Lightfoot
was already 27 at the time of his solo debut, which might have accounted in part for the unusually fully developed maturity and confidence on this recording, in both his songwriting and vocals. This contains some of his best compositions, including
"Early Mornin' Rain,"
"I'm Not Sayin'," "The Way I Feel," "Lovin' Me," and "Ribbon of Darkness." At this point
was still including some covers in his repertoire, and he handles numbers by
Phil Ochs
("Changes"),
Ewan MacColl
("The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"), and
Hamilton Camp
("Pride of Man") well. For his next LP,
The Way I Feel
-- the second half of this two-fer -- he went for a fuller band sound, using a couple of the noted Nashville session men (
Charlie McCoy
and
Ken Buttrey
) who had played on
Bob Dylan's
Blonde on Blonde
. The result was a brighter and more accessible sound, with the country elements more to the fore. The songs weren't quite as impressive as his first batch, but they were still very good, highlighted by the epic "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" and an electrified remake of "The Way I Feel." ~ Richie Unterberger