Classic Masters

by William RuhlmannThe Gordon Lightfoot entry in EMI's Classic Masters series of discount-priced compilations is a typical effort and not much different from the numerous best-of releases previously issued from Lightfoot's five-album tenure on United Artists Records, 1966-1969. At the time, Lightfoot was better known as a songwriter than as a performer, and his UA recordings presented his own versions of such hits as "Early Mornin' Rain," "Ribbon of Darkness," "For Lovin' Me," and "Bitter Green" that had been popularized by others. All those tracks are here along with "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" and "Black Day in July," which gained exposure through Lightfoot's own performances. The other selections on the 12-song set (of which six were drawn from the singer's 1966 debut LP, Lightfoot!) are good, but in keeping with the songwriter focus, it might have been nice to include "The Last Time I Saw Her," "Steel Rail Blues," and "Wherefore and Why," all of which were Top 40 country hits, rather than, say, Lightfoot's cover of Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," even if it did precede the Roberta Flack hit version by several years. A curious, if perhaps temporary, marketing juxtaposition, however, made the album a doubtful purchase at least at first. At the time of the disc's release, the 1993 double-CD United Artists Collection, containing Lightfoot's first four UA LPs, was still in print and selling at the same $11.98 list price for which this album was selling. True, it contained two songs from the 1969 Sunday Concert LP not on the 1993 set. But if you were going to spend 12 bucks on an album of Gordon Lightfoot's UA recordings, why would you buy this skimpy one over the far lengthier United Artists Collection?