Gordon Lightfoot Gord's Gold CD

2 LPs on 1 CD; 1 song omitted from original 2-LP release ("Affair on 8th Avenue").
Following the success of Sundown, Gordon Lightfoot continued his success by releasing a greatest-hits compilation. A double album (now a single CD), it contained the most popular songs from his Warner Bros. years on disc two, and he re-recorded many of his early songs for side one of record one. Although not as good, perhaps, as the originals, this did bring them up to date with his current sound style. Just about all the favorites are here (except "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," which hadn't been recorded yet when this set was put together and appears on Lightfoot's second volume of Gord's Gold), making this a good general overview of a strong talent. When Warner transferred the double LP to CD, "Affair on 8th Avenue" was dropped from the program to make the set fit on a single disc. Randy Newman arranged the orchestration on "Minstrel of the Dawn," by the way. ~ James Chrispell & Steve Leggett
This re-release of Gordon Lightfoot's first greatest hits album, originally published in the mid-1970s, contains a medley of his first hit songs, "I'm Not Saying" and "Ribbon of Darkness" (the latter made famous by Marty Robbins), as well as many other '60s and early-'70s classics like "Early Morning Rain," the brooding "Sundown," and "If You Could Read My Mind." Lightfoot's sure way with a lyrical narrative, coupled with his appealingly diffident baritone voice, combines pop charm with artistic integrity, and these tracks sound as fresh today as when they were first recorded.