And, yeah, I finally bought Donovan's 'Sunshine Superman stereo special edition' the other day! This is a 2 CD set as a paper sleeve edition released from EMI, comprised of new US version stereo album and original UK mono album, with full of bonus tracks of course! Sooooo great!In September 1966, 'Sunshine Superman' hit No.1 released firstly in US not UK, and its parent album climbed to No.11 on Billboard's album charts. I believe, probably this is the earliest successful psychedelic folk rock album in the world. Hey, never forget this was recorded at least a year and a half before 'Sgt.
Donovan Album Covers
Pepper' of The Beatles. You know well, during the sixties Donovan was regarded as a popular and talented British artist equal to The Beatles. Everyone must have loved him at that time. He looked so good (Donovan was a really pretty boy!). However, you should still love him more! He was definitely innovative.
He was different from Zappa though.In fact, Donovan is a great songwriter. His songs are incredibly beautiful. It's obvious that he is a talented melody maker equal to Paul McCartney for example. I love especially 'Legend Of A Girl Child Linda' and 'Celeste' in the album. Also, I'm amazed with 'Breezes Of Patchuli' and 'Superlungs' from bonus tracks. Incidentally, I suppose his vibrating gentle voice inspired much the way of singing by Marc Bolan and Bridget St. John.The reason I bought this album is that in the past I had read a disc guide book called 'Acid Folk', supervised by Tsuyoshi Kawasoe.
Tsuyoshi writes a lot on Donovan in 'Acid Folk'. Now I want to know more about Donovan. But unfortunately I have only 3 Donovan albums at the moment.
Forty-five years after the 1966 US release ofDonovan’s trailblazing Sunshine Supermanalbum, this expanded reissue coincides with acelebratory, anniversary-marking Royal AlbertHall appearance, and a sympathetic new stereomix allows the songs to flex as never before.(The original mono mix comprises Disc Two.)A labyrinthine web of circumstances ledSunshine Superman into sounding the way itdid in the first place. In terms of subject matter,it simultaneously mourns the absence of hisfuture wife, Linda Lawrence – pursuing amodelling career in the US at that time – whilesoftly and persuasively beckoning her to return.The decorous Legend Of A Girl Child Linda isimmersed in introspection, and a similarlyindulgent seam of sumptuous melancholy runsthrough Celeste.
Conversely, the recreationalhabits of a young hash-head pop star with afreshly acquired LSD fascination informwantonly unconcealed compositions such asThe Trip and The Fat Angel. Taken in tandem,everything significantly points towardsmanifestations of love, peace and an expansionof the universal consciousnessKey also is the intervention of producerMickie Most and arranger John Cameron, who,from Sunshine Superman onwards, would workwith Donovan until the close of the 60s. Most’svulpine pop instincts stimulated Donovan’screativity, while Cameron’s fearlessness as anarranger rationalised a heady brew of influencesencompassing beat poetry, Celtic folk, bohojazz, chamber music and mainstream pop. Inthe new mix, harpsichord and string bass ticklethe cochlea on the title track and wide-eyedSwinging London paean Sunny SouthKensington, one of a welter of bonus tracksincluding the vastly superior first takes of ’67-era songs Museum and Epistle To Dippy.Shawn Phillips’ sitar describes serpentineconvolutions across Ferris Wheel and ThreeKingfishers, while Season Of The Witch gains anambient extra dimension in its tensespaciousness.