Format Details: Jewel Case
Release Date: 28 May 2021
Label: Ace Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 029667102025
Description
A kaleidoscopic trip into the craft of one of the most covered and influential songwriters of the 60s. Features eclectic readings of hits and deep cuts, including some never recorded by Donovan himself. It can't have been easy being Donovan. The Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist lurched from popularity to neglect and back again following the first five years of his career - the golden period we celebrate on "Hurdy Gurdy Songs"�. The body of work he wrote and recorded during this time has become one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful of any artist of the era, and continues to attract new listeners and demand constant reappraisal; proof beyond doubt that Donovan - the self-styled Sunshine Superman and psychedelic minstrel whose records coloured the late 60s pop landscape like few others - was one of a kind. Painted by the pop press as a bandwagon-jumper and knock-off Dylan clone during his mid-60s breakthrough, Donovan could easily have submitted and contented himself with that opening brace of transatlantic hit singles, 'Catch The Wind' and 'Colours'. Instead he began a startling reinvention that saw the Woody Guthrie and Ramblin' Jack Elliott stylings he'd shared with Dylan jettisoned in favour of a poetic, experimental ideology inspired by his embrace of Zen Buddhism, esoteric writing and the burgeoning drug culture. "What I had given up was looking for the answer in social change,"� Donovan told New Renaissance magazine in 1998. "The change was to be a spiritual change."� What followed was a flood of songs that mirrored the thinking of the times while tugging at the boundaries of pop music. In December 1965, while his third UK single 'Turquoise' was struggling to crack the Top 30, he recorded 'Sunshine Superman' at EMI's Abbey Road studios under the tutelage of producer Mickie Most and arranger John Cameron, utilising a band of crack UK session players. The template had been set and, give or take the odd change of musician and studio location, would prove to be a winning formula that birthed five studio albums and 10 hit singles over the next four years. Donovan's esoteric new agenda increased both his appeal and success instantly. 'Sunshine Superman' hit #1 stateside, and while a legal stand-off between his old and new record producers resulted in a potentially disastrous delay in his records appearing in the UK, his place at the vanguard of progressive pop was assured. His songs began attracting cover versions from practically every corner of the music world. High-profile folk artists such as Julie Felix and Judy Collins, rock bands such as Vanilla Fudge and Deep Purple, pop acts Herman's Hermits and Marianne Faithfull and endless easy listening aggregations and faceless exploitation projects plundered Donovan's catalogue with glee. His songs became almost as popular as those of the Beatles, whose wide-eyed experimentalism he admired and absorbed. Let's not forget that Donovan contributed to the lyrics
Tracklisting
The Champs
Richard Thompson
Little Richard
Various Artists
The Two Things In One
The Damned
Link Wray
Isaac Hayes
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
