* A rare original pressing, of the album as initially intended, sans front-cover text.
Having Canadian ancestry, and relatives that still live there, it’s perhaps not too surprising that I should, at some point, become aware of Gordon Lightfoot. What is surprising is how long this has taken.
Sit Down, Young Stranger (1970) became a big success for the already veteran performer, on account of containing his greatest hit to date. The album title has subsequently been changed to If you Could Read My Mind, on account of the massive popularity of this track.
Up until now, I was only dimly aware of ‘Gord’’. And vague un-tested assumptions had me bracketing him as dull mainstream country-tinged MOR. Will a closer listen change this view, I wonder?
Perhaps motivated by his fairly recent passing, in 2023, aged 84, and the comments on this by Canadian family (a cousin saying Lightfoot was ‘the soundtrack to my life’, for example), I’ve decided I ought to check him out.
And to that end I ordered a CD of his 1970 album, which is, as already mentioned, now retitled If You Could Read My Mind.