Donovan: The Donovan Collection

• Released: May 2005
• Rating: 10/10 for the collection
• Tracks include: Mellow Yellow, The Hurdy Gurdy Man, Catch The Wind, JenniferJuniper, Colours, There Is A Mountain.
• Cat.nos:
  Sunshine Superman (873 5662)
  Mellow Yellow (873 5672)
  Hurdy Gurdy Man (873 5682)
  Barabajagal (873 5692)

One singer, one name, four CDs.

Acclaimed sixties ‘flower-power’ iconDonovan (Leitch) now 59 years-old, gets a long overdue overhaul with therelease of some back-catalogue classics. Dusting down the archives,hisflowery philosophy,considered passé in the 70s and 80s, are now seen assuperb examples of folk-rock hippie mysticism.

Sunshine Superman was his second album from 1966,spawning the titletrack single – his biggest hit making No.2 in the UK chart – laying the pathfor a succession of imitators, influencing the budding Mark Feld aka MarcBolan, who morphed into Tyrannosaurus Rex then T.Rex. Some even believed Bolanwas a Donovan reincarnation.

Donovan came to prominence after dropping out of college and began recordinghis songs at the age of 18 years. Talent scouts from seminal tv programmeReady Steady Go soon picked on him and he became a regular on theshow. Working with legendary producer Mickie Most until 1969, Donovan exploredfolk-like refrains and exotic instrumentation (flutes, cellos, sitars andharps), scattered over this huge collective tracklisting, they combined tomake him a household name.

In the interim years he’s continued to tour, written poetry and scored films.Apart from the original song titles we’re given an abundance of bonus tracks,some demo versions, first versions and alternative arrangements.