A Gift From a Garden to a Flower: A Tribute to Donovan [Compilation]

Various Artists (Author), PAS/CAL (Author), My Morning Jacket (Author), Photon Band (Author), The Orange Alabaster Mushroom (Author), Alsage Lorraine (Author), The Scarboro Aquarium Club (Author), Greater California (Author), Ashley Park (Author), Lowlights (Author), Screen Prints (Performer), Great Lakes (Performer), Watoo Watoo (Performer), The Bloom Group (Performer), Sweet Trip (Performer), Color Filter (Performer), Viao Bella (Performer), Lenola (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Compilation
• Label: Darla
• ASIN: B000RNLZZ4
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #614,658 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Pas/Cal's "Oh Gosh," features a spot on Donovan impression; Phil Spector-ish wall-of-sound production gives My Morning Jacket's "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" a warm & fuzzy feeling; Photon Band "To Sing For You" sounds like head 'maniac; The Orange Alabaster Mushroom imbibe the cult classic "Fat Angel" with sitars, loopy organ rides and wah-wah vocals; Jon DeRosa dons his Pale Horse and Rider cap for a beautiful, romantically forlorn version of the obscure "There Is An Ocean." Alsace Lorraine's breathy, sexy, sultry vocal on the equally obscure "Sadness" slides somewhere between St Etienne's Sarah Cracknell and the French yé-yé girls of the 60s; Scarboro Aquarium Club, exhume "Divine Daze of Deathless Delight." "Jersey Thursday" is even more haunting than the original; Vancouver's Ashley Park begin "Widow with Shawl" in a rainstorm and end up in a groovy, psych-country pastiche a la Mojave 3. Low Lights must have drawn the short straw to end up with "Catch the Wind;" Donovan's finest track ever; Screen Prints mercilessly butchers "Celeste;" singing it in the wrong key and about half a beat behind the song's established melody. Great Lakes, digs "Teen Angel" out of the grave, smacks it around a few times and then sleepwalks all over it in a Prozac-induced haze; Watoo Watoo is a husband & wife duo from Paris though it actually sounds more like Japanese cut-ups, Pop-Off Tuesday than a yé-yé wannabe. On the other hand, Color Filter actually are from Japan, yet they chose to present "Hurdy Gurdy Man" like a 60's French soundtrack. The Blood Group sounded at first as though they were rap, then Jessica B opened her mouth and out poured sweetness and light. Sweet Trip's sacrilegious video-arcade-through-a-bullhorn version of "Sunny Goodge Street" is an insult to the song. So even if you are not intrigued by unknown artists covering hits and obscurities of one of our finest psychedelic poets, you will enjoy the variety of styles and reverential tweakings included herein.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Groovy!, December 30, 2010

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Bruce London - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Gift From a Garden to a Flower: A Tribute to Donovan (Audio CD)

Donovan was quite a songwriter, and still is a great performer! There shoul be more tribute albums, see if you can find Island of Circles. But groups like Eric Burdon and the Animals, Brian Auger and the Trinity,etc. did great versions of Donovan works!