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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).
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.
| No. | Title | Original album of original version | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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, 1967 | 3:02 |
| 3. | "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" (re-recording) | The Way I Feel | 7:05 |
| 4. | "Softly" (re-recording) | The Way I Feel | 2:39 |
| 5. | "For Lovin' Me/Did She Mention My Name" (re-recording) | Lightfoot! / Did She Mention My Name?, 1968 | 3:29 |
| No. | Title | Original album of original version | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Affair on 8th Avenue" (re-recording) | Back Here on Earth, 1968 | 3:45 |
| 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 Earth | 2:46 |
| 5. | "Early Morning Rain" (re-recording) | Lightfoot! | 3:18 |
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Minstrel of the Dawn" (Waronker and Joe Wissert) | Sit Down Young Stranger, 1970 | 3:27 |
| 2. | "Sundown" | Sundown, 1974 | 3:36 |
| 3. | "Beautiful" | Don Quixote, 1972 | 3:32 |
| 4. | "Summer Side of Life" (Wissert) | Summer Side of Life, 1971 | 4:05 |
| 5. | "Rainy Day People" | Cold on the Shoulder, 1975 | 2:49 |
| 6. | "Cotton Jenny" (Wissert) | Summer Side of Life | 3:26 |
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Don Quixote" | Don Quixote | 3:40 |
| 2. | "Circle of Steel" | Sundown | 2:48 |
| 3. | "Old Dan's Records" | Old Dan's Records, 1972 | 3:05 |
| 4. | "If You Could Read My Mind" (Waronker and Wissert) | Sit Down Young Stranger | 3:49 |
| 5. | "Cold on the Shoulder" | Cold on the Shoulder | 3:01 |
| 6. | "Carefree Highway" | Sundown | 3:41 |
Notes
- "Affair on 8th Avenue" is excluded in the CD release.
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