Donovan In Concert CD - Import

Finally. This 1967 concert recorded at the Anaheim Convention Center, just a few weeks after his Hollywood Bowl show, was recorded in its entirety and released as a single LP with a total of 14 tracks. This double-disc CD reissue contains 23 tracks, and is, as it survives, the entire gig. In addition, the sound has been painstakingly remastered; the result is a brilliant sounding document. Flow in a Donovan concert is important, and here, presented as it occurred, listeners can drift right into the tidepool of magic. The band is a quintet with Harold McNair on flute and saxophones, Loren Newkirk on piano, Andy Tronosco on upright bass, Tony Carr on drums, and John Carr on bongos. Donovan plays acoustic guitar throughout. The hippy mysticism and flower power poet is everywhere here. This isn't rock star excess at all, but an organic, drenched-in-sunshine concert full of gentleness with a premium on good vibes. Tunes not on the original LP and CD issues include "Sunny Goodge Street," "Epistle to Derroll," "Sand and Foam," "Hampstead Incident," "To Try for the Sun," "Someone Singing," "The Tinker and the Crab," and a partial recording of the second half of "Catch the Wind," which was included for purposes of completion, but was marred by a malfunctioning tape recording. Donovan was already an expert at getting audiences to eat out of his hand, and here that happens in spades. In fact the only album that comes close to having the flow of this concert was the studio recording of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. While it's true this is only available as an import, it should be sought out by any fan, or, for that matter, any cynic who hasn't heard this particularly beautiful and airy genius of Donovan Leitch. With this presentation, Donovan In Concert becomes one of the great live albums of the '60s. ~ Thom Jurek

This is a great record, with one important caveat -- anyone looking for the Donovan of AM radio and upbeat ditties like "Sunshine Superman" will have to go for more recent live albums. Donovan in Concert has been neglected over the decades by the fans, who apparently would have preferred a set that encompassed the hits, yet it presents a surprisingly vital side of Donovan's music, as well as excellent versions of some of his best album cuts and good versions of the two actual hits that are here. In contrast to his studio sides, which often reflected the sensibilities of producer Mickie Most more than those of Donovan, the live material here, cut at the Anaheim Convention Center in early 1968, features Donovan doing his music, his way. One has to give Donovan credit for trying to use his pop music success as a basis to take his concert audiences to a somewhat different place; in addition to his own acoustic guitar, he's backed by flutist and saxman Harold McNair and percussionist Tony Carr, plus a bass and piano, in a pleasantly lean and lively set that shows him roaming freely between gently trippy psychedelia, folk-blues, and jazz (including some scatting). The result is a much more personal kind of show than one would have expected, closer to his folk roots than to the kind of performances that one associates with pop stardom. Most of the material is drawn from the For Little Ones, Mellow Yellow, and Sunshine Superman albums, done in neatly stripped-down arrangements. Apart from "Mellow Yellow" and "There Is a Mountain," the artist avoids his AM radio touchstones in favor of the lyrically more complex and musically more subtle joys of "Celeste" (which offers a beautiful showcase of McNair's flute playing, which is both spirited and elegant), "Young Girl Blues," "Isle of Islay," "Poor Cow," " "Guinevere," and "Fat Angel," interspersed with a handful of songs unique to his con

Digitally remastered two CD set featuring a complete 1967 concert from Anaheim, CA. 23 tracks including Donovan classics such as 'Mellow Yellow', 'Catch The Wind', 'Guinevere' and more. This is a stunning audio example of a more innocent, yet worldly, t