Gordon Lightfoot - Complete Greatest Hits
Though he rose from the ranks of journeyman '60s folksinger to become a  potent and consistent '70s hit maker, Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon  Lightfoot's stock in trade was as much hard-eyed, dispassionate observation as  romance or poetic whimsy. Perhaps that's why his songs have been covered by  everyone fromElvis(this  set's "Early Morning Rain") toDylan. If there's such a  thing as an alpha-male folkie, Lightfoot certainly fits the bill. Spanning the  tongue-in-cheek chauvinism of 1965's "For Lovin' Me" and the cheatin' ways of  "Sundown" to more introspective fare like "If You Could Read My Mind" and  "Beautiful," this 20-track collection presents a concise primer on Lightfoot's  career and craft. After his career peaked with one of the most unlikely top five  hits ever, the gloom-laden 1976 narrative "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,"  Lightfoot's production tailed off sharply, though this anthology's "Stay Loose"  ('86) and "Restless" ('93) are testament to his enduring skills as a songwriter  and performer.--Jerry McCulley