Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Psychedelic Masterpiece, 13 Feb 2006
By A Customer
Donovan's Sunshine Superman record is a work of genius. A remarkable piece of work, not least for being produced when he was only 20yrs old, it contains several songs that deserve to be whispered in hushed tones whenever people are discussing the musical achievements of the 1960s: the title track of course, a pounding piece of pure pop psychedelia, but also Season Of The Witch, Celeste, Ferris Wheel, The Trip and The Fat Angel. These are awesome songs. Full of swirling lyrics, driving bass lines and guitar figures that will last forever.
This record places Donovan in the vanguard of the musical developments of the 1960s. The shock is that only a few weeks earlier he was still regarded as a 'folk' performer. The leap in sound and vision of this record is a wonder to behold, easily the equal of any other record produced at this time and streets ahead of most. It represents a real fusion of sounds, combining western pop, eastern ragas and a sophisticated lyrical romanticism the like of which was completely revolutionary.
That this record is routinely neglected in reviews of the 60s is a complete traversty. Donovan had suggested the future development of his lyrics in Sunny Goodge Street and Summer Day Reflection Song, but nothing prepared anybody for the revolutionary leap made here. But more than the lyrical development are the musical textures created in the record, a tribute to the exceptional teaming of Donovan and Mickie Most, and a hint of what was to come when a partnership was formed with the truly great John Cameron. These textures are what ultimately makes the record. Simply stunning.
The recently added bonus tracks are interesting, but not essential, and its the first 10 tracks which make this record the classic it is. THIS is the record which proved that 'psychedlia' could be combined with 'pop'. The tragedy is that it wasn't initially released in the UK in anything like this form. Some of us paid a fortune to get this on vinyl import years ago. Do yourself a real favour, catch up with a stone cold classic. For less than £7.00 new!
Now, everyone sing along...When I look out my window, what do you think I see?
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gem, 5 Mar 2006
This album and Mellow Yellow saw Donovan at his peak. The jazzy arrangements by John Cameron developed a new sound for him that unfortunately was not sustained afterwards. The best songs on this CD will surely stand as Donovan's masterpieces. The first (title) track does good enough service as a hit single warm-up, Legend of Girl Child Linda is long and veers slightly towards tweeness, but after that the album hits its stride with a succession of masterpieces. Distinctive arrangements - jazzy strings (Bert's Blues), guitars electric and acoustic, & sitars that actually work musically (the trancy Fat Angel). Rhythms hit a slow groove (Season of the Witch; Fat Angel), Sound textures luxuriate (Guinevere, Celeste). If you want to try out Donovan this would be the place to start.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Donovan's best-selling sixties album finally available, 27 April 2009
Sunshine Superman was Donovan's best selling album in the sixties, not least because it included the single Sunshine Superman (For John And Paul), a huge hit both in America and the UK. It marked an important turning point in Donovan's career as he had changed managers, producers and record labels, and developed his sound with the addition of a band of musicians. He also had a brilliant new arranger in the person of John Cameron, whose work on Sunshine Superman was such an integral part of the record.
As the booklet essay describes, these changes turned out to come at a cost due to complications at the British side of the business end, as the new arrangement had been negotiated in America and had contractual complications in the UK which led to huge delays in records coming out, if at all. This seemed especially perplexing in Britain as whereas in America there was a clear change of label from Hickory to Epic, in the UK he remained on Pye.
Sunshine Superman (For John And Paul) had been recorded in December 1965, when it was ahead of its time, but things were moving so fast that by the time it was released the following summer it already sounded as if Donovan was trying to catch up with the times, especially since during the delay Pye had been damagingly releasing older unrepresentative material on singles, such as Josie and Remember The Alamo, and when the album was released that September it was in America only. Sunshine Superman was never released in the UK in its original form, and not at all until June 1967, months after Donovan's follow-up album had been released in America.
If Donovan had been considered to be no more than a folk singer, this album burst out of the folk confines to dumbfound those preconceptions. The songs were based on Donovan's personal experiences and observations, and included Legend Of A Girl Child Linda, about Linda Lawrence; Bert's Blues, concerning a love triangle involving Donovan, the singer Beverley and Bert Jansch; The Trip, about a jazz and folk-rock club in Hollywood where Donovan had been playing; Fat Angel, allegedly inspired by Cass Elliott of the Mamas and the Papas, and soon taken up in live performance by the Jefferson Airplane, who are name-checked in the lyric; and the brilliant Season Of The Witch, best known in the UK in its version by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity. Most of these were recorded in Hollywood in Spring 1966 with a set of hip L.A. musicians including Shawn Phillips on sitar and Cyrus Faryar from the Modern Folk Quartet. They used an array of instruments including harpsichords, celestes and all manner of percussion, creating a palette far removed from the days of pure acoustic guitar and harmonica, and showcasing Donovan's development as a maturing songwriter, adapting and embracing change and experimentation.
The British version of Sunshine Superman dropped three of the songs (Ferris Wheel, The Trip, Fat Angel) and substituted five from Mellow Yellow (The Observation, Writer In The Sun, Hampstead Incident, Sand And Foam, Young Girl Blues), which was also permanently absent from the UK release schedules, and so this CD probably marks the first time the original album has been for sale in the UK.
Mono masters have been used throughout for the album, though among the bonus tracks is a longer stereo mix of Sunshine Superman (For John And Paul) that was prepared for the album Donovan's Greatest Hits) in 1978 (available as Greatest Hits...And More with extra tracks). There are six other bonus tracks including a couple of out-takes, early versions of Superlungs My Supergirl and Museum (a song he gave to the aforementioned Beverley) and finally two October 1966 demos for songs on Mellow Yellow.
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