Customer Reviews

Gord's Gold

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Although Gordon did re-record 9 of the songs from his UA years, the fact that it includes most of his biggest hits and many great album tracks from 1970-1975 is what makes this worth buying. Although as every fan knows, "Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald" isn't on here because he had recorded it later in 1975 and it appears on "Summertime Dream" and on the "Songbook" boxed set in its original version and on "Gord's Gold Vol. 2" in a re-recorded form. The other 3 of his top 10 hits, "If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown," and "Rainy Day People" are included. This is a must have to introduce yourself to the timeless music of the legendary Gordon Lightfoot. To make up for the re-recordings of the UA material that are on this set, I'd recommend you to buy "United Artists Collection," yet one of the medleys on this CD, "I'm Not Sayin'/Ribbon of Darkness" was first released on "Sunday Concert" (which can also be found on CD either at your local music store or right here at Amazon.com) while the "United Artists Collection" contains the entire songs for both songs in the medley and is cheaper than buying the imports of the same albums this 2 CD set contains although the domestic CD of "Sunday Concert" is now harder to find than the import CD's of it.

This outstanding album is a compilation of Lightfoot's very best songs up to the time of its original release as an LP (1975). The CD contains 11 songs originally recorded at United Artists (two as medleys) and 12 songs from his first five albums at Warner Brothers/Reprise. Three of his four biggest commercial hits are on this album (If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown, and Carefree Highway) making this an excellent first Lightfoot album to buy. (The fourth big hit, Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, was written and recorded later in 1975. You can find it on Summertime Dream, or, in a rerecorded version, on Gord's Gold Volume II).

The rerecorded songs from his UA period ('66 - '69) are all truly exceptional songs. A true Lightfoot fan would want to have both the original UA recording (in a much simpler style) and this one, but there is no arguing with the fact that the Gord's Gold versions of these songs are exquisite. In particular, the recording of Canadian Railroad Trilogy, perhaps his finest song, sends chills down my spine and the recordings of Early Mornin' Rain and the medleys For Lovin' Me / Did She Mention My Name and I'm Not Sayin' / Ribbon Of Darkness demonstrate his songwriting and singing at their very finest.

In addition to the three top-10 hits from his Warner Brothers years, Lightfoot has included several other masterpieces of that era. My favorites of these are Minstrel Of The Dawn, Beautiful and Don Quixote.

This album is a 'must have'.

Before you ask "what is a 15 year old doing reviewing a folk album from this age?" let me tell you. My father is a huge fan of Gordon Lightfoot and always subjected my family to his work on long car trips. Despite the fact that I originally hated the music, the more car trups I went on, the more I grew to love this music and the man who sings it so very well.

"Gord's Gold" is a great introduction to Lightfoot's musical canon. While officially a folk singer, the songs here cannot simply be described as folk songs - to do so would be to insult them. They are mostly ballads of the highest order with influences of traditional folk thrown in.

Perhaps the most striking feature of this album is the almost total absence of a drummer. That seems to be one of Lightfoot's trademarks and it has one very interesting effect. As there is no drummer to carry the music forward, all the other instruments must be played sufficiently well not to sound unfocused - the emphasis is also placed squarely on the singer, and what a singer he is.

Lightfoot's voice gives the impression of being a man of the world - in and out of love, wondering about things and so on. The way he can infuse the most mundane lyrics (not that many of them are mundane) with emotion has to be seen/heard to be believed.

This compilation was originally released after Lightfoot had switched labels and thus had re-recorded versions of his big hits - released originally only in Canada I think. Therefore the songs do sound a bit different to their corresponding titles on the early albums (which are, I think, only available on vinyl) or on the "United Artists Collection" compilation. However, this does not in any way detract from the raw emotion of these songs.

Every track here is great. Among my favourites are "Don Quixote" (a wonderful lyric with a guitar sequence that actually sounds like horse's hooves), "Bitter Green" (with a haunting chorus sung by the backing musicians) and "Carefree Highway" (a wonderfully written song about the breakup of a relationship). That's not to say that these songs outclass the others by any stretch of the imagination - the others are all of comparable class but in other ways.

The other great feature of this album is the fact that Lightfoot's lyrics are so easy to sing along with. Even the worst day at work or school will fade into memory as you find yourself singing the choruses in time with Lightfoot.

I can seriously recommend this album. As can be seen by a 15 year old reviewing it, the album is truly timeless (it was, after all, released before I was born). The sentiments expressed were true then, are true now and will be true many years into the future. You need this album.

I have always been a fan of Canadian Gordon Lightfoot's music. From the first time eI heard Peter, Paul and Mary's wonderful covers of Lightfoot songs like "Early Morning Rain" and "For Loving Me", I knew anyone who could write songs like that was a huge talent. So when I got turned onto his own voice and music I was astonished by just how good he was (and still is). This is a perfect album because, like several of his other releases, each of the dozen songs included is something you smile at as it first comes on because it is a special favorite. So the song cycle here is unforgettable, because it has so many terrific Lightfoot songs back to back. The first song is "I'm Not Saying/Ribbon Of Darkness", and he shows why he is so famous and so popular. And likewise he threads his way through twenty something beautiful and memorable songs, from the early works like", For Loving Me" and "Early Morning Rain" to later works like "Sundown", "Rainy Day People", and "If You Could Read My Mind'.

And so on with each of the songs here. My personal favorites are "Don Quixote", "Minstrel Of The Dawn", and "Beautiful", but I really love them all. If one listens o all of the similarly terrific albums Lightfoot put out over a seven or eight-year period one comes up with literally dozens and dozens of wonderful and memorable songs that could fill several double albums. So culling out the twenty or so included was difficult. He has a much larger collected works set of CDs that I also highly recommend, but this CD is simply terrific, and will do for a start This guy was far more prolific than anyone else producing work in the sixties and seventies. Buy this album, and after listening to it for a week or so you will be back for "Sundown", "Summertime Dream", "Cold On The Shoulder" and "If You Could Read My Mind". They are all great. Enjoy this one of a kind artist and his amazingly consistent flood of terrific and appealing mainstream folk albums.

No other Canadian singer/songwriter has effectively portrayed the images or feeling of being Canadian than Gordon Lightfoot. This essential collection is a good indication of the power and influence this man has had on contemporary music, both in Canada and around the world. Every song is carefully written and produced to maximize the colour, feeling and emotion in the lyrics. The ONLY unfortunate part of this collection is the decision by Gord to re-record the first 9 tracks, all earlier songs in his catalogue with United Artists. The original tracks as they were recorded should have been left as they were. However, due to a situation where United Artists had released a Greatest Hits of their own after Gord left them for Warner/Reprise and not satisfied with his performance on those early tracks, the decision was made to re-record them - a disappointment but one we'll live with. Tracks 10-21 are the original Gord and are superb. "Sundown" is really nice to listen to after all these years; "Beautiful" is just that; "Circle Of Steel" is a short wonderfully written song; there's a sadness to "Summer Side Of Life", especially in the chorus; and "Cold On The Shoulder" is an acoustic masterpiece. The original version of "If You Could Read My Mind" is included and still sounds great. For Gord's '60s recordings get the United Artist box set to accompany this collection from the first half of the '70s. Gord unfortunately decided to re-record again for his "Gord's Gold II". To get the original versions of his later '70s, '80s stuff, check out the recently released box set for that era. Released just prior to his massive "Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" hit, this CD is mandatory listening for any music fan wanting high-quality, introspective, thoughtful music from a music legend.

I wish I could give this 100 stars. Really. When I was young, our family would drive north for some twenty hours to a remote cabin in the Kippewa wilderness. We'd listen to this on 8 track in the family station wagon.

Where we stayed electricity was generated and shut off at nine p.m. We'd play this album (along with Eagles, Jimmy Buffett's early stuff and some albums that have remained tops on my list) by battery power on (what was cool at the time) the portable 8 track player under the warm glow of candlelight.

Some of my fondest memories of youth are inextricably tied to this very album. It never ceases to remind me of the Canadian wilderness, kicking back on the rocks by the side of the never ending body of water, listening to the glorious sounds of the natural world.

Nothing fancy, no theatrics, just good ol' storytelling with acoustic accompaniment. Lots of acoustic guitar and lyrics that place you in the story. It's a great place to start (and a great place to stay if you ask me!).

I discovered Lightfoot by accident around 1969 or 70 while record shopping. I found the album, "If You Could Read My Mind" (which was the only song of his I knew). I already liked that song (it remains one of my favorite of all time), but I really loved the album cover as well as the list of titles, so I took a shot. It turned out to be a, just about, perfect album. Every song warrants listening, again and again. At that point, I began my collection of all his past albums and continued with his subsequent ones. A few years afterward, I became a performer and used several of his songs in my repertoire. I was also highly influenced by him in my songwriting. His lyrics consistently rose high above the norm for the, then, contemporary "hit" pop songs. If you're only familiar with one or two of his songs, buy this as an introduction to the rest of those that are among his best. You will not be sorry.

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, esstentials, 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 fans of the man. As other reviewers have noted, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is not present 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 from the CD so that Reprise Records could issue this collection on a single disc. Mr. Lightfoot originally had the song on one of his United Artist albums from the late 1960s. But he re-recorded it for "Gord's Gold," and 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 hadn't been on CD before. 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.

This is a great CD for people who wants to familiarize themselves with Lightfoot's early (60's - mid-70's) work. That being said, I wish he would have left tracks 1-9 in their original form. In my opinion those songs weren't written for a lot of added strings and other instruments, and the arrangements by Lee (quick - more violins!) Holdridge didn't do Mr. Lightfoot any favors. In addition, I don't know if the summer of '75 was a bad time healthwise for Gordon, but his voice sounded much weaker in the re-recorded tracks. ...

Okay, enough complaining. This CD also contains many great recordings, including "If You Could Read My Mind", "Beautiful", "Don Quixote", "Carefree Highway", etc. There isn't much that can beat the combination of Gordon's rich voice, his lyrics and the great instrumental work.

This cd's like a sunbeam that shines right into your heart. Gordon Lightfoot is one of those artists that really deserve the description "singer-songwriter". He penned each of the songs on the record, and boy, he really makes each a little gem in folk-rock history. You will find well-known classics like "Carefree highway" or "Sundown" side by side with secret jewels like "Don Quijote", "Bitter green" or "Steel rail blues" - songs whose beauty needs time to be discovered. I myself like to listen to Lightfoot's songs when it's damn cold and rainy outside. So take the best place on your sofa, make yourself some tea, light the hearth, put "Gord's Gold" into the cd player - and let yourself be taken away by Gord's uniquely warm and tender songs.