Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown

Sundown is Gordon Lightfoot's ninth studio album and the first to top the Billboard album charts in the US (it was his third consecutive #1 in Canada and reached #45 in the UK). Despite – or because of – this commercial success, the critics did not embrace the album wholeheartedly:

• AllMusic gave it 4.5 stars out of 5
• Robert Christgau graded it a B-, calling Lightfoot an "uncompromising proponent of commercial folk music"
• Rolling Stone magazine called it "a fine album that weaves conventional folk and pop strands into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts," yet the 1983 New Rolling Stone Record Guide gave it only 2 stars out of 5 (the Rolling Stone Album Guide upgraded it to 3 stars in 1992)

Sundown did rank 74th in Bob Mersereau's The Top 100 Canadian Albums and 11th in CBC Radio's list of the 100 Greatest Canadian Albums, and spawned two hit singles: "Sundown" went #1 in Canada and the US on the pop charts, while also charting on the country and adult contemporary charts in both countries, and #33 in the UK; "Carefree Highway" went #11 in Canada and #10 in the US.

Click on a heading below to toggle more information.

Track Listing

1. "Somewhere U.S.A." (Gordon Lightfoot) – 2:50
2. "High and Dry" (Gordon Lightfoot) – 2:12
3. "Seven Island Suite" (Gordon Lightfoot) – 6:00
4. "Circle of Steel" (Gordon Lightfoot) – 2:45
5. "Is There Anyone Home" (Gordon Lightfoot) – 3:15
6. "The Watchman's Gone" (Gordon Lightfoot) – 4:25
7. "Sundown" (Gordon Lightfoot) – 3:45
8. "Carefree Highway" (Gordon Lightfoot) – 3:45
9. "The List" (Gordon Lightfoot) – 3:00
10. "Too Late for Prayin'" (Gordon Lightfoot) – 4:15

Personnel

• Gordon Lightfoot – vocal, 6-string guitar (on 1, 2, 4, 8, 10), 12-string guitar (on 3, 5, 6, 7, 9), voices (on 3, 4, 7), high string guitar (on 2, 8), percussion (on 4)
• Terry Clements – lead acoustic guitar (except 2)
• Red Shea – lead 6-string guitar (on 2), slide dobro (on 1), lead acoustic guitar (on 3, 9), classical guitar (on 4, 5, 10), lead electric guitar (on 7)
• Jim Gordon – drums (on 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), percussion (on 2)
• John Stockfish – bass (on 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10)
• Rick Haynes – bass (on 1, 4, 8, 9)
• Milt Holland – percussion (on 1, 5, 9), congas (on 6)
• Nick DeCaro – strings (on 3, 5, 6, 10), horns (on 3), orchestration (on 8), piano (on 8), accordion (on 8)
• Gene Martynec – Moog synthesizer (on 3, 5)
• Catherine Smith – harmony voice (on 2)
• Jack Zaza – recorder (on 4), English horn (on 4)

• Gordon Lightfoot – Sit Down Young Stranger (album)
• Gordon Lightfoot – Summertime Dream (album)
• Gordon Lightfoot – Lightfoot! (album)
• Gordon Lightfoot – The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (song)
• Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown (song)
• Gordon Lightfoot – Canadian Railroad Trilogy (song)
• Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind (song)