Yay! I have found some more Donovan!
Who on earth is Donovan (I hear you asking)
Donovan Leitch was an icon of the flower power (1960's & 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 late 70's ~ early 80's his success took a dip with the advent of the British punk scene though (how could an acoustic folky singer complete with Johnny Rotten?). The youth were sick of the fluffy "smell the flowers" stuff and had become angry at the establishment, punk was the new scene - down with the establishment, revolution etc were on many young minds.
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 (a sort of folk metal song) and Mellow Yellow (very flower power peace-love-dove-man sort of song) - he was an artist of the times.
This debut album comes from his very early days, actually it was released when I was only just 'becoming' a teenager but I bought this copy (actually Dad did!) a couple of years later, to add to my Donovan collection. He was "The King" (not Elvis), The Almighty One! Inciteful, funny and quirky, he sat amongst my other favourites in music such as Bob Dylan, Bowie, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and so so many others (mainly British as much of the NZ broadcast music (there was no streaming then of course) was British not American in those days) ... dang! they were the days
WARNING:
This album is a "goodie" but an oldie ... after 60 years we all have signs of wear n tear, this record is no exception ... read on for a full description of what is going on, Man ...
DONOVAN - Fairy Tale
Astor Records
Cat# PLP 1143 (Metallic Silver/Black label)
Monoaural recording (same music from either channel)
1965
Australian release
60 year old copy!
Please read the description below carefully to determine if this release is worth your while (Hey! What The ...? Donovan is ALWAYS worthwhile!)
Album cover is in good condition, this means that there are no seam splits, no tears, no graphic damage at all but overall the cover looks like it's age, with a slight Yellowish tinge (due to the paper foxing, not smoke!) Some creasing which has discoloured slightly to the spine area but no tearing has occurred.
New inner plastic liner sleeve
Vinyl record is in good (minus) physical condition, what does this mean? First, keep in mind that the vinyl used back in these days was "tough" and I have often found that even with marks and scratches, it is not as delicate as contemporary vinyls, which seem to be "softer"
Both sides have some leeching marks from a previous plastic liner, the early liners were notorious for this leeching issue. Oh yes, I can see a number of scratches but none of them look to be anything very serious, certainly no gouging!
The only real way to check the condition is to play the album, ENTIRELY, so I played both sides and all tracks (Oh Joy!) and I was not disappointed!
SIDE I
Side 1 plays good, sometimes the surface noise level increases slightly but overall very listenable
Track 1, there are some clicks for a few revolutions but at a low level.
Track 3, I heard some low level clicks (about 6~8) from the Left side only
No other special comments about any of the other tracks on this side.
SIDE II
Side 2 plays good ~ very good, there is some low level surface noise at times (swishing not pop n crackle) and just a couple of clicks from scratches.
No other special comments about any of the other tracks on Side 2
New outer protective plastic sleeve
TRACKS: Colours, To Try For The Sun, Sunny Goodge Street, Oh Deed I Do, Circus Of Sour, Summer Day Reflection Song, Candy Man, Jersey Thursday, Belated Forgiveness Plea, Ballad Of A Crystal Man, The Little Tin Soldier, Ballad Of Geraldine
This is one of Donovan's songs which references the 1960's ~ 70's British drug culture amongst young people, the Candyman was your "dealer"
