The Doors Forum

DONOVAN

Love the man and what music!

Unfortunately we in the USA and the UK, didn't always receive a fair share of Donovan's music. Contract disputes (damn it) or just disinterest by labels (the shame), caused number of problems for fans on both sides of the pond. We got to hear music years before the UK and the UK got to hear music we would NEVER see released in the USA!

This thread can set the record straight and share some records too!

8D





Love Is Only Feeling is the sixteenth studio album (eighteenth overall) by British singer/songwriter Donovan. It was released in West Germany (RCA PL 28472) in October 1981, in Italy in January 1982 (Bubble Record, BLU 19610) and belatedly in the UK (RCA PL 28472) in 1983.

In 1981, Donovan entered the studio to record the second album of his German RCA contract. The resulting album, Love Is Only Feeling, did not see a US release, but was released in the UK in 1983. The title track is a remake of "Someone's Singing" originally released on A Gift from a Flower to a Garden.

Donovan sang Love Is Only Feeling at Festival di Sanremo 1982 with his daughter Astrella.


Side one

1. "Lady of the Flowers" - 3:10
2. "Lover O Lover" - 3:53
3. "The Actor" - 4:05
4. "Half Moon Bay" - 3:55
5. "The Hills of Tuscany" - 4:08

Side two

1. "Lay Down Lassie" - 4:15
2. "She" - 4:01
3. "Johnny Tuff" - 4:58
4. "Love Is Only Feeling" - 3:04
5. "Marjorie Margerine" - 4:01

Lady Of The Flowers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUbhW6I3IAg


Lady Of The Lassie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axgUYYohLCw



More to come....share yours

HMS DONOVAN (1971)

My treasure---the vinyl album art is a masterpiece and there are some brilliant tracks inside!



Lord Of The Weedy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gdW2JzHwkw River


HMS Donovan is the ninth studio album, and tenth album overall, from British singer-songwriter Donovan. It marks the second album of Donovan's children's music, after the For Little Ones portion of A Gift from a Flower to a Garden. HMS Donovan is the second double album of Donovan's career, and was released in the UK only, in July 1971 (Dawn Records DNLD 4001 (stereo)).

HISTORY

Donovan married his longtime affection Linda Lawrence (once girlfriend of Brian Jones) in October 1970. When Linda became pregnant with their first child, he began working to complete a children's album that would eventually contain recordings spanning from July 1968 to 1971. Paul McCartney was present for some of the 1968 recordings ("Mr. Wind", "The Walrus and the Carpenter", "The Unicorn"), and there are bootleg recordings where Donovan plays these songs with Paul present. A demo of "Mr. Wind" was recorded after the Barabajagal sessions in a lower register and without the voice effects. The original lyrics of the song were printed on the British version of Sunshine Superman, four years before the release of HMS Donovan.

HMS Donovan was chiefly produced by Donovan, although "Homesickness" was produced by Mickie Most. "Homesickness" is the sole electric rocker on this album of acoustic songs and the original recording date is the subject of debate. It is widely reported that Donovan and Mickie Most stopped working together after the Barabajagal sessions.

For the majority of the songs on this album, Donovan set to original melodies classic poems for and about children. Many of the poems were from One Hundred Poems for Children compiled by Herbert Strang (Clarendon Press, Oxford – 1925). Other poems come from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

Some of the songs on HMS Donovan share melodies with other songs in Donovan's canon. "Jabberwocky" has an acoustic arrangement with the same melody as "Celtic Rock" from Open Road. "The Owl and the P*ssycat" and "The Unicorn" also have the same melody, but bootleg recordings suggest Donovan once sang these two songs together in a medley during late 1960s live performances. Sydney Carter's "Lord of the Dance" borrows the melody from the Joseph Brackett song "Simple Gifts". "The Star" is better known as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

Despite the inclusion of Donovan's minor hit "Celia of the Seals", HMS Donovan sold poorly and failed to chart in the UK. Epic Records refused to release the album in the US and Pye Records only put the album out on its subsidiary label Dawn Records in the UK. This prompted Donovan to reunite with his old producer Mickie Most to try to find a hit making formula for his next album.

After this album's release, Donovan became involved in two films. First, he played the lead role in Jacques Demy's "The Pied Piper", which was released in the US on 25 May 1972. He also provided the English soundtrack for Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon, which was released in the US on 2 December 1972.

On 12 January 1998, Beat Goes On Records reissued HMS Donovan (BGOCD372) on CD in the UK.


Side One

1. "The Walrus and the Carpenter" (words by Lewis Carroll, music by Donovan Leitch) – 8:36
2. "Jabberwocky" (words by Lewis Carroll, music by Donovan) – 2:37
3. "The Seller of Stars" (words by Thora Stowell, music by Donovan) – 2:52
4. "Lost Time" (words by Frida Wolfe, music by Donovan) – 2:29
5. "The Little White Road" (words by Thora Stowell, music by Donovan) – 2:05
6. "The Star" (traditional, arranged by Donovan) – 1:45

Side two

1. "Coulter's Candy" (traditional, arranged by Donovan) – 1:44
2. "The Road" (words by Lucy Diamond, music by Donovan) – 1:08
3. "Things to Wear" (words by Agnes Grozier Herbertson, music by Donovan) – 1:06
4. "The Owl and the P*ssycat" (words by Edward Lear, music by Donovan) – 2:24
5. "Homesickness" (Donovan) – 2:31
6. "Fishes in Love" (Donovan) – 1:04
7. "Mr. Wind" (Donovan) – 2:38
8. "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" (words by Eugene Field, music by Donovan) – 2:38

Side three

1. "Celia of the Seals" (Donovan) – 3:02
2. "The Pee Song" (Donovan) – 2:06
3. "The Voyage of the Moon" (Donovan) – 5:18
4. "The Unicorn" (Donovan) – 0:55
5. "Lord of the Dance" (Sydney Carter) – 2:31
6. "Little Ben" (Donovan) – 1:44
7. "Can Ye Dance" (Donovan) – 1:32

Side four

1. "In an Old Fashioned Picture Book" (Donovan) – 3:11
2. "The Song of the Wandering Aengus" (words by W. B. Yeats, music by Donovan) – 3:56
3. "A Funny Man" (words by Natalie Joan, music by Donovan) – 1:51
4. "Lord of the Reedy River" (Donovan) – 2:38
5. "Henry Martin" (traditional, arranged by Donovan) – 5:08
6. "Queen Mab" (words by Thomas Hood, music by Donovan) – 2:18
7. "La Moora" (Donovan) – 2:21

Celia Of Seals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UajRWV7hjus

Henry Martin..no special effects just Donovan's amazing vocal work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA2TbN6tuDM

Can Ye Dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqtrTvAZBYg

The Little White Road
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3TUt5mCiwA

Voyage Of The Moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjPBIM2P6vc

As you hear, a whole album of great stuff!

DYLAN VS DONOVAN 1965

"Dylan was extremely ambitious, a quality many of his admirers seem to overlook, so there probably was some competitiveness in his feelings toward Donovan. However, I think Vin Scelsa had it right: Donovan was a lightweight then, next to Dylan, and Dylan knew it. In Dont Look Back, after Donovan plays whatever twee little thing he plays, Dylan takes the guitar and proceeds to sing a version of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" that ruthlessly puts Donovan back in his place.

Interestingly, in a recent Dylan-centric issue of Mojo (yeah, I read it sometimes, leave me alone), Donovan disputed that interpretation, saying that if you pay careful attention to the scene in Dont Look Back you'll see that Dylan is actually being respectful and treating him like an artistic equal. That's not my memory of it, to put it mildly, but assuming Donovan is being honest he felt no slight in Dylan's treatment of him."

...........................

"Donovan's early musical style and appearance led to him being perceived and promoted as a British version of Bob Dylan; this brought with it a certain degree of criticism from folk purists, some of whom assumed him to be merely a Dylan imitator. Not surprisingly, the meeting between the two musicians in April 1965 made headlines. Dylan was unimpressed by the young musician, as can be seen in D.A. Pennebaker's film of Dylan's '65 UK tour, Dont Look Back (which was released in 1967). Dylan mocks Donovan throughout the film and patronizes him after the two perform songs at a hotel party."

...............................

"Probably the 1967 documentary of his 1965 English tour, Don't Look Back (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061589/).
One might also argue that Dylan's obvious apprehension to Donovan was due to a mix of jealousy and disgust, ultimately because Donovan was really just another Dylan. Had Dylan truly cared about the message rather than the medium, he'd be content with Donovan's solidarity to help get that message to the people. Instead, Dylan saw Donovan as an artistic competitor and hated that many compared the two. Many Brits at the time even gave Donovan more credit as a guitarist, a title that was destroyed after Dylan turned to electric rock and developed his style as an improv guitarist. He even takes a shot at Donovan on stage during a song ("I looked in the closet/there was Donovan"). It was likely a reference to Donovan's attempt to emulate Dylan's musical style."

...................

YOU DECIDE....clip from "DONT[sic] LOOK BACK"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc6HcA6kEJc