Big Dog 92-7 Music Guide

The Complete Greatest Hits

RELEASE
April 02, 2002
LABEL
Rhino/Warner Bros.
GENRES
Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Country-Folk, Soft Rock, Psychedelic, Folk-Rock

Album Review

Rhino's 2002 collection The Complete Greatest Hits is certainly welcome for presenting what is essentially all of his most popular songs on one 20-track disc, but, the thing is, that's actually a trickier task with Gordon Lightfoot than you might think. On both volumes of Gord's Gold, he re-recorded early songs and mixed them with current hits -- which meant that a new "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" sat next to the hits like "Sundown," but on Gord's Gold, Vol. 2, newer songs (which weren't quite hits) were next to re-recorded versions of staples like "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." This, needless to say, was a bit of an irritant, but this is well-executed enough to make up for the years of awkward compilations by covering everything from his UA recordings to his latter-day recordings for Warner in the mid-'80s. Some might say there should be a little bit more of the earlier songs, but, for most listeners, this will contain all the major items and is as close to definitive as possible to get.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. Early Morning Rain
  2. For Lovin' Me
  3. Go-Go Round
  4. Canadian Railroad Trilogy
  5. Pussywillows, Cat-Tails
  6. Bitter Green
  7. If You Could Read My Mind
  8. Summer Side of Life
  9. Cotton Jenny
  10. Beautiful
  11. Sundown
  12. Carefree Highway
  13. Rainy Day People
  14. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
  15. Race Among the Ruins
  16. Daylight Katy
  17. The Circle Is Small
  18. Baby Step Back
  19. Stay Loose
  20. Restless