Gordon Lightfoot may never seem to be doing anything all that unusual -- his melodies tend to be simple, his subjects seldom original, his voice is nice enough but rarely lends itself to anything fancy, and in fact the whole genre he works in is anything but new. But Lightfoot, unlike virtually all other folk artists who started out successful in the early Sixties, has managed to mellow so gracefully (and without any need for a current comeback, or any gratuitous shots at rock and roll) that he's at his absolute strongest right now, as Don Quixote and the album before it bear witness. Even though -- or perhaps because -- what he doesn't isn't nearly a unusual as the fact that he does it so well.

Lightfoot's music has gotten so tight and polished, all the while sustaining a deceptive sense of effortlessness, that the weaker strains of his early days have virtually disappeared. His sentimentality now seems genuine but controlled, and it is less dominant than in the past. He has learned how to avoid sounding self-indulgent in love songs, or affected when he sings about being on the road. His key to sidestepping the obvious pitfalls of his subject in the tough, quietly understated masculinity he's able to maintain throughout whatever situation he cares to describe. The toughness is something of a surprise, coming hand-in-hand with a relatively gentle sound, and the incongruity undoubtedly accounts for a good part of his mystique.

Starting around the time of his first and only hit single ("If You Could Read My Mind"), Lightfoot has assembled three albums of unassailable quality. The first, originally titled Sit Down Young Stranger but retitled for the hit it contained, linked the excesses of his earlier work with a toned-down, more studied new sound that marked an enormous improvement. The next album, Summer Side Of Life, had a first side that should have been minted in gold, although side two never quite measured up. While Don Quixote is too evenly paced to match the best moments or dazzling versatility of its predecessor, it has no such noticeable lapses either. It is consistently good, beautifully produced, as well-played as ever (Lightfoot has added guitarist Terry Clements to his fine bass-guitar team of Rick Haynes and Red Shea), and a fitting next step in a career of steady improvement.

"Ordinary Man" has a fine melody and sounds like a possible single. So does "Second Cup Of Coffee," indirectly telling a story of broken marriage with a typically clever refrain about reaching for the phone. It's the kind of song that sounds so immediate and familiar that you're certain you must have heard it before, the only question being where. But still it's as original as everything else he does, fresh and unique behind a familiar-sounding facade. I just don't know how he does it.

The fact is I can't quite figure out how he does any of it, really, but I do know that his material never wears out, just gets more interesting all the time. Gordon himself keeps getting better and better, and that's one knack I hope he never loses.

- Janet Maslin, Rolling Stone, 4/27/72.

Bonus Reviews!

Calling Gordon Lightfoot prolific is grossly understating his case. With unparalleled consistency, he turns out not only individually superb tracks, but entire packages of the highest quality. His latest release is no exception. "Ordinary Man," "Alberta Bound," "Beautiful," "Patriot's Dream" and the title cut "Don Quixote" are lyrical masterpieces In the Lightfoot tradition.

- Billboard, 1972.

Class may be the ultimate resource in the music business, as it is in some others. Here's an album that suggests that Gordon Lightfoot (temporarily, I hope) doesn't have as much to say as he once did: he's taken to making up rhymes about whales, and to writing melodies that sound too much like his earlier melodies. But Lightfoot is such a classy songwriter that the album still contains more meat than you'll find in a lesser artist's once-in-a-lifetime spasm of high inspiration. Lightfoot's songs are nothing if not tuneful, and his mellow vocals sound even better than they did in his last album. His all-acoustic backing is marvelous. Here, in "The Patriot's Dream" (probably the song Lightfoot worked hardest on in this group), which is one of those epics in which a slow song is sandwiched between two parts of a fast song, the instruments make the slow-to-fast changeover deliberately behind the meter, to reinforce the effect of lyrics that suggest a troop train, loaded with glory seeking hometown boys, picking up speed.

Lots of meat here: "Ode To Big Blue" is constructed so that Lightfoot's rhythm guitar plays the same chord from start to finish while the other guitars are scrambling all over the scale; "Don Quixote" is outfitted by Bob Thompson with the most tasteful string backing since B.B. King's thrill departed. It's that kind of record: no suprises, no innovations, just Lightfoot singing better, his band playing better, his favorite melodic and rhythmic ploys used a little more smoothly.

Class. It made Stan Musial's singles better than other people's home runs, and it makes Lightfoot's skill-polishing exercises better than other people's fearless forays.

- Noel Coppage, Stereo Review, 1972.

Don Quixote showcases Gordon Lightfoot at the height of his musical powers, from the show-stopping country stomper "Alberta Bound" (featuring superb bottleneck guitar licks by Ry Cooder) to the spare, energetic title cut and mellow pieces such as "Beautiful" and "Christian Island (Georgian Bay)." * * * *

- James Person, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.

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