Summertime Dream (with album review) - Now in Translucent Vinyl!

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Read about NEW Limited Edition Translucent LPs from Friday Music

Race Among The Ruins (lyrics) Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald (lyrics) I'm Not Supposed To Care (lyrics) I'd Do It Again (lyrics) Never Too Close (lyrics) Protocol (lyrics) The House You Live In (lyrics) Summertime Dream (lyrics) Spanish Moss (lyrics) Too Many Clues In This Room (lyrics)   Summertime Dream Gordon Lightfoot Buy from Val Read review Always check my Lightfoot store to see what I have in stock. Buy CD from Val Buy Warner CD from Amazon.com (US) Buy MP3 album from Amazon.com (US) Buy from Amazon.ca (Canada) Summertime Dream Translucent Gold From Friday Music Also in Translucent Blue   A NEW Limited Edition LP from Friday Music was released on July 29, 2022. It has a gatefold cover with lyrics and has been mastered impeccably by Joe Reagoso (Gordon Lightfoot/Linda Ronstadt) from the original Reprise Records tapes. It's translucent vinyl; gold or blue. While it's being sold for a hefty price, there are few copies of the original vinyl album available and when sold they are usually pricey, so you may want to consider this if your old LP has disappeared or no longer sounds good. While it is not 180 gram, this limited edition LP is said to have better sound than the original LP due to the use of audiophile techniques; I have a review copy due to arrive tomorrow and will give you my own assessment of it later in the week (2/12/2023). But, while digital versions are enjoyable and convenient, nothing beats analog sound on a good sound system or headphones. Here's the listing for the Gold one at Amazon: Summertime Dream Translucent Gold. The Translucent Blue is here: Summertime Dream Translucent Blue; it is listed as color "Vinyl", but lower in the description it says "Blue." Note: Both records go "Unavailable" at Amazon, but so far do eventually get reordered, but the record is NOT out of print so you might want to wait for your preferred color, or switch to the other.

In the fall of 2016 Warner Canada released a Record Store Day Black Friday Limited Edition 180 Gram Audiophile vinyl record of this album. According to the Warner Canada website at the time, there were only 500 copies of this record available worldwide. This LP includes a bonus track, "Betty Called Me In," a song previously available only on the Songbook Box Set (on four CDs), but was included on the audiophile vinyl release of the album it didn't make the first time.

Click the following link to read about Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (the song).

Summertime Dream and the Greatest Shipwreck Song Ever Written

Review of Gordon Lightfoot "Summertime Dream" Album

Here's another long overdue review; in fact, I couldn't believe that I had not reviewed it on Amazon in the late 1990s when I wrote most of my album reviews. But a search of my Amazon reviews reveals nothing, so today I will correct the oversight.

In many ways this album needs no review. Although the title song is "Summertime Dream,", the standout track — and one of Lightfoot's best songs — is "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." Although the song is available elsewhere, there is something special about hearing it as it was first presented: the second song on the album following the unbelievably fantastic, "Race Among The Ruins," just as it did in concert during the Summertime Dream tour.

Few people list "Race Among The Ruins" as one of his greatest songs, but it is (a bit of editorializing here, but it's my site and so you get my opinions). Even devoted fans often fail to mention it, but then when asked about it they say it's a great song. It was a thrill for me to hear the song live again at the Massey Hall concerts in 2012.

Another gem on this album is "The House You Live In," which was Gordon's mother's favorite song. It's one of mine too: a metaphorical look at US immigration policy.

"And the house you live in will never fall down If you pity the stranger who stands at your gate"

Enough said.

Amazingly, there are other great songs on this album, although the three above are my favorites. There's "I'm Not Supposed To Care," a bittersweet song of a failed relationship which Bob Dylan performs in concert (to my knowledge, Gordon does not perform it, although he may have when the album was first released).

The other songs are very strong as well; they just don't speak to me as much as the four I have named here. I know that "Spanish Moss" is a favorite of many people, and probably the other songs - "I'd Do It Again," "Never Too Close," (which Gordon performs frequently to this day), "Protocol," the thought provoking, "Too Many Clues In This Room," and the title track itself, "Summertime Dream" are somebody's favorite.

Understand that I didn't discover Lightfoot until 1976, and saw him in concert for the first time in 1977. I was, of course, blown away by the concert (still featuring the songs on Summertime Dream), and went out and bought my first two albums: this one, and Gord's Gold (his two latest albums at the time). After that, as they say, the rest is history.

If you don't already have this album, you should do something about it! If you want a physical disk, you should probably buy sooner rather than later.

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