The United Artists Collection [Import, Best of]

But this collection has been something of a revelation for me. The first disc, in particular, is shockingly good. The songs that were later re-recorded for "Gord's Gold" sound even better here, without the orchestral arrangements.

Lightfoot is a populist at heart. He has always had a good idea of which songs his fans like best, and has been willing to play them live and to include the right songs on compilations like "Gord's Gold." But no compilation can do justice to the wealth of excellent material on his first four albums, which are all included here in their entirety.

After the acoustic guitar bliss of the first disc, it is almost jarring to hear the fuller arrangements on the "Did She Mention My Name" album, which begins disc two. However, this album does come into its own after a few listens. "Black Day in July," which is about the Detroit riots of 1967, suffers a bit from its negative use of the word "black" in the title, which now sounds outdated in the context of a song about race riots. But allowing for that, the song still has an urgency and power that make it one of Lightfoot's more memorable songs. And the use of orchestration on this album seems to have inspired Lightfoot--always one of the most melodic folk singers--to take his melodies to new places. "Does Your Mother Know," in particular, sounds almost as if it would have fit in on "Sundown."

The fourth album included in the UA Collection, "Back Here on Earth," is a return to the simpler arrangements of the first two. According to the liner notes, the songs on this album were written and recorded quickly, and perhaps for that reason they are somewhat lacking in variety, but they are still solid. "Long Thin Dawn," "The Circle Is Small," and "The Gypsy" are favorites of mine.

Because these four albums fill up two discs so neatly, there are no "bonus" tracks, which is great. I, for one, have been bonus tracked to death, and I'm glad not to have any here.

The booklet is very good. It includes some photos, an essay that summarizes this part of Lightfoot's career, and summaries of all four albums, including the instrumental credits and small pictures of the album covers.

What is there not to like about this collection? I suppose Gord can be a little corny at times, with his descriptions of the great Canadian wilderness and the occasional "cute" song like "Go-Go Round" or "May I." But this goes with the territory, and songs that sound corny at first sometimes turn out to be favorites.

If you are a Lightfoot fan, you owe it to yourself to buy this first-rate collection, and if you're just getting interested in Lightfoot, this would be an excellent place to start.

There are a few songs (mainly on the second CD) that are a little weaker than the others; so it is not totally consistent. But there is a lot of music here (4 albums) and overall it is very, very good.