Gordon Lightfoot originals vs. versions on "Gord's Gold"

Also, search Tony Rice Sings Gordon Lightfoot, which collects the nearly 20 covers he's done over the years into an impressive album.

The worst case of re-recording I know of is the Everly Brothers' horrible "Best Of" they put out on Warner Bros. in the mid-'60s. Half of the tracks are rerecordings of the Cadence classics, and they just don't sound right.

Oddly, "The Edmund Fitzgerald" is not included... it came out a year later.

Gord's Gold! I'm not a Gord expert, but this is sounding reallllllly good right now.

OK

I grew up with a cassette called “The Best Of Gordon Lightfoot”. Adulthood brought CD purchases and I got “Gord’s Gold” and was non-plussed; but over time, the strength of the material kinda overruled the oddly overwrought arrangements

“The Best Of…”— which began with Go-Go Round and had some lesser-known brilliance like Bitter Green— is currently completely lost on DSPs. I went back to the original recordings and they… weren’t the same?

But yeah it’s the aforementioned “United Artists Collection” that contains all the versions I grew up with and adore and idk I wish I could stop the world and play these versions for everyone. The original version of Canadian Railroad Trilogy in particular is just shocking. I started crying when Black Day In July came on, my god these recordings!

Gord’s Gold can take a flying fuck

Yeah the original version of Canadian Railroad Trilogy is incredible. The "Oh, the song of the future has been sung" part in particular always gives me goosebumps. I once played it on a jukebox and it was the Gord's Gold version which I hadn't heard before and I was like "no!!! what are you doing?? You can't take the tempo down!!"...it sounded horrible. But if you hear the original albums you can kinda get why he re-recorded them. The fidelity of those recordings are pretty lousy. I mean you know the way those non-Beatles 60's recordings can be. The United Artists Collection set sounds a lot better to my ears, they must've done something to balance the levels. Anyway I still prefer some of the later albums but man, those first four have some amazing moments on them. His voice was so pure back then.

I LOVE his voice on Gord’s Gold but really miss, in particular, the lead guitar parts on the UA collection

The fidelity IS really dumpy at times but that’s part of the charm

Lightfoot is really good at writing political songs imo

The terrible fidelity of the early recordings is what I was referring to in the opening post. These songs are nearly bulletproof so there's really no right or wrong answer, but "Gord's Gold" was the default choice for FM radio play when I was growing up and my preferences have been biased ever since. But I can definitely understand why a lot of people might prefer the early recordings. His voice was stronger and less weathered than it became even by the early 70's. Kind of like with Bob Dylan, he sounded "old" by 1970 when he was ... 28?

If you want to hear Gord sounding older than old, check out "Easy Flo" from Solo.

He's been doing remakes ever since rocking up "The Way I Feel" as the title track for his 2nd album, and they're almost all unfortunate or at least weaker than the originals.

The only improved remake is on the long-forgotten Gord's Gold Vol. II: "Endless Wire", originally the title track to his 1978 album. The snare and synth sounds on this are 100% Luxury Car Commercial, but I love it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II28gvZ3Vpw

"Shadows" is one of his best songs, and the original and the re-make are about equal - the latter is actually more intimate than the earlier version.

I'll also stand up for the UA albums; I think his best record may be his bold rejection of space-rock Back Here On Earth.

1988 100% Luxury Car Commercial