So glad to see you take Dononvan seriously -- or at least as seriously as he deserves. He was a very important player in the folk-rock scene of the late 1960's, and as you point out, influenced the Beatles at a major turning point in their career. He drifted off into trippy-dippy inconsequentiality thereafter, but he sure glowed brightly while he was hot. No more Donovan put-downs, I'll bet even Dylan respected his talent more than he let on in Don't Look Back, and you could say he in turn shone more brightly in comparison.
Always liked Donovan (before I did like Dylan, I must admit, shame on me!). Specially Sunshine Superman onwards. But his beginnings are interesting too. "The Universal Coward": that was some rapper-level response!
You aint kiddin about all the Larus marinus in these tracks. Wonder if one ever attacked him for his Dylan cap? Oh well, Happy birthday George and America!
The connection/contrast to Blackbird is a brilliant insight. Btw, I first heard To Try for the Sun via this cover by Lindsey Buckingham—https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9pSU81bGA1U. Even admitting a natural bias toward the first version heard, I think it develops the song’s higher potential.
I always considered this song as his first real classic. However, his stuff always seemed strange to me — on the one hand, by quality and quantity of his output (at least from 60s and 70s, I’ve never listened to his later albums, though I’m sure there should be at least some hidden gems there as well) he should be judged if not according to The Beatles’ level, but at least to The Zombies’ (and, for sure, higher than, for example, Jefferson Airplane).
On the other hand, there was always something “artificial” in his stuff. I mean, his early acoustic songs are ok, they have their own charm and performed well, but I don’t feel that being a protest singer was his own deep choice and not just an attempt to jump on a bandwagon — a thing I will never say about Bob Dylan or Phil Ochs. Pretty much same feeling I have towards his later psychedelic stuff — wonderfully (or at least interestingly) crafted songs, amazing harmonies, good singing, but overall it is just a product of mind and mind only, like he never ever used his subconscious, which is, of course, not okay while doing this particular stuff (for better understanding of my thesis, you can compare Donovan songs with Arthur Lee’s, which would also be a good way to find out the difference between talent and genius).
Superb review 🙏
So glad to see you take Dononvan seriously -- or at least as seriously as he deserves. He was a very important player in the folk-rock scene of the late 1960's, and as you point out, influenced the Beatles at a major turning point in their career. He drifted off into trippy-dippy inconsequentiality thereafter, but he sure glowed brightly while he was hot. No more Donovan put-downs, I'll bet even Dylan respected his talent more than he let on in Don't Look Back, and you could say he in turn shone more brightly in comparison.
Always liked Donovan (before I did like Dylan, I must admit, shame on me!). Specially Sunshine Superman onwards. But his beginnings are interesting too. "The Universal Coward": that was some rapper-level response!
You aint kiddin about all the Larus marinus in these tracks. Wonder if one ever attacked him for his Dylan cap? Oh well, Happy birthday George and America!
The connection/contrast to Blackbird is a brilliant insight. Btw, I first heard To Try for the Sun via this cover by Lindsey Buckingham—https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9pSU81bGA1U. Even admitting a natural bias toward the first version heard, I think it develops the song’s higher potential.
Sunny Goodge Street is a great song.
Pretty damn good indeed!
I always considered this song as his first real classic. However, his stuff always seemed strange to me — on the one hand, by quality and quantity of his output (at least from 60s and 70s, I’ve never listened to his later albums, though I’m sure there should be at least some hidden gems there as well) he should be judged if not according to The Beatles’ level, but at least to The Zombies’ (and, for sure, higher than, for example, Jefferson Airplane).
On the other hand, there was always something “artificial” in his stuff. I mean, his early acoustic songs are ok, they have their own charm and performed well, but I don’t feel that being a protest singer was his own deep choice and not just an attempt to jump on a bandwagon — a thing I will never say about Bob Dylan or Phil Ochs. Pretty much same feeling I have towards his later psychedelic stuff — wonderfully (or at least interestingly) crafted songs, amazing harmonies, good singing, but overall it is just a product of mind and mind only, like he never ever used his subconscious, which is, of course, not okay while doing this particular stuff (for better understanding of my thesis, you can compare Donovan songs with Arthur Lee’s, which would also be a good way to find out the difference between talent and genius).