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The Last Four Original Albums Are Available On CD (in 2002)
Three of the Four Now Available Again in 2 CD Set - Read more here
Updated September 11, 2016, October 19, 2009, August 20, 2002; originally announced here August 16, 2001 - Gordon Lightfoot fans got their wish at last and can finally retire their turntables. The "Final Four" original albums are now released on CD. However, as of 2009, they are out of print, so you should snap up available new copies soon, if you don't have yours yet.
These four Lightfoot albums - Old Dan's Records (1972), Dream Street Rose (1980), Shadows (1982) and Salute (1983) - complete the collection of albums recorded by Lightfoot for Warner/Reprise, starting with If You Could Read My Mind, released in 1970, through his most recent original album, A Painter Passing Through, released in 1998.
The first two, Old Dan's Records and Dream Street Rose, were released in the US on July 2, in Canada on July 16, and in Germany on August 5 (sorry for earlier incorrect information). I don't have any information on release in other countries. Bill Inglot did the remastering for the "Final Four", as he had for Songbook and Complete Greatest Hits, so we can count on more stunning recordings.
Since the albums were being released as four individual CDs, not packaged together, fans can buy all four, or just their favorites. The albums do not contain any bonus tracks; simply the material as released on the original LPs and tapes.
In June, 1994, Warner Archives released four CDs from the eight remaining original albums in the Lightfoot catalogue, causing fans to dub the remaining ones the "Final Four."
In 1999, Rhino Records, also part of the Warner family, released a comprehensive boxed set bringing together Lightfoot recordings from throughout his career, going back to even before his first album for United Artists. Songbook contains some tracks from each of the "Final Four", and the Gord's Gold albums contain a few more, but most of these songs are being released here for the first time on CD.
There are some lost treasures on these four albums, and at least one of the albums is among Lightfoot's favorites. Many of the songs on these albums have remained in Lightfoot's live act almost continuously: songs like Shadows, In My Fashion, Baby Step Back, Blackberry Wine, and Old Dan's Records, or have resurfaced in the past few years - songs like That Same Old Obsession, Make Way For The Lady, Sea Of Tranquility, Ghosts Of Cape Horn and Triangle.
Among the songs that will be available on CD for the first time are Blackberry Wine, Whispers Of The North, Tattoo, Farewell To Annabel, You Are What I Am, Mother Of A Miner's Child, The Auctioneer, Triangle (original version), On The High Seas, Whisper My Name and Heaven Help The Devil.
Click on the album jackets, or the album names, for the complete track listings. You will find clips of many of the songs on the album pages; I will add more clips as time permits.
You may also enjoy reading what Lightfoot said about these albums when I asked about them in my interview in March - click here.
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