Donovan - Sunshine Superman
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CD Details
Artist: DonovanEdition: Music CD
Format: Import, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2005-05-16
Music Label: EMI Int'l
Soundtracks:
- Sunshine Superman - Donovan, Donovan
- Legend of a Girl Child Linda
- Three Kingfishers
- Ferris Wheel
- Bert's Blues
- Season of the Witch
- Trip - Donovan, Donovan
- Guinevere
- Fat Angel
- Celeste
- Breezes of Patchulie [*]
- Museum [First Version][*]
- Superlungs [First Version][*]
- Land of Doesn't Have to Be [#][*]
- Sunshine Superman [Stereo Version][*] - Donovan, Donovan
- Good Trip [*][Demo Version]
- House of Jansch [*][Demo Version]
Music reviews of Sunshine Superman
Music Review: Donovan's best-selling sixties album
Rating: 4 Stars
Sunshine Superman was Donovan's best selling album in the sixties, not least because it included the single Sunshine Superman (For John And Paul), a huge hit both in America and the UK. It marked an important turning point in Donovan's career as he had changed managers, producers and record labels, and developed his sound with the addition of a band of musicians. He also had a brilliant new arranger in the person of John Cameron, whose work on Sunshine Superman was such an integral part of the record.
As the booklet essay describes, these changes turned out to come at a cost due to complications at the British side of the business end, as the new arrangement had been negotiated in America and had contractual complications in the UK which led to huge delays in records coming out, if at all. This seemed especially perplexing in Britain as whereas in America there was a clear change of label from Hickory to Epic, in the UK he remained on Pye.
Sunshine Superman (For John And Paul) had been recorded in December 1965, when it was ahead of its time, but things were moving so fast that by the time it was released the following summer it already sounded as if Donovan was trying to catch up with the times, especially since during the delay Pye had been damagingly releasing older unrepresentative material on singles, such as Josie and Remember The Alamo, and when the album was released that September it was in America only. Sunshine Superman was never released in the UK in its original form, and not at all until June 1967, months after Donovan's follow-up album had been released in America.
If Donovan had been considered to be no more than a folk singer, this album burst out of the folk confines to dumbfound those preconceptions. The songs were based on Donovan's personal experiences and observations, and included Legend Of A Girl Child Linda, about Linda Lawrence; Bert's Blues, concerning a love triangle involving Donovan, the singer Beverley and Bert Jansch; The Trip, about a jazz and folk-rock club in Hollywood where Donovan had been playing; Fat Angel, allegedly inspired by Cass Elliott of the Mamas and the Papas, and soon taken up in live performance by the Jefferson Airplane, who are name-checked in the lyric; and the brilliant Season Of The Witch, best known in the UK in its version by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity. Most of these were recorded in Hollywood in Spring 1966 with a set of hip L.A. musicians including Shawn Phillips on sitar and Cyrus Faryar from the Modern Folk Quartet. They used an array of instruments including harpsichords, celestes and all manner of percussion, creating a palette far removed from the days of pure acoustic guitar and harmonica, and showcasing Donovan's development as a maturing songwriter, adapting and embracing change and experimentation.
The British version of Sunshine Superman dropped three of the songs (Ferris Wheel, The Trip, Fat Angel) and substituted five from Mellow Yellow (The Observation, Writer In The Sun, Hampstead Incident, Sand And Foam, Young Girl Blues), which was also permanently absent from the UK release schedules, and so this CD probably marks the first time the original album has been for sale in the UK.
Mono masters have been used throughout for the album, though among the bonus tracks is a longer stereo mix of Sunshine Superman (For John And Paul) that was prepared for the album Donovan's Greatest Hits in 1978 (available as Donovan - Greatest Hits & More with extra tracks). There are six other bonus tracks including a couple of out-takes, early versions of Superlungs My Supergirl and Museum (a song he gave to the aforementioned Beverley) and finally two October 1966 demos for songs on Mellow Yellow.
Description of Sunshine Superman
2005 Digitally remastered re-issue features seven bonus tracks 'Breezes Of Patchulie', 'Museum' (First Version), 'Superlungs' (First Version), 'The Land Of Doesn't Have To', 'Sunshine', 'Good Trip' (Demo), 'House Of Jansch' (Demo). Sunshine Superman marked the coming of psychedelia and utilised the production skills of already established producer, Mickie Most, whose bass heavy style complements Donovan's enigmatic lyrics and their beatnik delivery brilliantly. EMI.General CDs
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