Puneet Varma (Editor)

Gord's Gold

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Released
  
November 1975

Artist
  
Gordon Lightfoot

Label
  
Reprise Records

Length
  
73:43

Release date
  
November 1975

Gord's Gold httpsimagesnasslimagesamazoncomimagesI6

Recorded
  
September 1969-July 1975, various studios

Producer
  
Lenny Waronker & Joe Wissert

Genres
  
Folk music, Folk rock, Country folk

Similar
  
Gordon Lightfoot albums, Folk music albums

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 Eighth Avenue", omitted to allow the collection to fit onto a single disc).

Contents

It was the first Lightfoot compilation to feature music from his 1970s Reprise Records albums, and also includes re-recordings of his 1960s United Artists hits (tracks 1-10). This served to update the earlier recordings 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. In 1988 Lightfoot released a second volume, Gord's Gold, Vol. 2, which also featured re-recordings of earlier hits.

Track listing

All compositions by Lightfoot.

(† Re-recording)

  1. "I'm Not Sayin'/Ribbon of Darkness"† – 3:06
  2. "Song for a Winter's Night"† – 3:02
  3. "Canadian Railroad Trilogy"† – 7:05
  4. "Softly"† – 2:39
  5. "For Lovin' Me/Did She Mention My Name"† – 3:29
  6. "Affair on Eighth Avenue"† - 3:45 (not included in the CD release)
  7. "Steel Rail Blues"† – 2:49
  8. "Wherefore and Why"† – 2:48
  9. "Bitter Green"† – 2:46
  10. "Early Morning Rain"† – 3:18
  11. "Minstrel of the Dawn" – 3:27
  12. "Sundown" – 3:36
  13. "Beautiful" – 3:32
  14. "Summer Side of Life" – 4:05
  15. "Rainy Day People" – 2:49
  16. "Cotton Jenny" – 3:26
  17. "Don Quixote" – 3:40
  18. "Circle of Steel" – 2:48
  19. "Old Dan's Records" – 3:05
  20. "If You Could Read My Mind" – 3:49
  21. "Cold on the Shoulder" – 3:01
  22. "Carefree Highway" – 3:41

Session personnel

  • Guitar: Gordon Lightfoot, Red Shea, Terry Clements
  • Bass: Rick Haynes, John Stockfish
  • Steel Guitar: Pee Wee Charles (a/k/a Ed Ringwald)
  • Drums: Jim Gordon, Barry Keane
  • String arrangements: Nick DeCaro and Lee Holdridge
  • All tracks produced by Lenny Waronker, except

    "Minstrel Of The Dawn" and "If You Could Read My Mind" Produced By Lenny Waronker & Joe Wissert

    "Summer Side Of Life" and "Cotton Jenny" Produced By Joe Wissert

    Songs

    1I'm Not Sayin' / Ribbon Of Darkness3:03
    2Song for a Winter's Night3:00
    3Canadian Railroad Trilogy7:02

    References

    Gord's Gold Wikipedia