Customer Reviews

Gord's Gold: Greatest Hits (Rpkg)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When the single CD for the double album first came out, they eliminated the remake of "Affair on 8th Avenue" even though CDs at that time handled up to 70 minutes and it would have easily fit. This song, as were the other 'older' songs that comprised the 1st album of the set, was remade/reproduced by Gordon Lightfoot just for this compilation. So the continued unnecessary exclusion of this precious version of this song is a waste of all the original effort that went into making it and a loss for all GL fans.
If and when they decide to re-release this CD including "Affair on 8th Avenue" (one of my favorite songs from the set), is when I will buy this CD...if just for this version of that song.

I have several versions of "Affair on 8th Avenue" on CD, but NONE of them can match the beauty of the one that was on the original record and cassette release of Gord's Gold. I was very disappointed that they STILL have not released that version on CD, and especially that they re-released this CD without it. This album would be a perfect 5 were it not for that glaring ommission.

I wrote this review a few years ago, but I am happy to report now (10/10) that Affair on 8th Avenue is BACK on the digital album! You can download it individually or as part of the complete album. Gord's Gold is PERFECT again! :o) Thank you!

Let me say that one of my pet peeves in life is the sheer number of ways our friends at the record companies have found to release slightly different versions of an artist's greatest hits. Besides greatest hits, there are best ofs, anthologies, essentials, all-time greatest hits, very best ofs, completes, golds, definitives, classics, favorites, proper introductions to, etc. I'm sure anyone who reads this can think of other terms. Having said that, this CD reissue of what was originally a two-LP set of "Gord's Gold" is an excellent starting point for someone who wants to listen to a truly great artist. It should be noted that this CD does not contain "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" because it was recorded after this set was released. So if you must have that song or anything else Mr. Lightfoot recorded after about 1974, look elsewhere. The reason this set does not get five stars from me is the glaring omission of "Affair on Eighth Avenue," a great song that was on the original records. Because of space limitations, it was omitted when the set was first issued on CD so that Reprise Records could put it on a single disc. Mr. Lightfoot originally recorded the song for one of his United Artist albums from the late 1960s. But after switching labels to Reprise, he re-recorded it for "Gord's Gold." To the best of my knowledge, the newer version has never appeared on any other CD. I was hoping it would be on the excellent 4-CD box set covering Mr. Lightfoot's entire career that was released by Rhino Records a few years ago. But it wasn't. Nor was it a bonus track when Rhino put out Mr. Lightfoot's four studio albums _ "Old Dan's Records," "Dream Street Rose," "Shadows" and "Salute" _ that finally made it to CD only a few years ago. It could have been. What a shame it wasn't. So this is a plea to Rhino/Reprise/Warner Brothers: Please, if you ever get around to digitally remastering "Gord's Gold," restore "Affair on Eighth Avenue" to it. I believe the technology has improved to the point that a single CD can hold up to 80 minutes now, which would easily accomodate the extra track. But even without "Affair on Eighth Avenue," this is an excellent CD.

I agree with the two previous reviewers, where is "Affair on Eighth Avenue"? There is no excuse for Rhino (now part of WEA) leaving this out. I e-mailed them but received a standard reply. I will e-mail or write periodically, hoping they do the right thing.

Along with the other reviewers, I have to say that this CD is the BEST that Mr. Lightfoot has ever made. And as with the other reviews, I cannot understand why Rhino, or whoever in the hell is in charge of making these CD's was such a bone head as to leave out "Affair On 8th Avenue". Damn your eyes, man. Have you no heart? This is one of Mr. Lightfoots best pieces of work. But, on the other hand, why hasn't Mr. Lightfoot made an effort to have "Affair" put on his wonderful CD? I'd like to think that the songwriter/singer must have some say in how his music is presented. I've been a Lightfoot fan since Moses parted the Red Sea. I've had every album, then 8-track, then cassette, and am now working on the CD's. I think that I've almost sigle handedly supported Mr. Lightfoots career. So PLEASE, if anyone, Mr. Lightfoot, some big wig music exec, the fans, whoever, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, re-release "Gord's Gold" with "Affair On 8th Avenue". Gordon my dear man, you have heard from your fans. Help us out here, o.k. Big Guy?

I like this CD. I bought it specifically for the songs "Sundown" and "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" and discovered a bunch of other songs from Gordon Lightfoot that I had not heard and made this CD all the more enjoyable. The sound quality is good and as is the order of songs. I recommend this CD to anyone who likes good song writing that tell the stories of different types of human experiences. Gordon lightfoot is of music's great troubadours who has been overlooked, and maybe even underrated, for most of his career.

The other day, I told my disbelieving, hip-hopped-up teenaged son about how Gordon Lightfoot's sweet and beautiful melodies were actually staples of the radio airwaves in the 1970s. Hard to believe, in this age of good-yet-throbbing rap, hiphop and their offshoots that melodies and acoustic guitar music could sell. Having thrown out my scratched LP a long time ago, I have gone a long time without hearing this music. Lightfoot, as we know, re-recorded many of his classics for this wonderful album. His paeans to railroads and industry may seem jarring in this green age, but they represent a truth about our culture: we are an industrialized people that transformed a wilderness (so-called or no) into something more to our liking. I'll think about that the next time I pick up a bottle of carbonated water shipped by container truck from France.

Lightfoot's work here is impeccable, moving and gorgeous. It is pure romance (whether about trains or women) that challenges our eaar in this markely unromantic and even unchivalrous age. As other reviewers have noted though, it suffers a major lack -- the decision of the producers to leave "Affair on 8th Avenue" off this collection. You can get a copy of this tune from other sources, but Lightfoot's slight reworking of the tune for Gord's Gold is an improvement on the orriginal. Worse than the omission is the reason given in the liner notes, which (adding insult to injury) suggested that the song was left off to incraesd our enjoyment.Gimme a break! Spend a quarter boys, and make this a double CD if you must. But leave 8th Avenue alone!

This odious lapse aside, it is a pleasure to get reacquainted with one of the premier songwriters and singers of our era, even if the radio won't play his stuff anymore.

Not content to simply re-issue long standing classic hits from earlier albums, Gordon Lightfoot chose to re-record some of these beauties and couple some with others. At this time of his career his voice was at its zenith, as was his playing and song coverages. The result is perhaps his most definitive sample of excellence, showcasing his under appreciated writing and performing skills. A "must have" for those who adore this treasure from our nothernly neighbor and find it more comforting to celebrate what was then, rather than listen to what is sadly deficient now.

Other reviewers' complaints about why this Rhino re-issue of the 1975 double LP "Gord's Gold" (total running time 72:03) doesn't contain the song "Affair On 8th Avenue" (total running time 3:25) are right on. Why the Rhino folks, who have done an excellent job in re-issuing long out of print records with interesting, neat and sometimes great bonus tracks, chose not to include "Affair On 8th Avenue" on a single disc that will easily accommodate 79 minutes of music so as to duplicate the original sequence of songs on "Gord's Gold" (including Affair On 8th Avenue"), is truly baffling. Basically, the only way to get that song now is to buy the 2 disc set, "Gordon Lightfoot: The United Artists Collection". Trust me and the other reviewers, "Affair On 8th Avenue" is one of Lightfoot's best songs. That being said, "Gord's Gold" is still an excellent record that documents the early to middle period songs of legendary Canadian folk singer, Gordon Lightfoot.

The richness and depth of emotion in the lyrics of his love songs "Song For A winter's Night", "Beautiful", "Softly", rightly place Lightfoot as one of the greatest singer songwriters of the 1960's and 1970's. I emphasize singer as Lightfoot's voice, with his distinctive Canadian accent, is a musical instrument in and of itself! Instantly recognizable, it's an urbane yet earthy voice that continues to be a pleasure to hear either on radio or on disc or live. This collection of 21 songs is a nice place to begin if you're starting your Lightfoot collection or if you just need a best of. Don't be surprised though if after a few listens to this one, that you'll be tempted to check out the full length albums that these melodious and infectiously hook laden songs were culled from. When Canada was forging its' own unique national identity in the 1960's, Lightfoot often gave voice to Canada's rich heritage of building railroads "Canadian Railroad Trilogy", fishing out east "Bitter Green", and the freedom of the open western road, "Carefree Highway". Lightfoot is also a terrific guitar player and when he arrived at Warner Bros. in 1970, he assembled a top notch cast of session players to add a warm full sound to his occasionally melancholy and hard bitten lyrics. Never pretentious, Lightfoot often sang of his own failed adventures in love with whimsy and genuinely self-deprecating humor ("Early Morning Rain", "Sundown"). So minus one great song, this slightly flawed disc is still a great collection of Gordon Lightfoot's finest songs. Really beauty, eh!

Gord's Gold has two of my favorites "Sundown and If You Could Read My Mind." The album has 21 tracks on one disc. Being relatively young when Gordon Lightfoot emerged, songs such as Carefree Highway, I'm Not Saying, or Minstrel of the Dawn are beginning to grow lightly upon me.