Donovan began his career as a folkie, but he will be remembered forever as the leading proponent of flower power hipness.
Early folk-oriented tunes like "Catch the Wind," "Colours" and "Universal Soldier" all charted in the UK, but only "Catch the Wind" dented the US charts (No. 23). In late-65 Donovan splits from his manager and hooks up with new producer Mickie Most (Herman's Hermits, Animals, Lulu, etc.). In the process he switches direction from folk to pop.

His first single for Most is "Sunshine Superman"--which was originally titled "For John and Paul." It goes to No. 2 in the UK and tops the US chart. What follows is a string of memorable hits, including "Mellow Yellow" with Paul McCartney on background "whispered" vocals. [Did anyone REALLY believe this was about smoking banana skins! ] There's the percussion-flute workout "There Is a Mountain," (which the Allman Brothers would convert to "Mountain Jam" on Eat a Peach.]

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Donovan would maintain his popularity throughout the sixties. This also meant expanding his sound. "Hurdy Gurdy Man" starts out with Donovan's trademark vibrato vocal and cosmic lyrics, but with Jimmy Page on guitar and the future Led Zeppelin rhythm section on board it was one of the few Donovan tracks that rocked. Another hard-driving song (and Donovan's last US top 40 hit), "Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)," features the Jeff Beck Group.

Donovan leaves Mickie Most and releases "Celia of the Seals" as a duet with longtime bassist Danny Thompson. It only reaches US No. 84. His next single "Riki Tiki Tavi" is what Donovan dubbed an experiment in "Celtic rock." it peaked at US No. 84. His final US single is "I Like You" from Cosmic Wheels. [I bought this album on vinyl when it was released in 1973. Thankfully this disc does not also include the embarrassingly insipid "Intergalactic Laxative."] The single only went to No. 66. It was becoming apparent that by the early seventies, there were very few listeners still paying attention.

For this baby-boomer, this collection is everything I would expect in a box set: all the hits, a few unreleased songs, tracks from throughout the artist's career (the latest song is from 1976's Slow Down World), and an emphasis on the artist's commercial peak (1966-1969: 26 of the 44 songs). If all you want is the hits, the remastered Greatest Hits' 15 tracks will do the job cheaper, but for six dollars more you get nearly three times the songs and enough Donovan to put you into cosmic euphoria. Go for it. RECOMMENDED

Track List:
Disc one
"London Town"* (from Donovan's 1964 demo tape, later released on Sixty Four)
"Codine"* (from Donovan's 1964 demo tape, later released on Sixty Four)
"Catch the Wind" (from What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid, released May 14, 1965)
"Universal Soldier" (from Universal Soldier, released August 15, 1965)
"Colours" (from Fairytale, released October 22, 1965)
"Sunshine Superman" (from Sunshine Superman, released September 1966)
"Season of the Witch" (from Sunshine Superman)
"The Trip" (from Sunshine Superman)
"Guinevere" (from Sunshine Superman)
"Breezes of Patchulie"* (from the Sunshine Superman sessions)
"Museum"* (alternate version of the Mellow Yellow track from the Sunshine Superman sessions)
"Super Lungs"* (alternate version of the Barabajagal track from the Sunshine Superman sessions)
"Mellow Yellow" (singe A-side, released Nov 1966)
"Writer in the Sun" (from Mellow Yellow)
"Sand and Foam" (from Mellow Yellow)
"Sunny South Kensington" (from Mellow Yellow)
"Epistle to Dippy" (from "Epistle to Dippy" / "Preachin' Love", released February 1967)
"There Is a Mountain" (from "There Is a Mountain" / "Sand and Foam", released August 1967)
"Wear Your Love Like Heaven" (from A Gift from a Flower to a Garden, released December 1967)
"Oh Gosh" (from A Gift from a Flower to a Garden)
"The Tinker and the Crab" (from A Gift from a Flower to a Garden)
"Poor Cow" (from "Jennifer Juniper" / "Poor Cow", released February 1968)

Disc two
"The Hurdy Gurdy Man" (1968 single)
"Jennifer Juniper" (from The Hurdy Gurdy Man)
"Teen Angel" (from "Hurdy Gurdy Man" / "Teen Angel", released May 1968)
"Laleña" (from "Laleña" / "Aye My Love", released October 1968)
"To Susan On The West Coast Waiting" (from Barabajagal, released August 11, 1969)
"Atlantis" (from Barabajagal)
"Barabajagal" (from Barabajagal)
"Happiness Runs" (from Barabajagal)
"Celia of the Seals" (from H.M.S. Donovan, released July 1971)
"Riki Tiki Tavi" (from Open Road, released August 1970)
"Clara Clairvoyant" (from Open Road)
"Roots of Oak" (from Open Road)
"Riki Tiki Tavi"* (alternate version of the Open Road track)
"Maria Magenta" (from Cosmic Wheels, released March 1973)
"Cosmic Wheels" (from Cosmic Wheels)
"I Like You" (single version of Cosmic Wheels track)
"Yellow Star" (from Essence to Essence, released December 1973)
"Rock and Roll Souljer" (from 7-Tease, released November 1974)
"The Quest" (from 7-Tease)
"Age of Treason"* (from the 7-Tease sessions)
"What the Soul Desires"* (from the 7-Tease sessions)
"Dark-Eyed Blue Jean Angel" (from Slow Down World, released May 1976)

SPOILER!

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 3 from 28. July 2007 EAC extraction logfile from 14. December 2008, 15:27 Donovan / Troubadour (Disc 1) Used drive : _NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG Adapter: 0 ID: 2 Read mode : Secure Utilize accurate stream : Yes Defeat audio cache : Yes Make use of C2 pointers : No Read offset correction : 48 Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface Used output format : Internal WAV Routines Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo TOC of the extracted CD Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector --------------------------------------------------------- 1 | 0:00.00 | 4:08.12 | 0 | 18611 2 | 4:08.12 | 4:49.33 | 18612 | 40319 3 | 8:57.45 | 2:55.22 | 40320 | 53466 4 | 11:52.67 | 2:13.48 | 53467 | 63489 5 | 14:06.40 | 2:45.02 | 63490 | 75866 6 | 16:51.42 | 3:15.25 | 75867 | 90516 7 | 20:06.67 | 4:57.03 | 90517 | 112794 8 | 25:03.70 | 4:35.35 | 112795 | 133454 9 | 29:39.30 | 3:41.57 | 133455 | 150086 10 | 33:21.12 | 4:35.33 | 150087 | 170744 11 | 37:56.45 | 2:52.27 | 170745 | 183671 12 | 40:48.72 | 3:15.70 | 183672 | 198366 13 | 44:04.67 | 3:42.28 | 198367 | 215044 14 | 47:47.20 | 4:31.30 | 215045 | 235399 15 | 52:18.50 | 3:19.45 | 235400 | 250369 16 | 55:38.20 | 3:49.25 | 250370 | 267569 17 | 59:27.45 | 3:11.12 | 267570 | 281906 18 | 62:38.57 | 2:35.20 | 281907 | 293551 19 | 65:14.02 | 2:25.48 | 293552 | 304474 20 | 67:39.50 | 1:47.52 | 304475 | 312551 21 | 69:27.27 | 2:54.45 | 312552 | 325646 22 | 72:21.72 | 2:56.65 | 325647 | 338911 Range status and errors Selected range Filename L:\Donovan\Troubadour\Donovan - Troubadour (Disc 1).wav Peak level 89.0 % Range quality 100.0 % Test CRC 81136DA7 Copy CRC 81136DA7 Copy OK No errors occurred End of status report Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 3 from 28. July 2007 EAC extraction logfile from 14. December 2008, 16:14 Donovan / Troubadour (Disc 2) Used drive : _NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG Adapter: 0 ID: 2 Read mode : Secure Utilize accurate stream : Yes Defeat audio cache : Yes Make use of C2 pointers : No Read offset correction : 48 Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface Used output format : Internal WAV Routines Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo TOC of the extracted CD Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector --------------------------------------------------------- 1 | 0:00.00 | 3:18.72 | 0 | 14921 2 | 3:18.72 | 2:41.73 | 14922 | 27069 3 | 6:00.70 | 2:19.12 | 27070 | 37506 4 | 8:20.07 | 2:59.20 | 37507 | 50951 5 | 11:19.27 | 3:14.33 | 50952 | 65534 6 | 14:33.60 | 5:02.05 | 65535 | 88189 7 | 19:35.65 | 3:20.55 | 88190 | 103244 8 | 22:56.45 | 3:27.45 | 103245 | 118814 9 | 26:24.15 | 3:01.65 | 118815 | 132454 10 | 29:26.05 | 2:55.42 | 132455 | 145621 11 | 32:21.47 | 2:50.18 | 145622 | 158389 12 | 35:11.65 | 5:05.00 | 158390 | 181264 13 | 40:16.65 | 4:44.20 | 181265 | 202584 14 | 45:01.10 | 2:12.35 | 202585 | 212519 15 | 47:13.45 | 4:03.32 | 212520 | 230776 16 | 51:17.02 | 4:36.30 | 230777 | 251506 17 | 55:53.32 | 3:06.30 | 251507 | 265486 18 | 58:59.62 | 3:50.25 | 265487 | 282761 19 | 62:50.12 | 3:30.38 | 282762 | 298549 20 | 66:20.50 | 4:21.20 | 298550 | 318144 21 | 70:41.70 | 2:35.67 | 318145 | 329836 22 | 73:17.62 | 3:46.63 | 329837 | 346849 Range status and errors Selected range Filename L:\Donovan\Troubadour\Donovan - Troubadour (Disc 2).wav Peak level 100.0 % Range quality 99.9 % Test CRC A4D81784 Copy CRC A4D81784 Copy OK No errors occurred End of status report