heard in the supermarket or the mall a hundred times, but Ms. Kaldor's spare interpretation brings back the poignancy of the lyric and, as she points out in her notes, the songs works when changed to a woman's point of view, showing how universal the feeling of the song is. That is but one highlight of this album. This album will not replace the Lightfoot originals in your collection; it is not intended to. But it may compel you to make room beside them for a heartfelt homage to a Canadian legend.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Way I Feel, April 28, 2005

By 

Diamond Dave (Chicago, Home of the Blues) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beautiful: A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot (IMPORT) (Audio CD)

We love Gordon Lightfoot music. I wanted to like this, I asked for it as a gift, and finally got my hands on this through Amazon.Com. It has it's moments, but all to many of the performances are bland. One of the truest points the ALL MUSIC GUIDE makes about most all Tribute albums is that they make you long for the original artist. That is sure the case here. With few exceptions the renditions of the Lightfoot classics and album tracks don't hold a candle to the originals.
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COWBOY JUNKIES, "The Way I Feel" was superb, and the folks who compiled this disc must have felt the same way, as they opt to open the set with this promising number. A cool, funky guitar snakes its way thru the tune, while the drums keep the pace and acoustic guitars compliment Margo Timmons fine vocals.
If the rest of the CD had one half the innovativeness that this song has it would be a Canadian classic garnering Juno favour.
But alas the great moments pretty much stop there.
Oh, there are other nice performances, smatterings of nibble guitar play or a contemporary sound here and there.
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American defector JESSE WINCHESTER is a nifty choice on "SUNDOWN" and that is the second best moment. With it's percussion and slick wah-wah fret work, it rocks well. Jesse at least puts his own vocal spin and arrangement on one of Gordos more bluesy numbers. A singer song-writer like Winchester is a smart choice for a CD such as his.
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Neither RON SEXSMITH (DRIFTERS) nor BRUCE COCKBURN (RIBBON of DARKNESS) made much of their opportunities, in my opinion. I have enjoyed moments by SEXSMITH in the past. As for Bruce...If I had a rocket launcher, why I'd...
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BLUE RODEO are a great band, and while they don't win me over entirely with their version of a unsung Lightfoot classic, "GO GO ROUND", I'll grant them a pass. They do not harm the song. The liner notes point out that this may not be one of Gordon's personal favs, but his 1960's folk generation lyrics offer some nostagic fun for me, so I give BLUE RODEO a mild thumbs up.
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One of the ubiquitous COLIN LINDEN's many side projects is BLACKIE & the RODEO KINGS, and they do a serviceable rendering of "SUNNY SIDE OF LIFE". It is one of the numbers that makes me want to run to my record collection and pull out GORDON's original, because the way he subtly eases into the chorus is so inspiring. COLIN and the band rough house it up a bit on this one, and while all is not lost, it just seemed better suited as a slower balled that a rocker. The playing is fine -the vocals a stretch. But COLIN, who doubles as executive producer on the project and sits in on many of the sessions, is all right in my books and a wonderful guitarist, so I'll give him a passing grade. His intentions are always well meaning.
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CONNIE KALDOR, is one of the biggest missteps. It's not even that it sounds bad (or good), the harmony vocals actually work well. It's just so hard to take on Gordon's best song, and maybe just one of the greatest songs ever written and try to do anything the same (or different) and make it work. It begs for the original. Gordon Lightfoot nailed "IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND". The words are pure poetry and when Lightfoot sings them you feel as if you are the person he sings of. Like a Michael Jordan jump shot, Babe Ruth's swing, Mona Lisa's smile and Fitzgerald's "Gatsby", perfection should be left untouched. The guitar chords and moving strings (NOT piano keys) also help make HIS masterpiece work. I have heard Gordon Lightfoot sing IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND hundreds of times and he never fails to get me to turn the volume up. CONNIE I'm sorry, I just had to the the volume down.
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I liked TERRY TUFTS take on "FOR LOVIN' ME", the mandolin is such a under-used and effective instrument. This song takes on a life of it's own while still paying tribute to the tune it salutes. Hey anyone that can include a 7-string guitar, dobro and mandolin, is OK in my books. Thanks for taking a chance.
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HARRY MANX, "Bend in the Water". Undistinguished glop.
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TRAGICALLY HIP, like BLUE RODEO have earned a certain amount of respect throughout Canada, to some degree North American, as well as success internationally. However BLACK DAY is not my favorite LIGHTFOOT, nor is this the best thing I've heard by T.H. Like much of the album, it reminds me that there are better versions of this song, and better songs in the LIGHTFOOT canon. Sure it is a song written about a tumultuous time in America, but to drive that point home with overly load, aimless guitar chords and screeching vocals, doesn't work for me. A quick glimpse at the back cover photo on the CD sleeve shows Gordon apparently covering his ears. Tragically, this might be the song that made him do it, I'm afraid.
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What can one say about Canadian veteran MURRAY McLAUGHLAN. Straw hat, and old dirty hankies... Now here is a guy that deserves a chance to cover Gordo. And he does Canada proud. Like a Canuck Steve Goodman. He takes a fairly obscure song and turns in a solid performance. Bonus points for the use of a penny whistle. It is one of the more elegant moments on the album. Take a chance and succeed. I believe I can tell that he respects the music he is celebrating. Way to go, Murray, moping a face like a shoe.
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MARIA MULDAUR, haven't heard from you since "MIDNIGHT AT THE OASIS" (Take Your Camel to Bed). This is no MIDNIGHT and while you may be a lightweight, you are no GORDON mimic. Failer.
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Word to JAMES KEELAGHAN, don't mess with CANADIAN RAILROAD TRILOGY. That song is GORDON's domain, and really out of everyone's league, even on a tribute album. Like trying to re-record "Hey Jude", just shouldn't be done. Period. You want to sing about Don Quixote or Maid Marion, that's one thing, but don't try to toast to the living and drink to the dead.
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SYLVIA FRICKER's QUARTETTE, won't make me forget Gordon's "SONG FOR A WINTER DAY", nor SARAH McLAUGHLAN's version, for that matter, but it is a song that plays well and is well sung in 4 part harmony. It is a fine LIGHTFOOT moment and always sounds nice as part of my Christmas collection. Four Strong wind-pipes, you might say. Well done ladies, well done.
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AENGUS FINNAN, word to the wise, unless your name is Stompin' Tom Connors and you think k.d. lang is a young hipster, please don't bother writing weak tribute songs on so-so tribute albums. Doesn't work that way. Sophmoric at best.
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Overall there are some nice moments but they are off set by just as much manusha. Like goldilocks' porridge either to light or to hard. But some of it is just right. Bonus points for not including any cloying song resembling a ship wreck on the Great Lakes. Gordon Lightfoot wrote many classic songs, that is not one of them.
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As for the title of the album "BEAUTIFUL", wouldn't it have been nice to have someone like k.d lang (who feted Canadian song-writers with her own fine CD last year) or the Sarahs Harmer or McLauchlan, or Kathleen Edwards, or Jann Arden, or Chantal Kreviazuk, or even someone like Amanda Marshall, take on the song the album is named after? It is missing from a CD entitled: BEAUTIFUL. What gives, with that?



--I don't think you can ever do your best. Doing your best is a process of trying to do your best. - Townes Van Zandt