Sunday Concert (Live At Massey Hall/1969)

by Richie UnterbergerRecorded at a March 1969 concert in Toronto, Sunday Concert holds more interest than the usual live album because about half of the songs are Gordon Lightfoot compositions that had not been previously recorded in the studio. Accompanied by Red Shea on lead guitar and Rick Haynes on bass, he also mixed old favorites like "I'm Not Sayin'" and "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" with the new material on this set, which has good (though not outstanding) sound. These then-new songs aren't among his classics, but are up to the general high standard of his '60s work, with the socially conscious "The Lost Children" and the poetic "Leaves of Grass" standing out as lyrical highlights. This is the only one of Lightfoot's '60s United Artists albums that is not included on The United Artists Collection. [Captiol/EMI reissued this on CD in 1996].