Customer Reviews

Sutras

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought Sutras and didn't know what I was getting in to. I'm fairly new to Donovan though I'm learning fast. The songs here are so tight it is unbelievable that this CD is not more widely known or talked about!! It was only after many listens that I delved into the liner notes and discovered some of the sources that the artist used for inspiration, such as lines from classic spiritual texts, poetry, etc. But, this is somehow even beside the point. The songwriting here is like a spell, a beautiful culling of many spiritual traditions that Donovan distills through his ever entrancing guitar work and lyrical prowess. A freakin' masterpiece. I did some looking around on Donovan dedicated sites and found press articles relating to the release of this record. I encourage you to do the same just to fact check me, but if I remember correctly Rick Rubin contacted Donovan because he felt compelled to work with him and they ended up hanging out in L.A. for quite a while going to all sorts of fantastic bookstores and having some deep philosophical converstaions. Anyway, Donovan wrote 100 songs during this period and they brought it down to what, something like 14? Incredible. The production is very subtle, with a soft and whole accoustic resonance with the exception of one song ("out of nothing comes the one(?)") that has a very bright yet straight forward texture (somewhat George Harrisonesque sounding I think). It seems that the more this work is listened to, the deeper it goes!!! Enjoy this ride!

Whatever you may think of Donovan, his is a unique voice, both in the beauty of his singing and in the care he takes with his lyrics.

"Sutras" is the perfect example. It is stunningly subtle, coherent and expansive. It is music you can leave on all day and continue to wish to hear again. It is music that will strike you differently at different times of day. In fact, it has a persistent presence that will stay with you long after the playing has stopped. Stay like the memory of a perfect day, not like an anonymous top twenty tune or advertising jingle that gets lodged in some primitive, no-longer needed part of your brain.

Sutras stays with you the only way anything of real beauty can. That's because there are no contortions to the music, nothing strained or startling, seeking attention. The music offers a frank tranquility, unadorned and free of distraction and expertly assembled. What would you expect from a guy who had most of Led Zeppelin playing rhythm for him, before there was a Led Zep? Or a man who used ambient recordings as parts of his songs as early as the mid 1960s?

"Sutras" is what you would expect from someone who has matured in music as he has in life. Someone who knows a thing or two that the rest of us may have already forgotten. This is simply music that matters, that helps you instead of distracts you. If you appreciate music, set aside any prejudice you might have and spend time with this. Out of the thousands you can buy here, this CD is truly worth owning.

I read a review about Sutras (not on Amazon) where they were criticizing Rick Rubin's production on Sutras for having "too much compression" and sounding "too modern." I'm sorry, but I think Rick is a genius and everything he did on this album sounds great. Actually, if you want to hear "too much compression" on a Donovan album, go back and listen to the Mickie Most-produced albums from the 60's, especially the Sunshine Superman LP which has some great brick-wall limiting on it. Mickie Most was as much a genius at producing as Rick Rubin. Donovan is so gifted at songwriting that his producers are really just there to "enhance" the music. Rick Rubin has a way of making the performances sound very natural. Warm and natural. I wish he had been producing albums in 1982 when everyone was drowning everything in reverb gates and wobbly chorus effects and making the music to sound like it was recorded in a large concrete garage. My review is really just to stress two points. Donovan is a brilliant singer and songwriter and Rick Rubin is a top-notch and technically skilled producer who crafts fine examples of brilliant audiophile. This album will not fail you. It's a shame that a follow-up or sequel never materialized. Rubin encouraged Donovan to compose a large number of songs so that the cream of the crop could be chosen for a final album. It would be nice to hear what wasn't chosen.

This magnificent album--long out of print in the U.S., but still available as an import--is easily the finest work ever done by the unjustly-maligned Donovan Leitch. Superstar producer Rick Rubin, best known for his work with Johnny Cash, strips Donovan's songs down to the bare essentials, achieving results that hearken back to the singer's folkie beginnings. The resulting disc is understated, yet passionate, displaying a focus, and a sense of purpose, that was sometimes absent from the hippie troubador's late-60s drug-induced flights of fancy. Donovan's work, some of which has aged poorly, has always presented a critical conundrum, having been as passionately defended by fans as it was derided by detractors. If you are not yet a Donovan fan, this is the disc that may change your mind. It easily ranks among my top five all-time favorites. There is a timeless beauty and wisdom here that transcends the "hippy dippy" image. This is truly one for the ages, and will be a pleasant surprise for those who have not yet discovered it.

I so agree with the thoughtful review posted by ....someone from Michigan (can't see the other reviews while writing here).

This album seems to have been overlooked in the rush to repackage Donovan for some wave of nostalgia the marketers must think is coming. Donovan's body of work is so strong, of course, that marketers can pitch him any way they want and his "unprecedentedness" in the music of the time will always shine forth.

It's been maddening to be unable to download this most extraordinary album. I gave away my first physical copy, and have wanted the music constantly, and can't get it, so I'm going to order it physically again.

This effort shows Donovan in his true colors as a poet, musician, scholar, historian and guide for all of us. His influence on the music of the time (from Dylan and beyond the Beatles) needs to be fully recognized.

If you ever loved his perfect-pitch, resonant, slow-vibrato voice, this is the album that finally allows us to hear it flawlessly. This selection of songs is inward, peace-making, jewel-like, honest, moving, intimate. The man has never strayed from his affectionate and genuine path. Before you listen to his "hit" songs again, listen to this, and see where those efforts have always been tending.

Donovan Leitch joins with such awesome energies as Sappho, Edgar Allen Poe, Lao Tsu, Hindu miracle worker Sai Baba, Buddhist meditation master Thich Nat Hanh, and Gaelic spiritual teacher Fiona Macleod for his magnificent musical and poetic creation "Sutra's".
Very few stars of the sixties are doing the quality work they gave us back then. Their talent got lost or beaten up like most old vinyl records. One exception is Donovan who gave us some of the most beautiful melodies, poetic lyrics and biggest pop hits of the golden age that was the '60's.
"Sutras" is not the next "Mellow Yellow," but something rarer and better: a work that's mature, genuinely spiritual, transcendant and pure. "Sutras" means "teachings" in the language of Eastern religion but you need not be a seeker to appreciate this lyrical and musical accomplishment.
It opens with a love song as lovely as he's ever written, "Please don't bend" ("my heart made of glass"), a gentle vocal accompanied by Donovan's acoustic guitar, and an acoustic bass. Next a song of love's longing, "Give it All Up" with a Dylanesque harmonica for piquancy. A tranquil mood is created by a lullaby simply called "Sleep" (" sleep beloved and so fade sorrow"), quoting lines from "Blessing for Soul's release" by Fiona Macleod. "Everlasting Sea," my favorite, a hypnotic enchantment, is a lover's pledge to love like the everlasting sea, the ever-rolling earth, ever-shining sun. Timelessness itself.
"High Your Love" ( pun on "Higher love"?) is inspired by the Hindu miracle worker Sai Baba's community, complete with bells, tabla and Indian percussion instruments. Some lines from Lao Tsu's "Tao Te Ching" are set to music in "The Way". "Deep Peace" is based on a traditional Scottish Gaelic prayer. The hunt for the mythical El Dorado, city of gold, from a poem by Edgar Allen Poe, is dramatized by Donovan. Sweet violins carry us off on the quest. "Ride boldly, ride" it tells us, "if you seek for El Dorado."
Lines from "The Love Songs of Sappho" inspired the charming, poetic "Be Mine" ( "and I will be thine.") 'Nirvana", a Buddhist hymn to awakening, " Gone, gone, gone to the other shore," derives from "The Miracle of Mindfullness" by Thich Nhat Hanh but can't help but summon up the spectre of Kurt Cobain. Donovan's own Buddhist inspired sutras can be found in "The Evernow" ("things learned from living in the Evernow") and his vision of cosmic Utopia, "the loving energy" or "what it takes for the universe to shine," finishes this set with "Universe I Am."
Whether you use this music for awakening, de-stressing or drifting sweetly into sleep, it is sure not to disappoint. Set your player to "repeat" for these beautiful songs deal with the Eternal and you'll want to hear them again and again.

What a mervellous album. A masterpiece. If you are a fan of DONOVAN you must have this CD.This album is fresh, acoustic. All the songs are good. This album is produce by Rick Rubin who knows how to extract the essence of a great composer. This album had the potential for a great comeback but it never happend ? I am one of those rare guy who knows how great is this CD.

I have often been more excited about Donovan than anyone else I knew. I can enjoy his simple and peaceful things as well as the exciting phases he has occasionally pursued, because his music is easy to understand as a great melody in a lush setting. I was pleasantly surprised that his ability has not declined as he aged. Someone who has a fixed idea of what Donovan is about might fail to find it if listening to this album for the first time, but the sense of familiarity can emerge if this music is given the right mood. Peace.

I was there when he was there, back in the 60's- with his special knowingness and elegant image-weaving. In the 70's I raised my kids on his sound, his color and his imagination. I trusted them to his gentleness and agreed with his standards about life and love. I wanted them embued with the ageless maturity underlying his sometimes 'youthful' themes. I have had 'Sutras' with me for several years now and have loved it from the first. There again is my old friend- older, wiser, still evolving creatively, still singing about the Eternal Thread with ever new richness. Yes, many will not 'get' this album. The subtleties are not available for all to witness. Those who can receive will be grateful for his gift. Everlasting Sea is a spectacular love song.

Donovan is one of the few musicians to improve over time. Sutras is not for everyone though. You really have to have an appreciation for quite calm- there are no driving beats on this love-struck album. I find it's the perfect c.d. to play as my 3&5 yr. old drift to sleep at the end of a hard noisey day of play. What could be better than Donovan's right on philosophical musings planting seeds in their dreams?