Sundown - GORDON LIGHTFOOT****

Somewhere USA/High & Dry/Seven Island Suite/Circle Of Steel/Is There Anyone Home/The Watchman's Gone/ Sundown/Carefree Highway/The List/Too Late For Prayin'

After several years on the brink of success Canadian folk artist Gordon Lightfoot achieved his major breakthrough with Sundown. Features the US chart topping title track and US No.10 Carefree Highway. (US:1 UK:45)

“Soft folk-rock, heavy on bittersweet background strings and the typical yearning baritone of Lightfoot delivering well-crafted folk and country-tinged songs.”

“Sundown is one of the greatest electric folk rock albums of all time. It is the high point of Canadian legend's Gordon Lightfoot's career and is full of wonderful songs that are small captured moments in time that enrich you by the listening of them. Sundown itself is one of the most beautifully expressive and emotive, and wonderfully rich love songs ever recorded, it's magic, lightning in a bottle.”

“This album represents Lightfoot's commercial peak. Does that mean it's his best? Not necessarily. The truth is, Gordon was remarkably consistent between 1970 and 1976, and it is something of a fluke that Sundown is his most famous LP, owing mainly to the popularity of the title track, which became a #1 hit in the US. Of course, it didn't hurt that the album features another top ten hit, Carefree Highway, which is arguably a better song. Those hits propelled this record to its status as a mid-'70s classic of the singer-songwriter genre, but really it's just another in a long string of great albums he released during this era.”

“Sundown represents Lightfoot at a point where he was as well-known as he would get. This is a pleasant enough release. Perhaps overly pleasant and not challenging enough.”

“This seems to be the most introspective of all his albums, as though he was trying to really make sense of life; there is much more of a sense of struggle here than in other albums. There is a lyrical depth that goes beyond even the usual Lightfoot level. The melodies are fantastic, there is a subtle sophistication to the arrangements, and Gordon's voice is strong.”

“This album contains songs not well-known to the public, and yet they serve to demonstrate the extraordinary range and depth of Lightfoot's songwriting, playing, and arrangements.”