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 and some silly comedy songs such as Intergalactic Laxative and he also dabbled in jazz Preachin' Love
His commercial success really came from songs such as Hurdy Gurdy Man and Mellow Yellow (very flower power peace-love-dove-man sort of song) - he was an artist of the times.
This album, recorded when he was around 22 years old, has a mix of genre's and also his father introducing Donovan at the beginning of the Anaheim concert!
There is traditional folk, political folk, jazz and the psychedelic Mellow Yellow (opening track)
WARNING: The cover has suffered past storm damage - PLEASE read the description below for full details ...
Donovan (Leitch) - Mellow Yellow
Epic Records
Cat# ELP 3546 (Yellow STEREORAMA label)
Monoaural Recording (identical audio on both channels)
1967
Australian release
Cover is in good (minus) condition, this means it is in sound condition and holding together (all seams are fine and not split) but oh yes, it has suffered during a previous storm that hit us here in Sydney and the front left side has graphic damage along with the corresponding side on the rear. I have cleaned and sterilised as much as possible without damaging the cover - at least it doesn't stink!
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 few very light scratches on the last track, Side A.
Visual inspection is one thing but the only real test is to play the ENTIRE album, every single track. There are no issues with surface noise or clicks/pops - very nice trip back to the 1960's! Back to the days when the world was Covid free, peace and love were in the air! No stress ... ahhhhh if only ....
New outer protective sleeve
Tracks: Mellow Yellow, Writer In The Sun, Sand And Foam, The Observation, Bleak City Woman, House Of Jansch, Young Girl Blues, Museum, Hampstead Incident, Sunny South Kensington
Now for a bit of jazz
