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Rating: How to best craft a heterogeneous album that includes folk elements, psychedelic features, Eastern influences, and everything that the British invasion had to offer during the legendary '60s???
Donovan finds his answer in this album; at the time of its release, it was considered one of his most successful works, although today it begins to slightly show the signs of time passing inexorably, especially in the first electric part. Yes, because this album actually stems from the ashes of two previous records, both released in 1967, namely “Wear your love like heaven” (electric) and the more successful “For little ones” (acoustic).
However, the contrast of material of such different nature does not tarnish the overall value of the album; rather, it strengthens it, making the listener part of genuine delights such as “Someone’s singning”, “There was a time”, “Epistle to Derrol” (dedicated to banjoist Derrol Adams), “Starfish on the toast”, “The tinker and the crab” but also (to be completely honest) some rare embarrassing episodes, such as the Arabian-inspired “The enchanted gipsy”. For the more meticulous, one might highlight the absence of a song that stands out above the others, as had been the case with “Catch the wind”, “Colours”, “Sunshine superman”, “Mellow yellow" for previous album releases, but it’s also true that, even without containing many hits, the album is generally of more than good quality.
It remains a fundamental work to better understand the musical reality of that much-praised golden age of music, primarily because it is very well-crafted, but also because it is the only album that unites and reconciles the two souls of the Scottish songwriter, namely that of the melancholic minstrel emulating Dylan and that of the rocker capable of distilling pure psychedelia and acid-rock pills like few others.
Interestingly, musicians of the caliber of Jack Bruce (Cream) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) are also present to contribute to the success of this album.
In the end, those who did not live through that period and are entirely ignorant of the social and musical context that produced this and a thousand other albums of the era will necessarily struggle a bit to immerse themselves in the magical and, let’s face it, somewhat dated charm of Donovan; a musician whose career has been characterized by a continual alternation of ups and downs, it is true, but who perhaps today remains too often unjustly in the shadows.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 The Enchanted Gypsy (03:21)
Donovan Leitch
The Enchanted Gypsy
A day once dawned,
As sleepers yawned
A day of leaves so green-i-o
That a man rode high
In the tinker’s sky
And begged me to go running-o
And follow the path of the Gypsy-o
Seaweed clings to ruby rings
On the fingers of my lady-o
And the people in the town
They would not look round
To see me go running-o
On the trail of the Enchanted Gypsy-o
I passed the glade
And took near shade
Beneath an oak so twisty-o
And a vision I saw
As the crow did craw
No more did I go searching-o
One the trail of the Enchanted Gypsy-o
Seaweed clings to ruby rings
On the fingers of my lady-o
And the people in the town
They would not look round
To see me go running-o
On the trail of the Enchanted Gypsy-o
His caravan
Was painted by hand
That’s touched every pebble in the ocean-o
And the pictures there
They move in thin air
There forever telling-o
The tails of the Enchanted Gypsy-o
Seaweed clings to ruby rings
On the fingers of my lady-o
And the people in the town
They would not look round
To see me go running-o
For to follow the path of the Gypsy-o
(La la la la la la la la x6)
03 Voyage Into the Golden Screen (03:15)
In the golden garden bird of peace
Stands the silver girl the Wild Jewels niece
Paints and pretty colors Children’s drawings on the wall
Look of doubt I cast you out be gone your ragged call
In the forest thick a trick of light
Makes an image magnet to my sight
Gown of purple velvet enchanted glazed eye
The sound of wings and sparkling rings behold a crimson sky
Tread to light so not to touch the grass
Breathe the air so slowly as you pass
Silent sudden dewdrop remains unseen until
Eyes to fall to hidden call the power of Love and Will
Symphonies of seaweed dance and swoon
Surreal celestial shore beneath the moon
See the dark and mighty peaks pierce the cumulus
Violet and mauve they power you can sus’
Elvin fingers clutch a deep black cloak of fine damask
Aged rock incarnate lie reveal a jeweled cask
04 Isle of Islay (02:24)
How high the gulls fly
O'er Ilay
How sad the farm lad
deep in play
Felt like a grain on your sand
How well the sheep's bell
music makes
Roving the cliff
when fancy takes
Felt like a tide left me here
How blessed the forest
with birdsong
How neat the cut peat
laid so long
Felt like a seed on your land
07 The Tinker and the Crab (02:55)
On the windy beach the sun is shining through with
weather fair
White horses riding on the seas pasture onto the
sand
Over the Dunes came a travelling man
Sack on back Wild flowers in his hand
Old rusty cans, pebbles 'bedded in the sand stand
and stare
Scratching his beard through the grass he steered
his sandy shoe
Disappearing in the dips pondering and wandering
along
Nice as you please comes the travelling man
Drinking a bottle of milk in his hand
Speaking to no one in particular but happily
Down where the gulls dance driftwood lying drying
for the fire
Yellow beak and sleek now the gulls are crying
flying higher
Out from the sea came a little green Crab
Taking the Sun the morning being very drab
Old rusty cans, pebbles 'bedded in the sand stand
and stare
The Tinker and the Crab
The Tinker and the Crab
The Tinker and the Crab
09 The Lullaby of Spring (03:27)
Spring has showered frae a drip
Splash and trickle running,
Plant has flowered in the sand
Shell and pebble sunning;
So begins another spring,
Green leaves under berries,
Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by
Mother bird eating cherries
In the misty, tangled sky,
Fast a wind is blowing
In a new born rabbit's heart
River life is flowing
So begins another spring,
Green leaves under berries,
Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by
Mother bird eating cherries
From the dark and wetted soil,
Petals are unfolding
From the stony village >Kirke<
Easter bells of old ring
So begins another spring,
Green leaves under berries,
Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by
Mother bird eating cherries
Spring has flowered frae a drip,
Slash and trickle running
Plant has flowered in the sun
Shell and pebble sunning
So begins another spring
Green leaves under berries,
Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by
Mother bird eating cherries
10 The Magpie (01:31)
The Magpie is a most illustrious bird
dwells in a diamond tree
one brings sorrow and one brings joy
sorry and joy for me
The Magpie is a most royal bird
black and blue as night
I would that I had feathers three
black and blue and white
I saw the gentle Magpie bird
in the dusky yestereve
one brings sorrow and one brings joy
sorrow and joy for me....
sorrow and joy for me....
11 Starfish-On-The-Toast (02:45)
Fine rock pooling coast
this starfish on the toast
the men in the crabbing boats they cry
Far across the harbor
and 'round the sandy cove
the shepard with his pipe and sheepy drove
big cloud tumbling high
the amazing flying sky
how the gulls are pillaging the town
fan faring daffodilly
trumpetingly small
all along the bathing hut wall
far across the empty beach
the tide has left this world
old men in tweed find study there
Holding whelks and periwinkles
tingling in his hand
little does he know they hold him too
Fine rock pooling coast
this starfish on the coast
the men in the crabbing boat they cry....
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By luludia
Donovan is simple, and being simple is the most difficult thing in the world.
You touch the sky with a finger, and that’s it.
