... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A different sound than the 60s, sure – but you can't beat Donovan, no matter what the setting. Mickie Most produced, and all songs are Donovan originals – including "Maya's Dance", "Local Boy Chops Wood", "Astral Angel", "Dare To Be Different", and "Sing My Song. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Easily one of Donovan's most successful albums – but also a brilliant blend of folk and jazz that forged a bold new sound in the 60s! Part of the strength of the set comes from arranger John Cameron – an artist that we love for his jazz and easy work of the late 60s, and who's working here with players that include British jazzmen Phil Seamen, Tony Carr, Ronnie Ross, and Harold McNair! The instrumental component of the album alone is worth the price of admission – as Cameron gently blends together moddish and trippy styles, alongside some folksier vocals and guitar from Donovan. But it's also Donovan's own extrapolation of styles of the time that really makes the album a masterpiece – a strange post-folk mode of expression that's almost a British counterpart to the genius of Simon & Garfunkel, but which is arguably darker and more intellectual. Apart from classic hits like "Museum" and "Mellow Yellow", the album also features some moodier brilliance on tracks that include "The Observation", "Hampstead Incident", "Sunny South Kensington", "Writer In The Sun", "Sand & Foam", and "House Of Jansch". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the grooviest albums of the 60s – and the first album in Donovan's legendary run with producer Mickie Most! The sound here is light years away from the heavy Dylan of Donovan's first recordings – and is steeped in eastern influences that sparkle in both the songwriting and arrangements – and which can be most strongly heard in the album's trademark use of tablas and electric sitar! Donovan's vocals are completely sublime, too – done in that raspy, almost lispy style that brings out all the best edges in his songwriting – and the lyrics of the tunes are a mind-expanding array of themes that really pushed the boundaries of 60s pop. Titles include the sublime classic "Sunshine Superman", plus "Bert's Blues", "The Fat Angel", "The Trip", "Celeste", "Three Kingfishers", and the funky funky "Season Of The Witch"! LP, Vinyl record album

A mix of tracks from both "Sunshine Superman" and "Mellow Yellow" albums. LP, Vinyl record album

A US 60s issue of early Pye Records material by Donovan, before the Mickie Most years – with titles that include "Universal Soldier", "Colours", "Catch The Wind", "Dona Dona", "Candy Man", "Ballad Of Geraldine", "Jersey Thursday", and "Hey Gyp". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Easily one of the headiest Donovan albums of the 60s – a record that moves past the simple psychedelic pop of earlier hits, and into a range of mind-expanding themes and styles! There's a cerebral quality here that seems to take hold even on the simpler, catchier tunes – a deeply introspective approach that has Donovan working in a world that's really all his own – less concerned with hit singles, and more focused on a personal journey in music, one that ties together many strands of music borrowed from Celtic, West Indian, jazz, and folk sources. Arrangers are John Cameron and John Paul Jones – and titles include "Get Thy Bearings", "Peregrine", "The Entertaining Of A Shy Girl", "West Indian Lady", "Jennifer Juniper", "Tangier", "The River Song", "The Sun Is A Very Magic Fellow", and "Hi It's Been A Long Time". LP, Vinyl record album

Very groovy set of Now Sound instrumentals based around the work of Donovan. Great LA studio sound mixed with all of Donovan's groovy writing, and the result is some cool versions of "Jenifer Juniper", "Sunshine Superman", "Wear Your Love Like Heaven", and "Catch the Wind". LP, Vinyl record album

Groovy pop instrumental versions of Donovan's hits, including "Catch the Wind", "There Is a Mountain", "Sunny Goodge Street", "Jennifer Juniper", and "Hampstead Incident". The sound is very Brit now sound, with a lot of electric bass, and jumpy orchestrations banked in strings. LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful departure for Kevin Ayers – an album that's a lot lighter and more whimsical than his original fame with Soft Machine! The tunes are extremely playful, and often quite catchy – almost a Donovan-esque blend of folksy roots and jazz inflections – but tuned a bit more towards trippier ends, thanks to instrumentation that includes celeste, electronics, flute, oboe, kazoo, cello, organ, and a wide range of different guitars! David Bedford handled arrangements, and other players on the session include some ex-Soft Machine comrades – like Hugh Hopper and Robert Wyatt! Ayers' vocals are produced with a nicely compressed quality that squeezes them in alongside the instrumentation – and titles include "Joy Of A Toy Continued", "The Lady Rachel", "All This Crazy Gift Of Time", "Eleanor's Cake", and "Girl On A Swing". LP, Vinyl record album

Joan Baez, back when she was really pretty darn amazing – a young, fresh, powerful force in 60s folk music! The set features Baez on vocals and guitar – with additional electric guitar on a few tracks, a bit of mandolin, and some bass. Includes great readings of Dylan tunes "Farewell Angelina", "It's All Over Now Baby Blue", "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", and "Daddy You Been On My Mind" – plus Donovan's "Colours". LP, Vinyl record album

Features Buju Banton, Terror Fabulous, Spragga Benz, Nadine Sutherland, Wayne Wonder, Louie Culture, Brian & Tony Gold, Daddy Screw, General Degree, Don Youth, Donovan Steele, Frisco Kid, Chippie Ranks, and Gary Minott. LP, Vinyl record album

Killer live work from Jug – recorded during the early 60s in Chicago, with just an organ-based trio, and very much in the feeling of the best small-group lounge jazz shows of the day! The material is issued here in a 1967 version, its first release – but the grooves were recorded at the DJ Lounge in Chicago – at a time when Gene Ammons was turning out some very raw, rough-edged material! Organist Eddie Buster does a pretty darn good job of wailing away, and Ammons is in very different, very freewheeling form than on many of his other studio sessions from the time. Gerald Donovan is on drums – and titles include "Fast Track", "Foot Tappin", "Scrapple From The Apple", and "Jug's Blue Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

US collection of work by Brian Auger from the late 60s – released on Polygram, most likely to cash in on the fame he was having with the Oblivion Express group. Not that that fame was that great, though – and frankly, we always like this stuff a lot better, as Brian's funky organ is leaner and meaner, and the R&B influences are a lot closer to the core. The record features some groovy remakes – like a wonderfully baroque-yet-funky version of "A Day In The Life", a moody version of Wes Montgomery's "Bumpin On Sunset", and a crazy 7 minute version of Donovan's "Season Of The Witch" that turns the track into a slow grooving dancefloor number! LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful departure for Kevin Ayers – an album that's a lot lighter and more whimsical than his original fame with Soft Machine! The tunes are extremely playful, and often quite catchy – almost a Donovan-esque blend of folksy roots and jazz inflections – but tuned a bit more towards trippier ends, thanks to instrumentation that includes celeste, electronics, flute, oboe, kazoo, cello, organ, and a wide range of different guitars! David Bedford handled arrangements, and other players on the session include some ex-Soft Machine comrades – like Hugh Hopper and Robert Wyatt! Ayers' vocals are produced with a nicely compressed quality that squeezes them in alongside the instrumentation – and titles include "Joy Of A Toy Continued", "The Lady Rachel", "All This Crazy Gift Of Time", "Eleanor's Cake", and "Girl On A Swing". LP, Vinyl record album

The first album that Momus recorded for Creation Records – a label that provided him with a much stronger springboard than before – which was perfect for the way the singer blended very offbeat lyrics with compelling mainstream songcraft! Momus was always very different than most of the Brit 80s scene in which he worked – influenced strongly by the French work of singer/songwriters like George Brassens, Jacques Brel, and Serge Gainsbourg – but graced with a very British wit, which made for an especially biting style that worked well with the themes of his songs. Momus has a vocal style that's maybe somewhere in Donovan territory, but sharper – and he draws from a variety of European song modes, fitted to the situation of each individual songs – as you'll hear on classics like "Situation Comedy Blues", "Three Wars", "The Gatecrasher", "Flame Into Being", and the Serge Gainsbourg-like "Closer To You". LP, Vinyl record album

Terry Reid's second album – a masterpiece of psyche pop with a sound that's pretty darn great! Terry's clearly heard a fair bit of Donovan in his time, but he's also working in a mode that strings together all the best bits from The Byrds, The Hollies, and The Zombies – into a powerful pop pastiche that's finally getting wider recognition. Titles include "May Fly", "Silver White Light", "Super Lungs (Supergirl)", "Rich Kid Blues", and "Stay With Me Baby". LP, Vinyl record album

Peggy Lee's at Basin Street, but the set's an upbeat, swinging date that's right up there with her studio work for Capitol in the 60s! The album's billed as an "after hours" performance – and it's definitely got the relaxed feel to live up to that promise – a feel that's more small combo jazzy than other Lee work of the period, although it's still got that upbeat punch we love from the Capitol years. The group is directed by Joe Harnell, who also plays piano – and other members include Bob Donovan on flute, Willie Thomas and Phil Sunkel on trumpets, Dennis Budimir on guitar, and Chino Pozo on congas and bongos. Titles inlcude "I Got A Man", "The Second Time Around", "Fever", "Moments Like This", "Day In Day Out", and "Them There Eyes". CD also features a bonus track – "Call Me Darling". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful music from singer Tom Rapp – probably best known as the lead voice behind Pearls Before Swine, but a hell of a solo act on his own! The work here follows in the same moody, melancholic territory as the best ESP sides from Pearls Before Swine – but there's also a bit tighter feel too – not one that's commercial, but just very well put-together – with a vibe that's a bit like some of the best early Leonard Cohen material for Columbia. Rapp's got an extremely unique sound in his vocals – which makes the tunes come across with an eerie quality that goes well beyond their simple lyrical content – and the backing mixes familiar folk elements with undercurrents of percussion and bits of jazzy phrasing – a bit like you might find on some mellower late 60s moments from Donovan. Titles include "Stardancer", "Marshall", "Les Ans", "The Baptist", "Tiny Song", "Summer Of 55", and "For The Dead In Space". LP, Vinyl record album

The second album from the enigmatic Bridget St John – and a slightly more expanded version of the sound explored on her debut! Bridget's still very much in a folk-inspired sound here – but like the work of Nick Drake and some of her contemporaries on the British scene, this album has jazzier phrasings and some slightly baroque touches on some tunes – really deepening the feel of the songs, and giving the album a dark depth that we'd easily compare with some of Drake's greatest work. Studio genius Ron Geesin produced the set with a surprising degree of subtlety – just the right amount of edgey undercurrents to unsettle the tunes nicely – never threatening Bridget's presence on the album, but augmenting the moody spectrums that already came across so nicely on the first record. Titles include "A Day A Way", "City Crazy", "Back To Stay", "Seagull Sunday", "If You'd Been There", "Song For The Laird Of Connaught Hall (part 2)", "It Seems Very Strange", and a version of Donovan's "The Pebble & The Man". LP, Vinyl record album

Trippy late 60s pop from Peter Sarstedt – almost folk-rock, but with a fuller, more mind-bending style that kind of recalls Donovan, or the host of other less-remembered artists who picked up from Dylan and took things in a headier direction! The production is really wonderful – with some light arrangements from Ian Green – and titles include "I Am A Cathedral", "Stay Within Myself", "Blagged", "My Daddy Is A Millionaire", "Time Love Hope Life", and "Many Coloured Semi Precious Plastic Easter Eggs". LP, Vinyl record album

The biggest record that Al Stewart ever cut – as you no doubt know from the oft-played title track – but a set that also stands as a great testament to all the many years he'd been crafting fine music before fully getting the recognition he deserved! Stewart's got a way with words that's like few of his contemporaries – maybe a bit like Donovan, with whom he shares a similar vocal approach – and also a clear early love of Bob Dylan, yet an immediate evolution past that influence – so that the whole thing is very much in a world of Al's own, with some slight 70s mainstream production, but not enough to soften the music into more mainstream AOR – despite the fame of the hit. Titles include, of course, "Year Of The Cat", plus "One Stage Before", "Flying Sorcery", "Broadway Hotel", "Lord Grenville", "If It Doesn't Come Naturally Leave It", and "Midas Shadow". LP, Vinyl record album

An obscure set of roots reggae, recorded in Kingston at the Aquarius studio in the early 80s, but issued here for the first time ever – as a warmly wonderful collaboration between Donovan Joseph, Orville Smith, and Hugo Blackwood! There's an easygoing groove to the tracks that really lets the message flow with subtle, righteous energy – given dubby touches at times, with a nice degree of echo at key moments – and layered with keyboards from Anthony Brissett, percussion from Harry Powell, and tenor from Dean Frazier. Most tracks are nice and long, and titles include "Pave The Way", "I Would Like To Know", "One Step", "Sitting All Night", "Live Upright", and "Devil's Angels". LP, Vinyl record album

Funky tunes and groovy tracks collide in this always-great series! This 10th volume pushes the envelope even further – mixing together tight jazzy numbers with other cuts that have a late 60s pop sound. Tracks include "Watermelon Man" by Monk Higgins, "Jukes Box Chez Saidani" by Philippe Sarde, "Funky Beat" by Claude Ciari, "Sock It My Way" by The Animated Egg, "Les Electroniciens" by Bruno Spoerri, "Rendez Vous With The Sun (part 2)" by Howard Wales, "Guru Vin" by Don Sebesky, "Madrid" by Collage, "What's Wrong With Grooving" by Letta Mbulu, "Skinny Dip" by New Visions, "Get Thy Bearings" by Donovan, "Aubergine Time" by Bernard Lubat, "Spooky" by Classic IV, and "Baby Batter" by Harvey Mandel. 18 tracks in all. LP, Vinyl record album

An album named after and starting with Lulu's super huge hit from the film of the same name – the tune that crossed her over big with American audiences in the 60s, and which paved the way for a short burst of fame on the US market! The album's got a surprising depth overall – a nice range of modes that goes way beyond that straighter soul-influenced sound that other Brit girl pop singers were using at the time – with bits of folk, rock, fuzz, and sunshine all getting some nice play as the tunes roll on. Part of the credit goes to arrangers John Paul Jones and Peter Knight, but this sound is probably most likely due to producer Mickie Most, who gives Lulu the same wide ranging styles he was bringing to his work with Donovan at the time. Titles include "To Sir With Love", "Morning Dew", "Rattler", "Love Loves To Love Love", "Day Tripper", "Best Of Both Worlds", "The Boat That I Row", and "You & I". LP, Vinyl record album

Bakersfield genius Buck Owens is best known for his trailblazing, electric honky tonk sound (on top of hamming it up on Hee Haw), but by the late 60s and into the 70s the ever restless Buck tried on a number of different styles – including well known folk rock hits for this set! Rather than adapting tunes by Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Donovan and others as honky tonk numbers, Buck sort of meets the tunes halfway. (That makes sense – why would he take a turn onto a new neighborhood if he wasn't interested in a different path?) He does inject the Buckaroo twang, but he smooths out his usual punchy vocals, and projects a warmth that would have been impossible if Buck wasn't really feeling it. Great stuff – a left turn for both mainstream folk fans and honky tonk purists, but one worth taking! Tracks include "Bridge Over Troubled Waters", "Within My Loving Arms", "The Devil Made Me Do It", "San Francisco Town", "Love Minus Zero-No Limit", "I Am A Rock" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A heavy-hitting album of keyboard funk that's right up there with the best Deodato work for CTI! Brazilian arranger Daniel Salinas was clearly influenced by the success that his fellow countryman Deodato was having in the US during the early 70s – and he's working here in a style that would have made CTI proud – one that blends larger orchestral backings with tight electric rhythms, jazzy soloing, and a few nicely placed moments of Brazilian percussion! The real star of the set is keyboardist Sergio Sa – who plays Fender Rhodes on the standout track "Staussmania" – a killer bit of dancefloor electric jazz that has a very strong "2001" feel! Sergio also wrote the nice little groover "Baiao" – which comes across with a slight sort of Airto/Hermeto mix of percussion and reeds – and the album also features a great fuzzed out take on Donovan's "Atlantis", plus the super-beautiful soundtracky groove "Like A Rainy Night"! LP, Vinyl record album