I wanted to post something from him to pay tribute to his musical legacy. I looked around at what is out there that I hadn't posted yet, and came up with this.
There's a bootleg that's been circulating for many years of Lightfoot performing for the Skip Weshner Show, a radio show in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, in my opinion, most of this isn't very good. A lot of it consists of Lightfoot talking with the DJ Skip Weshner, which doesn't have much relistening value, especially since the DJ did most of the talking. There's also a big chunk of it that apparently took place at a party at Weshner's house. Most of that was unintelligible crowd noise. When Lightfoot did play some music, it tended to be songs that only lasted a minute or less, and were marred by party sounds. Some other sounds just had poor sound quality.
That said, there were some real gems in there too. I trimmed away most of the bootleg, cutting it down to just the full songs done with excellent sound quality. Most of these come from in-person acoustic performances on Weshner's show, with only a couple of songs from the party. The mix was way off, but I did some audio editing to improve that. One song, "The Seabird Song," appears to get cut off before it finished.
Additionally, there are a few songs come from an unknown radio show. Again it's acoustic, though Lightfoot it sounds like is backed by a bassist and second guitarist. I have no idea where these are from. If anyone knows, please tell me. However, based on the song selection, it's highly likely it comes from 1970.
There is one bonus song, "Your Song," the classic hit by Elton John. This is a real treat, since there's no official recording of Lightfoot doing this. Unfortunately though, the sound quality is significantly worse than the others, so I had to relegate it to bonus track status. It also is not complete. However, in this case, I'm guessing he stopped because that's as much of the song as he could remember.
This album is 46 minutes long, not including the bonus track.
01 Bitter Green (Gordon Lightfoot)
02 Take It or Leave It (Gordon Lightfoot)
03 Pleasures of the Night (Gordon Lightfoot)
04 The Auctioneer (Gordon Lightfoot)
05 Minstrel of the Dawn (Gordon Lightfoot)
06 Looking at the Rain (Gordon Lightfoot)
07 Sit Down Young Stranger (Gordon Lightfoot)
08 Cobwebs and Dust (Gordon Lightfoot)
09 Me and Bobby McGee (Gordon Lightfoot)
10 The Last Time I Saw Her (Gordon Lightfoot)
11 The Seabird Song (Gordon Lightfoot)
12 Talking in Your Sleep (Gordon Lightfoot)
13 If You Could Read My Mind (Gordon Lightfoot)
14 Approaching Lavender (Gordon Lightfoot)
Your Song (Gordon Lightfoot)
The cover is a photo of Lightfoot in concert in 1971. I didn't see any really good photos from 1970. The lettering of his name at the top comes from one of his albums.
Thank you very much for your hard work and dedication to getting it right.
ReplyDeleteI think this is the only recording off KRHM-FM I've ever come across online. As an FM station for grownups in '60s Los Angeles it didn't play no rock and roll, but it was still highly eclectic, with programs highlighting folk music, Broadway cast recordings, and other niche interests. I've spent decades searching fruitlessly for airchecks of their great folk-music host, Les Claypool, Jr., likely passed on by now. With that name you can imagine how misleading my Google searches are!
ReplyDeleteYou're right, the deaths keep coming. Linda Lewis poassed away a couple of days ago. I'm pretty sure she must have recorded for the BBC - it would be nice if you could post something from her.
ReplyDeleteI don't know Linda Lewis from Adam. But I see she does have some BBC stuff. I'll see what I can do with that.
DeleteYou asked for help. I got some of this at BigO years ago. Here's what that guy said to say. Hope it helps some.
ReplyDeleteGORDON LIGHTFOOT
The Skip Weshner Tapes 1968-1970 [no label, 1CD]
Recorded at Skip Weshner’s studio at KRHM-FM in Los Angeles, 1968 and 1970. Very good to excellent FM stereo.
The discovery in this set is Gordon Lightfoot’s attempt to sing Elton John’s Your Song. He plays it casually, the way a fan would. It sounds like Lightfoot had just bought the album which was released in the US in July 1970. Back then everyone was a fan and it was unclear just how long rock ‘n’ roll could run. It was as much about your artistry as it was about having fun.
Then there are beautiful versions of Minstrel Of The Dawn and The Last Time I Saw Her (two versions). There are two versions of Lightfoot attempting Kris Kristofferson’s Me And Bobby McGee. In case you’re wondering, Janis Joplin’s angst-fueled version first appeared in January 1971, almost a full year after Lightfoot recorded his gentler version. Lightfoot flubs his second attempt though.
These sessions recorded by DJ Skip Weshner have that ring of authenticity. Weshner never interrogates. Neither does he “sell” his guest. It’s more a conversation between two friends. Ordinary people doing extraordinary jobs. Those days are long gone replaced by shock jocks who cuss nonstop for their ratings.
For the complete shows with the conversations between Skip and Gordon Lightfoot, you can find it at the Dime site [click here]. You have to be a member to use the site. And you also must be familiar with bittorrent.
We’ve selected just the songs played by Gordon Lightfoot for your listening. A big thanks to dajchance for sharing this rarity from his collection.
- Professor Red
Track 01. Bitter Green [edited, 1968-04-01] (3.5MB)
Track 02. Talking In Your Sleep [edited, 1970] (5.0MB)
Track 03. Your Song [edited, 1970] (3.1MB)
1969-08-09 Skip Weshner Show, KRHM-FM Radio Studio, Los Angeles, California
Track 04. Minstrel Of The Dawn [edited] (5.8MB)
Track 05. Looking At The Rain [edited] (5.3MB)
Track 06. Sit Down Young Stranger [edited] (5.3MB)
Track 07. Cobwebs & Dust [edited] (6.2MB)
Track 08. Me And Bobby McGee [edited] (5.3MB)
Track 09. The Last Time I Saw Her [edited] (7.5MB)
Track 10. The Seabird Song [edited] (5.0MB)
1969-08-09 Skip Weshner Show, KRHM-FM Radio Studio, Los Angeles, California
Track 11. Cobwebs & Dust [unedited] (6.4MB)
Track 12. Me And Bobby McGee [unedited] (5.3MB)
Track 13. The Last Time I Saw Her [unedited] (7.8MB)
Track 14. The Seabird Song [unedited] (5.1MB)
NOTE: The fan who assembled this set edited the songs from the full shows so that you could just listen to the songs without interruption. We did not do the editing.
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My Note: Might want to burn this according to years & use the unedited tracks to replace the 4 edited versions.
Hope this helps some. I just got confused trying to compare the two. Thanks for the share.
Thanks for that. Too bad "Your Song" sounds so muddy. Do you know if he did any other unreleased songs? I didn't check.
Delete