Donovan was an icon of the flower power 1960's and 70's movement, an aspiring beatnik born in Glasgow Scotland.
Donovan moved in amazing "circles" in those days, associating or friends with the likes of all members of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Byrds and many other luminaries of the times - what a wonderful melting pot of musical ideas!
Later in the 1980's his success took a dip with the advent of the British punk scene though (how could an acoustic folky singer complete with The Pistols?). The youth were sick of the fluffy "smell the flowers" stuff and had become angry at the establishment, punk was the new scene.
Donovan was commonly thought of as an acoustic folk rock sort of guy, but he was actually much more than that. He wrote and performed some very psychedelic songs, silly comedy songs such as Intergalactic Laxative and also dabbled in jazz Preachin' Love
His commercial success really came from songs such as Hurdy Gurdy Man (many would consider as an "anthem" of the flower power generation)
This album is mixed genre, opening with the sensational mind bending Hurdy Gurdy Man and then a mix of folkish, jazz flavours and psychedelic ballads. This was a time when Donovan was in India studying transcendental meditation (along with The Beatles) and you can hear Indian instrument influences on this album. One of the instruments was the Tampura (a long neck string instrument) which Donovan received as a gift from George Harrison (remember "My Sweet Lord"?)
The signature song, Hurdy Gurdy Man had a number of assisting musicians, although exactly who is a matter of some dispute.
Mentioned are the names of Jon Bonham, Jimmy Page, Clem Cattini, John Paul Jones, Alan Parker and Allan Holdsworth - persons involved at the time have different recollections of who was really involved with Donovan.
Time has savaged their memories!
This is NOT an album to look at!
Yes the cover suffered some serious damage in the distant past, caused by water but it's all about the music ...right?
Sit back, partake of some "listening enhancing" substances and enjoy being transported back to the alternative world of the late 1960's ~ 1970's
WARNING: The music is wonderful but the cover has suffered past storm water damage. Please read below for the full description ...
Donovan (Leitch) - The Hurdy Gurdy Man
Epic Records
Cat# ELPS 3563 (Yellow STEREORAMA label)
STEREO
1968
Australian release
Cover is in good (minus) condition, the front has obvious graphic damage to the left-hand side. The rear has much less (but still obvious) damage down the same seam. All seams are sound, no splits. Edges are actually very lightly worn, not a lot of handling since the water damage occurred. I have sterilised the cover and ensured it does not "smell"
New inner plastic liner sleeve
Vinyl is in very good condition, visually inspected under a bright white halogen light source and I can only see a couple of VERY faint marks or scratches on either side. I then played both sides of this album ENTIRELY, every single track, and surface noise or clicks/pops are not an issue - cover might be a bit sad but the vinyl is really nice to listen to.
New outer protective sleeve
Tracks: Hurdy Gurdy Man, Peregrine, The Entertaining Of A Shy Girl, As I Recall It, Get Thy Bearings, Hi It's Been A Long Time, West Indian Lady, Jennifer Juniper, The River Song, Tangier, A Sunny Day, The Sun Is A Very Magic Fellow, Teas
PSYCHEDELIC ANTHEM FOR THE LATE 1960's
