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List Price: $11.98 | | Label: Rhino / Wea
Salesrank: 3146
Released: October 4, 2005 |
| Our Price: $5.74 |
| Used Price: $3.95 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Gord's Gold Track Listing:
1. I'm Not Sayin'/Ribbon of Darkness
2. Song For A Winter's Night
3. Canadian Railroad Trilogy
4. Softly
5. For Lovin' Me/Did She Mention My Name?
6. Steel Road Blues
7. Wherefore and Why
8. Bitter Green
9. Early Morning Rain
10. Minstrel of the Dawn
11. Sundown
12. Beautiful
13. Summer Side of Life
14. Rainy Day People
15. Cotton Jenny
16. Don Quixote
17. Circle of Steel
18. Old Dan's Records
19. If You Could Read My Mind
20. Cold on the Shoulder
21. Carefree Highway
Editorial Review:
A national treasure in his native Canada and a timeless star Stateside and worldwide, legendary singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot first rose to fame in the mid-'60s when his compositions became hits for Peter, Paul and Mary ("Early Morning Rain") and Marty Robbins ("Ribbon of Darkness"). Both songs are featured on Rhino's newly reissued CD version of the artist's hits compilation Gord's Gold-a Top 40 Album-originally released in 1975 as a 2-LP set currently out of print. This in-depth overview of troubadour Lightfoot's famed Warner Bros. years provides an insightful portrait of an exemplary talent.
Gord's Gold Reviews:
as good as new! 
2009-10-15 - This cd replaced a new one like it that I lost. There is no difference in the quality! I'll buy used again! Thanks Amazon!! TC
Gord's Gold 
2009-04-03 - 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?
Awesome (with that irritating exception)
2008-08-15 - 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.
Doing the right thing
2007-08-30 - 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.
Gord's Gold Minus One is Still a Treasure
2007-07-08 - 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!
