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did I underestimate Donovan?

Rockmeister

pfm Member
Its 1969...I'm sitting, in the rain, under a plastic sheet at the Bath and West music festival. We had Jonny Winter and Zepplin and Airplane and now, we have Donovan. And I'm a bit????? Donovan?

But sometimes now, when Spotify throws him into a playlist, i'm wondering if I should have listened harder?
 
Personally, no, I don’t think so. It’s really just twee folkie stuff with some nudge, nudge, wink, wink drug references thrown in, IMO. But you must read his autobiography, it’s brilliant! The Beatles came to him whenever they needed advice, Led Zeppelin formed thanks to him, he pretty much invented the counter-culture single-handed, and as for Dylan...
 
Donovan wrote a number of excellent songs. Colours, Turquoise, Catch the Wind, Josie, Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do?, and others. Good enough for the likes of Baez to record, for e.g. I like much of his stuff, and it is a nice nostalgia trip for me.

OTOH.. I've heard him talking about his own genius and felt sorry that he feels the need to bullshit like that.

On the other other hand.. a good friend of mine is a resident musician at the Cavern in Liverpool. He was asked to back Donovan and spent some time learning his songs. I was surprised to hear that he found Donovan a very pleasant person to work with.

I'm mystified.
 
I’d be in the “definitively underrated” camp.

Like the Kinks he suffers from a lot of record label issues.

We wouldn’t have Julia or Blackbird but for Donovan. (I was lucky enough to be at an evening devoted to the White album in Trinity College Dublin, which Donovan curated which was fascinating).

Or Riki Tivi Tivi, Season of the Witch, Hurdy Gordy Man, Retired writer in the sun... and countless others.

I don’t know if there is a definitive greatest hits but if there is it would be a great album.

.sjb
 
It's amazing the number of youngsters that know the lyrics ( well, the chorus) to Mellow Yellow.
 
The first Donovan album I heard was 'What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid' which, if you can find a copy is well worth having. A good alternative bet is the CD Donovan 1965, which as far as I can tell, combines the aforementioned 'What's Bin'..etc.. with 'Fairytale'...giving a pretty comprehensive picture of 'early Donovan'. Also includes tracks from the E.P. I had back then, with Universal Soldier, Do You Hear Me Now, The War Drags On and Ballad of a Crystal Man. This is the stuff I like best. His lyrics are good.. almost 'stream of consciousness' type stuff on, for e.g., Jersey Thursday, or 'Sunny Goodge Street', and his 'romantic' ballads such as 'Josie', and 'Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do' are seriously well written songs. His versions of others' songs do not disappoint. His melodies are peerless, and his guitar playing more than adequate. 'Donovan 1965' is a no brainer for 8 quid.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ME6KIUK/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Whilst I liked most of his later singles..they did tend towards bigger production and lost the intimacy and sense of yearning which typified his earlier stuff. There are numerous compilations about on vinyl and CD.
 
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Riki Tiki Tavi, Season of the Witch, Hurdy Gurdy Man,

Fixed a couple of typos for you there.. ;)

Re 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' Believe it or not, they happily danced to that in the club where I had my main residency as a DJ. We had just bodged up a strobe light of sorts. We couldn't afford the real thing, but got away with a number of small lamps mounted inside an old tin originally meant to carry Pig's Liver. The lamps were controllable for switching frequency and pulse duration, via a relay of some sort, and by using a lot of small lamps rather than one big one..we achieved reasonably quick fade on the filaments. It worked well enough on a lot of tunes, but superbly with Hurdy Gurdy Man...man...
 
I agree
I think he did good in the beginning. I'm sure stardom hit him right in the whatsits hard, but who here would cope better?
No sneering from me. I respect his stuff and enjoy it still
 


The poor sod may be a caricature of himself now..and he would be far from the first from that generation to become so... But he made some truly great music. Turquoise, alone, ought to secure his reputation.


 
I think he was fine, despite attempting to claim he'd more or less invented the 'sixties! We saw him at the RAH some years ago, performing the entirety of Sunshine Superman, and it was an enjoyable evening.
Don't listen to Intergalactic Laxative though...

Mick
 


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