Customer Reviews

Sunshine Superman

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If Donovan had died young like Nick Drake or lost his mind like Syd Barrett, everyone would recognize his greatness now. Rather, like Paul McCartney, Donovan is a well-adjusted guy who's lived a full life, who made some absolutely brilliant music in the 60's and some less-than-brilliant music after the 60's. Good for him, but lousy for his legend.

In my opinion, Sunshine Superman is his best album, although Mellow Yellow, A Gift From a Flower to a Garden, and Hurdy Gurdy Man are also excellent. Sunshine Superman includes three of Donovan's greatest hits -- the title track, Season of the Witch, and the Trip -- all great rock songs, but, for me, what makes this record shine is the other album tracks. Songs like Legend of a Girl Child Linda, Three Kingfishers, the Fat Angel and bonus track Breezes of Patchulie are simply some of the best psychedelic-chamber-folk-pop songs ever recorded. John Cameron's arrangements are gorgeous throughout. If you like languid mood music with beautiful melodies, and the sounds of sitars and harpsichords, these tunes are bliss (and honestly, if you don't like such things, you shouldn't be listening to Donovan anyway).

One more thing: this record sounds AMAZING. Partly this is due to whoever engineered it forty years ago, but whoever remastered it this year is a genius. EMI, PLEASE hire the responsible party to remaster the Beatles' catalog IMMEDIATELY.

One complaint though: the liner notes are very poorly written.

"Sunshine Superman" remains to this day Donovan's greatest work, a pioneering masterpiece which ranks as one of the best albums of all time. That the 19-year-old could write and perform a work so ahead of its time--he was working on the same artistic level as The Beatles, who were recording "Revolver" during the same months--seems astonishing today, but it took forty years for a proper version of the album to be released.

"Sunshine Superman" originally appeared in September 1966 in the US only in "reprocessed stereo", and when it was finally released in the UK in June of '67 (which made it seem less pioneering than it was in those heady times) it was combined with songs from "Mellow Yellow" in a mono version that sounded OK but in spite of the clear genius of the songwriting and arrangments, the sound on both versions seemed "off" and the CD versions up to this point did nothing to improve matters. Finally, forty years later, some wizard at EMI properly remastered the sound and the results are astonishing: the acoustic guitars, sitars, tablas, harpsichords and organs have a deep, rich resonance to them which wraps around the listener's ear like a fine silk tapestry.

The album contains not a single weak track and although the pace towards the end of the first side slows to a crawl (with three slow tracks in a row), all are gorgeous. The title track and "Season Of The Witch" were memorable psychedelic rockers, while stoned ballads like "Three Kingfishers" and "Guinevere" are awash in a dreamy, novel synthesis of Indian and Celtic influences that is simply intoxicating. The combination of acoustic and electric guitars, electric violin, harpsichord, strings, sitars and tablas made it one of the first pyschedelic reocords and Donovan has since belatedly been recognized for his contributions to the movement, his influence on The Beatles being particularly strong (see The White Album).

The next two albums, "Mellow Yellow" and "A Gift From A Flower To A Garden" were equally focused and essential but "Sunshine Superman" remains his greatest, both lyrically and musically,
and the measure by which all of his later works were compared.
This remastered version also contains the essential outtakes "Breezes Of Patchulie", "Museum" and "Superlungs" which are all in the same breathtaking mold as the album (all three should have been included, actually, and "Museum" and "Superlungs" may have balanced the album a bit more with rockers, but both found their way in satisfactory versions on later works), as well as a few acoustic demos never before released. In all, an essential purchase for all Donovan fans, who have been waiting years and years for something like this to come out--and unlike some reviewers here, I thought the liners were fine and quite detailed.

this is the remastering we've always hoped for (not the royal "we" but the millions to whom this recording is elemental). thank you thank you thank you to Donovan and all involved in this superb remastering!
and oh! the extra cuts (you can't get this soon enough). in the past i'd sought and found white label promo first pressings (vinyl) of Sunshine Superman in search of the sound quality I longed for. never thought i'd say it about digital 16 bit vs analog but THIS IS IT!!! This is the pressing of this to own. Trust me on this one...

Other reviewers have delineated the technical brilliance of this album. I would not have much to add or subtract from their observations, except to affirm that the clarity of the mix enabled me to hear things I had never heard before, which injected new life into some well-worn tracks. The rest of my comments will be unapologetically subjective, possibly because Donovan has an odd way of reaching each individual at a personal level, though his stance is usually an acerbic but kindly, somewhat detached observer. In the musical firmament of the '60s, Donovan was the Pleiades, the mystic purple star system where faerie visions came and went, suggesting spiritual and sensual doings of an evanescent and yet intense character. No one else was even close. "Purple Haze" was the pile driver version of the grail at the end of that quest. "Sunshine Superman" was the lyrical version. Funny thing is, Donovan's songs still take you there, if you let them. I grew up in the SF Bay Area, and the Flower Power movement (if you could call it a "movement") emerged about the time I got my driver's license. I went in search of it, borrowing my parents' car. (Incidentally, the term "Flower Power" was coined by a reviewer of a Donovan concert who noted the flowers he tossed to the audience.) Maybe I found a little piece of the dream one fine day with a girl who seemed to know the power of silence, but for the most part it was illusion. I wanted to believe, but reality kept conflicting. Then I attended a Donovan concert at the Fillmore. For that two-hour moment, which was actually of infinite duration, it all came true. Like the gateway to the Pied Piper's Kingdom, the door is now nothing but a rock wall, but it is hard to forget having been among the elves for a moment, and the one who played the pipes that transported me there. Donovan's music suggested the beauty possible in a '60s mindset, and no album suggests it better than "Sunshine Superman." Think what a miracle it was to hear so much groundbreaking, diverse, and original music exploding all at once, and here was this guy singing songs that fitted it all perfectly, and yet didn't belong in any one stylistic camp or category at all. This quality of poetic vison and independence from convention still comes through today, surprisingly. Donovan's music brushes off the dust that tried to collect on its robes, and keeps on walkin', shimmering and catching the dreamlight. There is no absolute definitive interpretation of any of the songs. I think that's what you'll like about them. They're like kaleidoscope images that attract different parts of your soul on different days. Some of it is silly, and yet overall there's something profound about it. There are classics on this CD, such as "Sunshine Superman" and "Season of the Witch." But there are some underrated wonders here, too, such as "Bert's Blues," which is kind of a jazz/pop soliloquy on the "To Be or Not To Be" question. I will always be nostalgic for a belief in Peace and Love, even if the dream is deader than JFK, RFK, and MLK. But maybe another place and time? If you were there, you know what I mean. If you weren't, this might be your ticket. And if this isn't a five-star experience, then what is?

Yes, this is the one we've been waiting for. However there is one very important track from the era not on the CD: that is the single version of The Trip, the b-side to Sunshine. This version featured a harmonica solo not on the LP version. They should have included this instead of the dublicate demos that are also on the others CDs of this series.

In 1965/66 drug references better be obscure or your music would be banned from the radio.

Donovan was there, he hung out with Dylan, Joan Baez and listened to the Jefferson Airplane before anyone else had. He was at the apartment with Dylan and the Beatles, at THE party that changed music forever. (See Scorcese's "No Direction Home"). Herein, on Donovan's brilliant masterpiece are psychedelic fairy tales designed to calm down and smooth out bad acid trips. Music exploded with the Summer of Love('67), this classic was first, more than a year before that, recorded '65 and '66, before the whole thing started; just after Dylan's world changing "Bringing It All Back Home" but before the Beatles "Revolver" . Much of it deals with troubadour Donovan's troubled love affair with model Linda Lawrence, sometimes girlfriend of Brian Jones, the Golden Rolling Stone. This album is a first in many ways, folk, folk rock, jazz, blues. First to use the buzzy acid-simulating sitar, tabla, tambura. It is full of King Arthur, Narnia, knight errant, and Alice in Wonderland themes. Arrangements by Mickie Most and John Cameron are miraculously creative.

"His crystal images they will tell you 'bout a brighter day" as Peter, Paul & Mary once said. And this album is chock full of those crystal images, images that make you weep at their beauty.

Starts off with the psychedelic superhero "Sunshine Superman" who is dealing with Linda, and "could have tripped out easier but I've changed my ways"....this was the first major hit single from the album.

"Legend of a Girl Child Linda" where her Narnian "knight goes to battle with his confused mind".

Hypnotic "Twelve Kingfishers", not Three, the misprint remains, you can see them dive in your minds eye.

The girl who get her hair caught in the "Ferris Wheel" is like the Symbolist painting of the girl who traps the silver clad knight in her long blonde hair, "La Belle Dame Sans Merci".

Not a top 40 hit for Donovan, the unforgettable "Season of the Witch", full of striking dark Novemberal images that made Steven Stills, Bloomfield and the Jefferson Airplane and other groups cover the song years later.

"The Trip", an early acid commercial with Alice in Wonderland imagery, banned on nearly all radio stations, except underground ones, in the sixties.
"...a seagull said, as I looked to way out then/
The whole wide human race is taking far too much methadrine"... (it was true in '66, it's even truer now.)
...Girl, you drank a lot of 'drink me', but you ain't in Wonderland/ you know I might have been there to greet you girl when your trippin' ship touches sand"...
... Bobby Dylan he sat, the Mad Hatter, broken hourglass in his hand/ and Joanie sat in white lace, looking cool with her black lace fan". (Joan Baez - the Queen of folk music)

"Fat Angel", talks of the Jefferson Airplane, a then unknown San Francisco group whose first album would "take off" a year later, Fat Angel - Mama Cass Elliot, of the unknown Sunset Strip Mamas and Papas and Captain High - Jerry Garcia of the then unknown Grateful Dead. "He will bring you happiness, in a pipe/ he will ride away, on his silver bike/ And apart from that, he'll be so kind in consenting to blow your mind/Fly Trans-Love Airlines, get you there on time/ Fly Jefferson Airplane, get you there on Time..." All of these obscure references would burst upon the American consciousness in the next year or so.

This was the ultimate insiders, hip album in 1966, before the word "hippie" was coined. Original album had not one bad cut. In this version, good until you get to some of the lesser later inclusions like the busty underage "Superlungs, my Supergirl".

This IMPORT, though not perfect, captures the sound of the original LP, much better remix that previous versions. A good trip from beginning to end. Captures the authentic Spirit of the Sixties. Recorded after "Bringing it all Back Home" and BEFORE "Revolver"! Harpsichord, sitar, tabla, and eastern instruments would be used on many other people's future albums, but this one was first.

This is one of the greatest albums of all time, finally presented in a way that does justice to the original LP. One of those albums that never gets stale, fresh as it was in mid 1966.

BTW, in the mid 60's Donovan was considered Dylan's equivalent and then later people put Donovan down because he was more poetic (and fantastic) and didn't involve himself in social commentary. Dylan and Donovan are quite different, there is no earthly reason to like just one!

I've been listening to this record for 40 years now. It is an amazing, piece of music. I'm glad to see that others have enjoyed it as much as I.

Well, here's a blast from the past... I've owned the original album for many years (since it came out in 1966, in fact), so was intrigued with the opportunity to pick up a sonically cleaned-up version with no fewer than seven bonus tracks. I still think it's a great work. 'Season of the Witch' is one of the 60s' defining tracks, 'Sunshine Superman' still holds its own as a pop track, and all the rest continue to shine as an ensemble showing the way toward myth-, lore-, and jazz-influenced pop. This was actually quite a creative album, mostly recorded in late 1965 and early 1966 just before similar explorations by the Beatles and others. I've always been a Donovan fan, and this is arguably his best album (and also his most commercially successful, I think). One of the least noticed things about Donovan's music from this period is how he integrated a blues and jazz sound into many of his compositions--this is more evident on "Mellow Yellow", the next issue, but even here one can strongly feel those influences having been absorbed on 'The Trip,' 'Bert's Blues' and 'Three Kingfishers.'

I will admit, this is probably not my *favorite* Donovan album, but there is absolutely no denying the fact that it is his greatest LP. Musically and lyrically, it keeps you engaged the entire play time. Unfortunately, I hope that people aren't put off by the fact that there are only two hit titles on this album. I must clarify, that, in my opinion, Donovan was also and 'album artist' and not merely a 'singles artist.' The songs on this album can stand out on their own as brilliant pieces.

The album starts off with one of Donovan's most popular hits, "Sunshine Superman" which gets you engaged as you are about to brace yourself for the 6 minute and 45 second "Legend of a Girl Child Linda." The dreamy instruments and equally dreamy lyrics are just gorgeous. "Three King Fishers" and "Ferris Wheel" follow in the same vein as "Linda" as they are slower, more lyrically-based songs. The fifth song on the LP, "Bert's Blues" returns more to the "Sunshine" sound, although it is still slower in tempo.

Side 2 of the LP kicks off with Donovan's other hit "Season of the Witch." It goes without saying that this song is essential Donovan, and it's placement on the album (Track 6 of 10) is a strategic move that works; it holds the listener's attention and interest. "The Trip" is a fitting follow-up to "Season." It's a quick-paced beat rock that just sounds great. Next is the slow and beautiful "Guinevere" which follows much in the path of "Legend of a Girl Child Linda." "The Fat Angel" picks up the tempo for one final hurrah as it prepares you for the last track on the album, "Celeste," which is in my opinion, possibly Donovan's best song, outright. Lyrically, it is hard to be matched by any other song by Mr. Leitch, and the melody is just beautiful.

This edition contains seven bonus tracks which will please Donovan fans, as we have been without studio outtakes and demos for quite a while.
The $16.99 price for this edition is just okay. If you're a collector and want the bonus tracks, I recommend this disc, however, if you are just interested in hearing the album, the $9.99 edition will suit you fine.

"Sunshine Superman" was Donovan's first "Electric" album, first released in late 1966. Although producer's Micky Most has been givin much credit for creating Donovan's "new progressive" sound, there had actually been signs on his previous album "Fairytale", that he would be exploring new styles and sounds on forthcoming records. The great song and slightly jazzy "Sunny Goodge Street" would have fitted nicely into the concept of both "Sunshine Superman" and the follow-up album "Mellow Yellow"

When the album was released "Sunshine Superman" had already been a huge hit on the singles charts on both sides of the Atlantic; with its great bass intro hook.

On many tracks though, Donovan's folk background still shines through. Some songs are still very folkish, featuring only Donovan and his acoustic guitar, but with additional classical instruments like woodwinds, violins and harpsichord.

Other songs are highly inspired by Indian music featuring both tabla and sitar.
Among those the beautiful "Guinevere" and "Fat Angel" are clear favourites.

On "Bert's Blues" Donovan combines elements from both jazz and and classical music, creating an almost avantgardish new fusion.

Quite outstanding is the classic "Season of the Witch", which has been covered by various other artists; Donovan at his heaviest!

The majestic "Celeste", which closed the original album is another highlight.

The 7 bonus-tracks are all fine. Some are outtakes, others are early versions of songs that would later appear on "Mellow Yellow" and "Barabajal".

The booklet is a great read featuring biography and detalied information about each track and Donovan's collaboration with Micky Most.

Though most of the strongest tracks can be found on various compilations; and though a few songs may sound a bit out-dated, the album as a whole still appear as an essential document of how music changed in the middle 1960's, and that Donovan was more than just a softer British echo of what Bob Dylan was doing in America.

Recommended!