Customer Reviews

Early Morning Rain

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I was given this by someone who knows I like Lightfoot. It is not as good as Gord's Gold but has elements of greatness. The arrangements are simpler but Gord's guitar picking and voice are stronger. (He whistles, too, in Ribbon Of Darkness.) He has backing that includes a second guitar for lead runs, and a bass. Some songs have strings, or simple percussion from a tamborine. I Want To Hear It From You gives us a horn section and sounds out of place. No steel guitar, and drums are used very sparingly. His singing and guitar are front and centre. I heard some of his most beautiful songs for the first time. Some of them are way too sweetly sentimental but he was younger then, wasn't he? And that was part of his appeal, and the times when this was sung - the mid to late sixties. I found the production uneven at times (too much reverb on his voice, the string section too loud, etc.) but you find that with a greatest hits collection. Overall, a good overview of his early songs. Digitally re-mastered with Super-bit Mastering.

Although I do not have this CD, this is worth it for those looking for a few of his early recordings rather than the slightly more expensive 2 CD UA Collection which you are better off getting as the 2 CD set is more complete while this does contain 12 of his UA best including "Last Time I Saw Her," "Wherefore and Why," "I'm Not Sayin'," "Ribbon of Darkness," etc. If you buy the 2 CD set you'll get even more of his great UA work including the protest song, "Black Day In July." For the budget minded, this is a great collection [for the price, but as] I said earlier, you can get all 4 UA albums in their entirety on the "United Artists Collection" which is the better bargain. Either way, you can get lots of great music and it's the music that counts after all.

Although it never gained commercial success, The Last Time I Saw Her is my favorite GL song, has been for a quarter century. The price of this vintage album is worth it for this song alone.