[2019-03-01] Gordon Lightfoot "The Complete Singles 1970-1980" 2CD set (Real Gone)

Linda · **Posted:** Fri Dec 21, 2018 6:27 pm

Description
Gordon Lightfoot is a genre unto himself. Neither pop nor folk nor country nor rock, his music is unvarnished, direct, a statement from one heart to another (as Lightfoot has stated, “I like to keep things simple. I don’t like to make them complicated”). And this uncompromising stance has not only made him a legend (particularly in his native Canada, where he is a full-fledged icon), but also, somewhat paradoxically, brought him huge commercial success (which, ironically, has in turn caused some to discount his prodigious songwriting talent). For Gordon Lightfoot never set out to be a “popular” singer-songwriter. When he signed with Warner Bros. and began working with producer Lenny Waronker, Lightfoot thought of himself as an album artist, and, indeed, the Lightfoot-Waronker songwriter-producer partnership (with a brief period with Joe Wissert as producer) yielded nine charting albums—and that’s not even counting the compilations—highlighted by a #1 slot for 1974’s Sundown. But, starting with 1970’s “If You Could Read My Mind,” Lightfoot also reeled off 13 Pop chart singles including 4 Top Tenners during the ‘70s, as well as a host of Adult Contemporary and Country chart appearances, which is again testimony to his ability to transcend musical styles. Now, Real Gone Music has for the first time ever compiled the A and B-sides of ALL the singles Lightfoot recorded with Waronker and Wissert for the Reprise and Warner Bros. labels, 34 sides in all featuring all the hits and hard-to-find B-sides. Lightfoot collectors will find much to feast on here; the single versions of “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and “Rainy Day People” make their CD debuts, as well as six other songs that appear in their mono single versions on CD for the first time (many of the early ‘70s singles were issued in both mono and stereo, sometimes one format for promo and another for commercial, “stock” 45s; we have used the “stock” version in all cases and gone with the one for which we had the best sources in those cases where commercial 45s were released in both stereo and mono). And, for the more casual Lightfoot fan, this 2-CD set provides an ideal, in-depth overview of the artist’s “classic” period, peppered with one memorable tune after another. Remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision, with additional mastering and tape vetting by Aaron Kannowski, and annotated by folk rock guru Richie Unterberger, The Complete Singles 1970-1980 represents a key addition to Gordon Lightfoot canon and is just a wonderful listen from start to finish.

Tracklist
[CD1]
1. Me and Bobby McGee
2. The Pony Man
3. If You Could Read My Mind
4. Poor Little Allison (45 Version)
5. Talking in Your Sleep
6. Nous Vivons Ensemble
7. Summer Side of Life
8. Love & Maple Syrup
9. Beautiful
10. Don Quixote
11. That Same Old Obsession
12. You Are What I Am
13. Can't Depend on Love
14. It's Worth Believin'
15. Sundown
16. Too Late for Prayin'
17. Carefree Highway
18. Seven Island Suite

[CD2]
1. Rainy Day People
2. Cherokee Bend
3. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
4. The House You Live In (45 Version)
5. Race Among the Ruins
6. Protocol
7. The Circle Is Small
8. Sweet Guinevere
9. Daylight Katy
10. Hangdog Hotel Room
11. Dreamland
12. Songs the Minstrel Sang
13. Dream Street Rose
14. Make Way for the Lady
15. If You Need Me
16. Mister Rock of Ages

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LD23PJ6/?tag=imwan-20

Jason Michael · 30 May 2012

This looks like a great set. I'm looking forward to it, though I get a little nervous when they say " we have used the “stock” version in all cases and gone with the one for which we had the best sources in those cases where commercial 45s were released in both stereo and mono" as "best sources" makes me concerned some of these might be sourced from vinyl. But I'll hope for the best.

Kym · 11 Nov 2006

Can't wait to see the cover for this.

Renny · 26 Jun 2006

remember, his first greatest hits album was all re-done, re-recorded versions, no originals.

i hope they don't use those.

Kym · 11 Nov 2006

Renny wrote:

remember, his first greatest hits album was all re-done, re-recorded versions, no originals.

i hope they don't use those.

Are you referring to Gord's Gold, from 1975? Per Wikipedia, "...only the early songs that didn't match Lightfoot's 1970s sound (and whose original masters were owned by Lightfoot's former label, United Artists) were re-recorded", which were the first ten tracks of 22 total on the compilation.

David Beller · 12 Jul 2006

I've got Complete Greatest Hits on Warner/Rhino from 2002, produced by Bill Inglot. Twenty tracks on one CD. I might be good here.

Renny · 26 Jun 2006

Kym wrote:

Renny wrote:

remember, his first greatest hits album was all re-done, re-recorded versions, no originals.

i hope they don't use those.

Are you referring to Gord's Gold, from 1975? Per Wikipedia, "...only the early songs that didn't match Lightfoot's 1970s sound (and whose original masters were owned by Lightfoot's former label, United Artists) were re-recorded", which were the first ten tracks of 22 total on the compilation.

yes, i always understood it as all of the tracks being re-recorded because the label owned the masters and would not give them to lightfoot.

of course, i could be wrong. i do not own 'gord's gold' anymore so i can't check.......any other sources besides wikipedia?

Jason Michael · 30 May 2012

I have the Gord's Gold CD and the first 9 tracks (which are the United Artists era tracks) are rerecordings. I am sure that was done due to licencing restrictions. I don't believe that it was done to make those songs reflect Lightfoot's then-current sound. If that was ever stated it was just spin.

Walter P · 20 Sep 2006

I got what he was doing with Gord's Gold and I was fine with that. I really loved Gord's Gold. What I didn't get was that he did it again with Gord's Gold Vol. 2. That seemed unnecessary to me.

eelkiller · **Joined:** 10 Dec 2006 **Posts:** 1681

Renny wrote:

Kym wrote:

Renny wrote:

remember, his first greatest hits album was all re-done, re-recorded versions, no originals.

i hope they don't use those.

Are you referring to Gord's Gold, from 1975? Per Wikipedia, "...only the early songs that didn't match Lightfoot's 1970s sound (and whose original masters were owned by Lightfoot's former label, United Artists) were re-recorded", which were the first ten tracks of 22 total on the compilation.

yes, i always understood it as all of the tracks being re-recorded because the label owned the masters and would not give them to lightfoot.

of course, i could be wrong. i do not own 'gord's gold' anymore so i can't check.......any other sources besides wikipedia?

I can guarantee that the only remakes on Gord's Gold are the UA songs. As mentioned above Gord's Gord Vol 2 on the other hand had remakes of songs which made no sense as there were no label conflicts. Avoid that collection like the plague.

eelkiller · **Joined:** 10 Dec 2006 **Posts:** 1681

David Beller wrote:

I've got Complete Greatest Hits on Warner/Rhino from 2002, produced by Bill Inglot. Twenty tracks on one CD. I might be good here.

I have that collection, the Songbook box, the UA 3 CD set plus all of the individual albums so I am all set.

He means as much to Canada as Dylan does to the US

Greg Carrier · 25 Nov 2006

The singles collection doesn't include any pre-1970 (United Artists) material, obviously. If it's singles, there shouldn't be any re-recordings.

And BTW, I have all the United Artists material, which is excellent, but I've always loved Gord's Gold. The re-recordings are very well done IMO, and the whole collection feels more cohesive that it would have with the UA versions. Yes, it would have been better to have the originals, but taken on its own merits, I think Gord's Gold is pretty great. If you disagree, I get that.

Momo · 22 Jun 2007

I can't remember where it was, but I read years ago that some master tapes had been destroyed in a fire, so some tracks had to be rerecorded. Anyone else remember hearing about this?

Walter P · 20 Sep 2006

eelkiller wrote:

Renny wrote:

Kym wrote:

Renny wrote:

remember, his first greatest hits album was all re-done, re-recorded versions, no originals.

i hope they don't use those.

Are you referring to Gord's Gold, from 1975? Per Wikipedia, "...only the early songs that didn't match Lightfoot's 1970s sound (and whose original masters were owned by Lightfoot's former label, United Artists) were re-recorded", which were the first ten tracks of 22 total on the compilation.

yes, i always understood it as all of the tracks being re-recorded because the label owned the masters and would not give them to lightfoot.

of course, i could be wrong. i do not own 'gord's gold' anymore so i can't check.......any other sources besides wikipedia?

I can guarantee that the only remakes on Gord's Gold are the UA songs. As mentioned above Gord's Gord Vol 2 on the other hand had remakes of songs which made no sense as there were no label conflicts. Avoid that collection like the plague.

The only reason I keep Gord's Gold Vol. 2 is for the one song, "If It Should Please You", which to my knowledge is only available here. I waited for a while to get this song as you could only see him performing it live until that point as I recall.

eelkiller · **Joined:** 10 Dec 2006 **Posts:** 1681

Walter P wrote:

The only reason I keep Gord's Gold Vol. 2 is for the one song, "If It Should Please You", which to my knowledge is only available here. I waited for a while to get this song as you could only see him performing it live until that point as I recall.

Good point Walter P, that track did not make Songbook for some reason, I have it on a CDR collection I made but did not keep the original CD.

JohnG · 03 Aug 2006

Sundown is one of my favorite songs ever by anybody. One of those songs that I could hear every single day, no problem.

eelkiller · **Joined:** 10 Dec 2006 **Posts:** 1681

I wish there was an official DVD of the BBC In Concert.

This is an incredible version of Summer Side of Life.

Linda · **Posted:** Tue Jan 08, 2019 6:56 am

Kym wrote:

Can't wait to see the cover for this.

It's in the first post now.

Kym · 11 Nov 2006

Linda wrote:

Kym wrote:

Can't wait to see the cover for this.

It's in the first post now.

Wow, a decent cover! There's still hope.

RackleNut · **Joined:** 07 Nov 2006 **Posts:** 1356

Kym wrote:

Renny wrote:

remember, his first greatest hits album was all re-done, re-recorded versions, no originals.

i hope they don't use those.

Are you referring to Gord's Gold, from 1975? Per Wikipedia, "...only the early songs that didn't match Lightfoot's 1970s sound (and whose original masters were owned by Lightfoot's former label, United Artists) were re-recorded", which were the first ten tracks of 22 total on the compilation.

I own both, but will readily admit that I prefer the re-recorded or "Gord's Gold" version of "Song For A Winter's Night."

Simon · **Joined:** 26 Oct 2006 **Posts:** 59406

I might well get this. I've always loved his music but don't own any of it, which is weird for me.

Linda · **Posted:** Sun Feb 03, 2019 10:36 pm

The pre-order price has dropped by nearly $4, down to $23.19:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LD23PJ6/?tag=imwan-20

[2019-03-01] Gordon Lightfoot "The Complete Singles 1970-1980" 2CD set (Real Gone)

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