All Live

Personnel: Gordon Lightfoot (vocals, guitar); Terry Clements (guitar); Michael Heffernan (keyboards); Barry Keane (drums, percussion).
Recording information: Massey Hall, Toronto (05/07/1998-05/26/2011).
Photographer: Eric Lightfoot.
As of 2011, Gordon Lightfoot had performed at Toronto's Massey Hall 150 times, the most shows any artist had played in the concert hall's 117-year history, so it's only fitting that the venerable Canadian folk icon should release a live album that celebrates both the venue's long tenure and his own. Culled from performances recorded between 1998 and 2001, All Live features 19 pristine, untouched (as in directly from the mixing board) cuts that span the legend's entire career, including timeless hits like "If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown," "Canadian Railroad Trilogy," and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," as well as tracks from later albums like East of Midnight ("Let It Ride"), Waiting for You ("Restless"), and A Painter Passing Through. While the performances may not be as fiery and immediate as the ones found on 1969's Sunday Concert, which was also recorded at Massey Hall, they're honed to a tee, and Lightfoot delivers them with the kind of ease that can only come from someone who has spent their entire life perfecting them. ~ James Christopher Monger