Donovan
Sunshine Superman

THE REVIEW

Dylan and Donovan.

Unfortunately, it seems impossible to talk about Donovan without mentioning his great rival Bob Dylan. The record labels knew well that rivalries sell, and when this young British songwriter burst onto the music scene in the now distant '60s, there was no shortage of comments on the true or alleged similarities between Our Man and the Freewheelin': a genuine double-edged sword that attracted fans of the already famous Bob but also the ruthless judgments of critics.

But although both drew inspiration from the same artists (Woody Guthrie, Jack Elliot), their musical personalities were quite different, and this would become apparent shortly thereafter. Indeed, while in '65, Dylan abandoned the acoustic sounds that had characterized him since the beginning to embrace the blues, Donovan began a phase of experimentation that allowed him to range from psychedelia to psych blues to British-influenced pop, practically all the genres that were rampant at that time. A sort of omniscient musical superhero, with underwear under his costume and thick sideburns. "Sunshine Superman," which is also the title of his biggest hit.

This album is a small masterpiece of completeness, alternating lysergic elements (which turn out to be the best episodes) like the title track, "The Trip" and the splendid "Season of the Witch", to more bluesy tracks ("Bert's Blues"), to clearly folk-based pieces ("Celeste", "Ferris Wheel", "Guiniver"), and even to raga sounds ("Three Kingfishers").

With this work Donovan proved not to be just a mere clone of the much more famous Dylan, but rather an artist in his own right, inspired and far from easy emulations.

Highly recommended album.