Lightfoot's well-crafted songs match appealing, folkish melodies to simple, sometimes appallingly simple, lyrics. These he sings with such authority that every word takes on a certain dignity….

Slowly, however, the substance has been leaking out of his songs, to be replaced by puffery and posturing. On Endless Wire, few of the lyrics deserve the richly textured support provided by Lenny Waronker's production (in association with Lightfoot)….

Two songs seem to describe women, but abdicate that responsibility. "Daylight Katy" might as well be a cat, a lush backup makes it into likeable fluff. "Sweet Guinevere" tells a West Virginia miner's daughter … [not to go to coal town], but never explains why—the ambiguity is pointless….

Lightfoot is at his best on a one-to-one level, at his worst when he tries to be mythic. There's a thin line between the simple and the banal; Lightfoot shouldn't have to keep crossing...