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The Essential Donovan | 
| Artist: Donovan
Label: Sony
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $7.99
You Save: $3.99 (33%)
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 90999
Format: Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 90625
UPC: 827969062524
EAN: 0827969062524
ASIN: B0001MDPZY
Release Date: March 30, 2004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Promotion: Save $10.00 when you spend $50.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout. Terms and Conditions
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Catch the Wind - Donovan, Donovan [Rock] | | • | Colours | | • | Sunshine Superman - Donovan, Donovan [Rock] | | • | Season of the Witch | | • | Mellow Yellow | | • | Epistle to Dippy | | • | There Is a Mountain | | • | Wear Your Love Like Heaven | | • | Jennifer Juniper | | • | Hurdy Gurdy Man | | • | Lalena | | • | To Susan on the West Coast Waiting | | • | Atlantis | | • | Barabajagal |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
Superman or Green Lantern Ain't Got- Nothing On Metamorpho...... January 23, 2008
The Ancient Mariner (The Ocean)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Well, it used to be when you went to an airport there would be natural flower children, with flower print dresses, with (of all things) flowers to hand out to weary passer-bys. Their buttons revealed their true thoughts: "Make Love, Not War", "Groovey!", "Don't Trust Anyone Over 30!" How foolish to think anything like this could survive into the modern day a go-go world we all know and love. (!)
These days we have persons of a different ilk. You know the ones. They have many piercings, are very loud (urgent that they be heard!) and walk around with placards that read "Save Britney!" or "Free Paris!". As if I didn't have anything better to concentrate on - like freeing and saving myself. Ah! The price we pay for progress folks!
Anyway - I found my old crystal spectacles in the bottom of a drawer and cleaned all the cobwebs off. I am now wearing them (where did all these colours come from? Oh wow!) and am writing this review on "The Essential Donovan".
I have to say that this is quite a respectable collection of goodies from him. That said, I often have reservations about someone else calling it "essential". How does anyone know what I would consider essential as opposed to you or she or he as me and we are all together? ;) Donovan has had tons of tunes, many of which could easily have been included. A one disc retrospective can't do him justice. But, aside from that complaint - this really is not too shabby.
It begins from his acoustic phase and includes the wonderful "Catch the Wind" and "Colours". I guess because he included a harmonica they referred to him as the English Bob Dylan. That really was unfair to him. Although definitely talented- he's no Dylan.
I do recall his earlier folk-rock music to be very diverse and included some great reflective songs. Here, they only give you "Sunshine Superman" and "Season of the Witch" from his album "Sunshine Superman". And, as I recall, that whole album was superb. And while there is nothing wrong with including these songs, you're all missing a wealth of unheard music.
Donovan amazes by being so diverse. He can give you a lilting, french inspired tale of a "Jennifer Juniper" and then the grinding, more intensive rock of "Hurdy Gurdy Man". He goes from the calypso-inspired metaphysical folk of "There is a Mountain" to drowning in a sea of love with "Atlantis". It seems that Donovan's fantasies took him all over the map!
I am happy to see that they included the rare gem "Epistle to Dippy". Now that is one creative song. Donovan's own brand of stream-of-conciousness flowing (or flowering?) though a jaggedy, haphazard meter that makes total sense. Let us not forget the lovely and wispful "Lalena". The quiet orchestra and flutes give this a richness beyond words. Very nice.
A word of warning though, Donovan does rely on repetition quite a bit in lyrics and music. This can prove either annoying or a delicious pop hook. It's up to you to decide. One of my least favorites is "To Susan On the West Coast Waiting" = annoying ;( . Then that unique celtic voice on "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" = tantalizing pop hook with some stratospheric enunciation going on. But, you can all decide to take these compositions in any way you want.
In closing, a most pleasant recollection of a bygone age but nowhere near complete. If you do not have this artist in your archives (and you should!), then this is one to get. But complete? No, far from it.
Now please excuse me. I have to get back to repainting the day-glo flowers on my volkswagon mini-bus. And, oh yeah, those Peter Max prints arrived today! Gotta set up that blacklight!
writing by lava lamp ------ Metamorpho!
 Redundant, but Great July 19, 2006
Danielle Lane (Horseshoe, North Carolina)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I do have this disc and I play it quite a bit, because of the excellent job Sony did remastering it. However since they'd already gone and remastered the "Greatest Hits" that came out on Epic all those years ago, plus added extra songs, there is really no reason to buy this disc, as good as it is, because the set list, though ordered differently (this disc has the songs ordered by when they were originally recorded) is exactly the same and you get one more song, the great "Riki, Tiki, Tavi" on the GH version. One does wonder, just how many ways can they repackage this man's stuff. Are the same people buying it over and over? However, the songs are outstanding, the recording is too, so five stars, even though it was redundant as soon as Sony put it out.
Epistle to the 60's April 10, 2006
Marcus Aurelius (PA USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
What a wonderful collection. I spent a few minutes bouncing around trying to find out if I'd be better off with this or the greatest hits package, and I finally gave up and picked this instead. Sound is crisp, quality is pure Mr. Leitch. Everything sounds better than I remembered, and I finally forgave myself to getting rid of the vinyl during some move over the years. There is a wonderful cd I found in the local department store 3.99 cd bin that is a greatest hits live--I can't figure out if it's a legitimate release or not, but it's the only Donovan collection that beats this one.
The best of Donovan collections December 19, 2005
Bryan Wiggin (SF Bay Area)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
During the "Sixties," I was not particularly a fan of Donovan. I thought he was a bit soft. But about three months ago, I heard him interviewed on the NPR program "Fresh Air." I was impressed by how intelligent and articulate he is, and the excertps from his songs stuck me as wonderfully fresh and engaging. So I bought "The Essential Donovan" and have been playing it continually, enjoying it more and more.
For Donovan to have moved from a ballad like "Colours" to "Sunshine Superman," with its surrealistic poetry and multi-colored orchestration, in only a few months, is a real artistic advance. At that time, 1966, Donovan was twenty, and he was consistently writing better songs -- with more imaginative lyrics and more sophisticated rhythms -- that did either The Beatles or Bob Dylan at the same age.
I've since explored more Donovan albums. I am increasingly impressed by the abundance of his imagination, and I find it dismaying that he is so little remembered, especially considering that he is one of the truly emblematic figures of the age and was, at the time, almost as famous as The Beatles.
I call this the best of Donovan anthologies because the versions of "Catch the Wind" and "Colours" are the clean and simple ones, without backup strings and vocals; because the version of "Sunshine Superman" is the long one; and, most importantly, because the songs are presented in chronological sequence.
The insert notes about original release dates and popular chart success are a welcome addition.
BUY THIS DISC! June 10, 2005
Timothy Schubert (Chicago,IL USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Forget all the other reviews here.This CD is the FIRST to include the TRUE STEREO versions of almost all of Donovan's hits.If you own a home STEREO and not a home mono or if your car has a STEREO and not a mono,BUY THIS CD!I REPEAT!!!!!! BUY THIS CD!!!!!
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