Hurdy Gurdy Man [Original recording remastered, Import, Extra tracks]

Donovan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 16, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered, Import, Extra tracks
• Label: EMI Europe Generic
• ASIN: B00081MUYK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,929 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #4 in Music > Folk > British & Celtic Folk > British Folk
  • #5 in Music > World Music > Europe > British Isles > Scotland
  • #12 in Music > Imports > Classic Rock

Track Listings

1. Hurdy Gurdy Man

2. Peregrine

3. The Entertaining Of A Shy Girl

4. As I Recall It

5. Get Thy Bearings

6. Hi It's Been A Long Time

7. West Indian Lady

8. Jennifer Juniper

9. The River Song

10. Tangier

11. A Sunny Day

12. The Sun Is A Very Magic Fellow

13. Teas

14. Teen Angel

15. Poor Cow

16. Lalena

17. Aye My Love (Mono)

18. What A Beautiful Creature You Are

19. Colours

20. Catch The Wind

Editorial Reviews

2005 Digitally remastered re-issue features six bonus tracks 'Poor Cow', 'Lalena', 'Aye My Love', 'What A Beautiful Creature You Are' 'Colours' and 'Catch The Wind'. The album forshadows the coming discontent which eventually drove Donovan out of the music business. The title song, 'Hurdy Gurdy Man,' combines what are upbeat lyrics with a very dark performance. This ambivalence continues in a set of songs with a very bitter edge like 'Teas', 'Tangier', and 'Hi It's Been a Long Time', 'Yet 'Jennifer Juniper' & 'Peregrine', among others, stand in stark contrast. EMI. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest from 1968, April 12, 2003

By 

MurrayTheCat (upstate New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hurdy Gurdy Man (Audio CD)

Donovan is an artist of great individuality. His work is superbly imaginative, and I rank him among my favorite artists of all time--any genre. While "progressive" is a word often flippantly tossed about today--describing seemingly anything but the ultra-mundane--Donovan's music has always seemed truly progressive and original to me. He understood the tasteful use of color, and its effect, in both his music and his lyrics. His albums from '66 through '68 are monuments of the psychedelic era--mystical, enchanting...irresistible. There are two that stand out in my mind as being absolutely essential, masterpieces in every respect and worthy of being heralded along with the greatest albums rock has ever produced: SUNSHINE SUPERMAN and this glorious one. (I hope that got your attention.)

We begin with the title cut--hushed at first, but when that lead guitar strikes and bends, the drums kick in, and (look out!) Donovan gets heavy. It was a big hit in '68. Then the mystical melody of "Peregrine" floats about the clippety-clop of hand percussion, while a harmonium hums along, carefree, almost oblivious to the fact that the vocal line is doing the same. At once it is as earthy and as ethereal as you could ever ask for. "The Entertaining Of A Shy Girl" offers a calming effect that dazzles, much the way sunlight would, partially blocked by leaves, creating a pleasing sparkle that dances on our senses. "As I Recall It" is a jazzy little ditty that gets us bopping and dancing to this lighthearted tune, while Donovan ironically sings sad lyrics of a disappointing affair. The mysticism returns with "Get Thy Bearings," a moody, but strongly rhythmic tune with an evocatively bluesy sax line. "Hi It's Been A Long Time" is a delicate and flowery gem decked out with ornate (but not overly done) orchestration.

Next comes the tropic delight of "West Indian Lady." Conga and guiro lay down an infectious beat, while the flute adds a certain ecstasy. Who can resist this? The subtle use of strings and woodwinds is divine in "Jennifer Juniper," one of the most delightful little ditties ever. Dreamy, blissful...Donovan falls in love. The understated percussion is ever so charming. "The River Song" is yet another meditative wonder. The acoustic guitar and the distant bongo hypnotize as Donovan's vocals carry us away. The effect of "Tangier" is like riding on a train, looking out at the despair as we pass by. The rattling percussion keeps the train moving right along. The indigenous guitar work assists in the pictures we are seeing, while the slightly off-tempo vocals speak as if they are our thoughts. "A Sunny Day" cheers us up, but ever so lazily. The song is punctuated by a brief business that picks us up for an instant, only to return to the skip-along laziness. "The Sun Is A Very Magic Fellow" is as tuneful a song as any I know. This magical, sunny wonder will stick with you long after it ends. A song that smiles this much almost makes us feel guilty for feeling carefree in a world with so many major problems; but then maybe that's how songs like this best serve us. We conclude with "Teas," another dreamy song of uncommon character. It's amazing what this guy can create with such spare accompaniment. The horns at the end brilliantly close this thoroughly entrancing album.

Strongest recommendations, folks. This isn't music, it's magic.

Cheers,
Murray

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Hurdy Gurdy Man comes singing songs of love, May 10, 2005

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Hurdy Gurdy Man (Audio CD)

The idea that Donovan Leitch was to Britain what Bob Dylan was to America was always an unfair comparison to make and you have to think if Scottish folk-pop singer's first name had started with any letter other than "D" he might have been saved the analysis. Then again, anybody who cannot listen to the music these two were putting out in the 1960s and not be able to see their music as being opposites is simply not paying attention. Donovan was always the cheerful optimist, while Dylan on a good day was merely being realistic instead of pessimistic. That was just in terms of their lyrics, because once you got to the music Dylan was defined by stark guitar playing sometimes augmented by a harmonica in the style of Woody Guthrie while Donovan was helping to define the psychedelic sound.

In 1965 Donovan was a regular on the television music show "Ready, Steady, Go!" and then had his début single, the folk song "Catch the Wind." That was followed by the hit single "Colours," and then "Sunshine Superman" and "Mellow Yellow." In 1967 he traveled to India with the Beatles to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, after which he renounced drugs and turned on to meditation. Musically these profound changes manifested themselves in the ambitious double-album "A Gift from a Flower to a Garden" and then this 1968 album, "The Hurdy Gurdy Man." The scope of the album is covered in the two hits. The title cut (on which future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham were playing) is a mixture of Indian music with hard-rock, tinged with hallucinatory elements that made it to #5 on the charts. On the other extreme is the more ethereal "Jennifer Juniper," written for Jenny Boyd, the sister of George Harrison's wife, which climbed to #26. If you want to point to a Donovan song as epitomizing his sense of youthful innocence, this would be it.

The only real problem with this album is that producer Mickie Most lays it on a bit too thick in several of the tracks. I like the first two tracks after the title cut, with "Peregrine," a song about friendship that has some Scottish elements in it, and the excellent acoustic song "The Entertaining of a Shy Girl," which offers some nice guitar playing and a touch of woodwinds. But then "As I Recall It" spoils the mood by overdoing the jazz bit. By the time you get to the rest of the album there is a real sense that Donovan has abandoned the stage set by the opening track. In addition to "Jennifer Juniper" there is another odd to the ladies in "West Indian Lady." Then there is an emphasis on nature elements at the end with "The River Song," "A Sunny Day," and "The Sun Is a Very Magic Fellow," which helps the album end on more familiar ground than on which it began.

I was trying to decide if how good the best tracks on this album overcame the lesser efforts, and decided to round up because of "Get Thy Bearings" as the song that is not on the standard Donovan hits collection that would justify having this one as well. Telling this to a Donovan fan would be preaching to the choir and I am not arguing that "The Hurdy Gurdy Man" constitutes the one regular album you would want to have or first pick up when you moved beyond the hits collection. But this song has some of Donovan's better lyrics and if the sound had been catchier it would have made an interesting single. It has psychedelic elements, but there is also some jazz and blues, and some people might mistake it for a Stevie Windwood song, that is, until they listen to the lyrics, which is pure Donovan. This was already a five-star album so added six bonus tracks including "Lalena," "Colours," and "Catch the Wind," was hardly necessary but a nice touch.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Fine Donovan Re-Issue!, October 7, 2005

By 

Morten Vindberg (Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hurdy Gurdy Man (Audio CD)

"Hurdy Gurdy Man" was Donovan's 1968 album, built up around the strong singles "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "Jennifer Juniper". Like Donovan's other Micky Most produced albums this one touches upon a great varity of musical styles and instrumentations, with tasteful and original arrangements by John Cameron. Some of the more rocking tunes were arranged by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin - e.g. the stunningly build-up title track, starting with Donovan's silent humming joined by his acoustic guitar and building up towords its climax with electric guitars and drums. The overall sound-quality of this re-mastered version is great!

"Jennifer Juniper" is a beautifully arranged pop-ballad featuring both oboe and harp.

The album features a handful catchy free and easy tunes among which "The Entertaining of a Shy Girl"and "The Sun is a very Magic Fellow" stand out!

A couple of the droning tunes, combing traditional Eastern sounds with Celtic sounds, may sound a little dated.

"West Indian Lady" revives memories of the Caribbean feel of Donovan's earlier single "There is a Mountain".

A few tracks like "As I Recall it" and "Get Thy Bearings" are quite jazzy, and "Hi, It's Been a Long Time" is a great pop-tune, beautifully instrumentated.

Among the 7 bonus-tracks several stand out. The B-side "Teen Angel" is an early Donovan composition; a fine melody and a great addition.

The album out-take "What a Beautiful Creature You Are" is a fun track with a very catchy melody. The song features singer Lulu. The song ought have been included on the original album.

The two re-recordings of "Catch the Wind" and Colours" done for a for a best of album, are both fine, though they lack the charm of the original versions.

All in all another fine Donovan reissue!