Gord's Gold

Last updated
Gord's Gold
Gordon lightfoot.jpg
Greatest hits album by
ReleasedNovember 1975
RecordedSeptember 1969-July 1975, various studios
Genre Folk, Folk rock, Country folk
Length73:43
Label Reprise
Producer Lenny Waronker & Joe Wissert
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Gord's Gold is a compilation album released by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot in 1975. Originally a vinyl double album, it was reissued on CD in 1987 (with one track, "Affair on 8th Avenue", omitted to allow the collection to fit onto a single disc). However, the track is included for digital downloads.

Contents

The first Lightfoot compilation to feature music from his 1970s Reprise Records albums, Gord's Gold also includes re-recorded versions of several songs from his 1960s United Artists output (Sides 1 and 2). This served to update the earlier songs to the same style as his later work and gives the album a level of consistency often lacking in similar compilations. Lightfoot's reasons for re-recording the United Artists tracks were explained in the liner notes as being because "he doesn't like listening to his early work".

Despite covering only the first decade of his career (and lacking one of his biggest hit singles, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", which was recorded the following year), Gord's Gold has remained the most commercially popular Lightfoot compilation. Of note, the 45 remix of “If You Could Read My Mind” appears here. In 1988 Lightfoot released a second volume, Gord's Gold, Vol. 2 , which also featured re-recordings of earlier hits.

Track listing

All tracks written by Gordon Lightfoot; all tracks produced by Lenny Waronker, except where noted.

Side 1
No.TitleOriginal album of original versionLength
1."I'm Not Sayin'/Ribbon of Darkness" (re-recording) Lightfoot! , 1966 (Both songs)3:06
2."Song for a Winter's Night" (re-recording) The Way I Feel , 19673:02
3."Canadian Railroad Trilogy" (re-recording)The Way I Feel7:05
4."Softly" (re-recording)The Way I Feel2:39
5."For Lovin' Me/Did She Mention My Name" (re-recording)Lightfoot! / Did She Mention My Name? , 19683:29
Side 2
No.TitleOriginal album of original versionLength
1."Affair on 8th Avenue" (re-recording) Back Here on Earth , 19683:45
2."Steel Rail Blues" (re-recording)Lightfoot!2:49
3."Wherefore and Why" (re-recording)Did She Mention My Name?2:48
4."Bitter Green" (re-recording)Back Here on Earth2:46
5."Early Morning Rain" (re-recording)Lightfoot!3:18
Side 3
No.TitleOriginal albumLength
1."Minstrel of the Dawn" (Waronker and Joe Wissert) Sit Down Young Stranger , 19703:27
2."Sundown" Sundown , 19743:36
3."Beautiful" Don Quixote , 19723:32
4."Summer Side of Life" (Wissert) Summer Side of Life , 19714:05
5."Rainy Day People" Cold on the Shoulder , 19752:49
6."Cotton Jenny" (Wissert)Summer Side of Life3:26
Side 4
No.TitleOriginal albumLength
1."Don Quixote"Don Quixote3:40
2."Circle of Steel"Sundown2:48
3."Old Dan's Records" Old Dan's Records , 19723:05
4."If You Could Read My Mind" (Waronker and Wissert)Sit Down Young Stranger3:49
5."Cold on the Shoulder"Cold on the Shoulder3:01
6."Carefree Highway"Sundown3:41

Notes

Personnel

Notes

Related Research Articles

Gordon Lightfoot Canadian singer-songwriter

Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He is often referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter and is known internationally as a folk-rock legend.

The Wreck of the <i>Edmund Fitzgerald</i> 1976 song by Gordon Lightfoot

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a 1976 hit song written, composed and performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot to commemorate the sinking of the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. Lightfoot drew his inspiration from Newsweek's article on the event, "The Cruelest Month", which it published in its November 24, 1975, issue. Lightfoot considers this song to be his finest work.

Andrew Gold American singer, musician and songwriter

Andrew Maurice Gold was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who influenced much of the Los Angeles-dominated pop/soft rock sound in the 1970s. Gold played on scores of records by other artists, most notably Linda Ronstadt's, and had his own success with the U.S. top 40 hits "Lonely Boy" (1977) and "Thank You for Being a Friend" (1978), as well as the UK top five hit "Never Let Her Slip Away" (1978). In the 1980s, he had further international chart success as one half of Wax, a collaboration with 10cc's Graham Gouldman.

Pearls Before Swine was an American psychedelic folk band formed by Tom Rapp in 1965 in Eau Gallie, now part of Melbourne, Florida. They released six albums between 1967 and 1971, before Rapp launched a solo career.

<i>Back Here on Earth</i> 1968 studio album by Gordon Lightfoot

Back Here On Earth is Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot's fourth studio album, released in 1968 on the United Artists label.

"Canadian Railroad Trilogy" is a story song that was written, composed, and first performed in 1966 by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, who released his original recording of it in 1967. The song was commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to celebrate the Canadian Centennial in 1967. "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" describes the building of the trans-Canada Canadian Pacific Railway, the construction work on which was completed in 1886. The CPR was incorporated in 1881.

<i>Sunday Concert</i> 1969 live album by Gordon Lightfoot

Sunday Concert is Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot's fifth album, released in 1969 on the United Artists label. Lightfoot's last recording for United Artists, it was also his first live album and until the release of a live DVD in 2002 remained Lightfoot's only officially released live recording. The album was recorded at Massey Hall in Toronto.

<i>Gold</i> (Cat Stevens album) 2005 compilation album by Cat Stevens

Gold is a two-CD compilation of classic singles and album tracks by British singer-songwriter, Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam. It is part of Universal Music's series of double-disc anthologies derived from their extensive back catalog. The track list starts with Stevens' early British hit "Matthew & Son" and ends with a new recording by Islam, "Indian Ocean", recorded and first released as a digital download on the iTunes Music Store to benefit 2004 Asian tsunami relief efforts.

Martin Gordon English musician

Martin Gordon is an English musician who plays bass guitar, double bass, and piano. After a long period as band member and session musician, he embarked on a solo career in 2004. His most recent album release was in 2021.

<i>Gords Gold, Vol. 2</i> 1988 greatest hits album by Gordon Lightfoot

Gord's Gold, Vol. 2 is a compilation album released by Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot in 1988.

Change the World 1996 song by Wynonna Judd

"Change the World" is a song written by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy, and Wayne Kirkpatrick, the best-known version of which was recorded by English singer Eric Clapton for the soundtrack of the 1996 film Phenomenon. The track was produced by R&B record producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and was first recorded and released by Country singer Wynonna Judd on her album Revelations.

<i>Longing</i> (Dusty Springfield album) Studio album by Dusty Springfield

Longing was to have been Dusty Springfield's second LP for the ABC Dunhill Records label, and ninth studio album overall, recorded in 1974 and planned for release the same year. Most of the Longing recordings were mixed and released much later on the compilations Simply Dusty (2000) and Beautiful Soul: The ABC Dunhill Collection (2001).

Neocolours was a Filipino rock band formed in 1987, out of the remnants of a mid-1980s vocal group, in Manila, Philippines. Founding members were: Jimmy Antiporda (keyboards), Ito Rapadas (vocalist), Marvin Querido, Josel Jimenez (guitar), Paku Herrera (bass) and Nino Regalado (drums). At that time the pop music genre in the Philippines was dominated by solo singers. Neocolours filled in the pop music void with the release of their first album, Making It in 1988. The said album reached platinum sales, and helped usher in a new era in the Philippine recording industry that is now known as the early 1990s band explosion.

<i>Back in Your Arms</i> 1998 studio album by Amanda Lear

Back in Your Arms is an album by French singer Amanda Lear, released in 1998 by Dig It Int'l, consisting mostly of re-recordings of her greatest hits from the 1970s. Originally released on the Italian market, the album was subsequently re-launched in Germany by BMG-Ariola as Amanda '98 – Follow Me Back in My Arms with a revised track listing.

"Song for a Winter's Night" is a song written by Gordon Lightfoot, and first recorded for his album The Way I Feel (1967). Lightfoot recorded another version of the song for Gord's Gold (1975), a greatest hits compilation on which other re-recordings also appeared.

"Early Morning Rain," sometimes styled as "Early Mornin' Rain," is a song written, composed, and recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. The song appears on his 1966 debut album Lightfoot! and, in a re-recorded version, on the 1975 compilation Gord's Gold.

Gordon Lightfoot discography Cataloging of published recordings by Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He is often referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter and is known internationally as a folk-rock legend.

"Ribbon of Darkness" is a song written by Gordon Lightfoot that was released in 1965 as a single by Marty Robbins. The song was Robbins' eleventh number one on the U.S. country singles chart, where it spent one week at the top and a total of nineteen weeks on the chart.

<i>PrizeFighter: Hit After Hit</i> 2014 studio album (re-recording) by Trisha Yearwood

PrizeFighter: Hit After Hit is a re-recorded studio album by American country artist Trisha Yearwood. It was released on November 17, 2014 via Gwendolyn Records and RCA Records Nashville. The album marked Yearwood's first release of new material since 2007's Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love.PrizeFighter contained six new songs as well as ten re-recorded versions of her hits. Two singles were released to radio, including the title track, which became a charting single on the Billboard country chart. The album received mixed reviews from critics upon its release.