It seems so easy when Gordon Lightfoot does it—writes songs that just flow out in his warm, mellow tones. Yet, it's the rare talent who can approach Lightfoot's class and a rarer one who achieves the taste that marks every one of Lightfoot's recordings. You know that Lightfoot's effortless style comes from hard work: here is a mind that can sort out the feelings all of us share and convey them in music that is perfectly expressive of their meaning.

[On "Old Dan's Records"] Lightfoot isn't singing and writing about the loves of boys and girls but of men and women. "Can't Depend on Love" is the wry realization of an adult human being. "Farewell to Annabel" is about another love that didn't last, but again it's presented from a mature point of view, asking the former lover to remain friends.

Of course, Lightfoot isn't just a...