Has Donovan Leitch been forgotten? His name doesn't come up very often when
people talk about classic rock even though for a while in the late 60s he was a guaranteed
hit singles machine. Is it because in many ways his music sounds dated, a
product of its time?
Regardless, I've always found that the Scottish rocker and singer-songwriter
was a fine listening experience no matter what style of music he was working in.
When Donovan first hit America with the acoustic "Catch the Wind" he was
billed as the British Bob Dylan, but that soon changed as his work - both
lyrically and sonically - embraced the hippy influenced psychedelic rock of
the era.
Donovan's music can be as eclectic as The Beatles were on their classic White Album. Most people aren't going to buy his main albums these days, so a great way
to own his most famous songs is to purchase his first greatest hits
package. It contains almost all of his chartbusting singles. The most notable
missing track is the mythical "Atlantis" because the song was
released after this album hit the streets.
"Epistle to Dippy," "There Is a Mountain," and "Laléna" were three singles that were never on any of Donovan's earlier LPs, so if you didn't buy these hits on the original 45 rpm records Greatest Hits is a terrific way to own them.
The version of "Sunshine Superman" that appears here is longer than the single by well over a minute. "Catch the Wind" and "Colours" are re-recordings of the original singles because Epic Records could not secure the rights to them. Both newer versions feature future Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Also, many of the songs appear here in stereo for the first time. As you can see, the uniqueness of this set is a good reason to seek it out even if you have some of these songs on other formats.
A 1999 expanded and remastered edition includes four bonus tracks including "Atlantis."
Have you ever heard of a long forgotten vinyl format, the 16 2/3 RPM record? They were half the speed of the 33 1/3 RPM albums that were the traditional standard for recorded music. Most record players in the 1950s and 1960s came with a speed setting to play these long forgotten discs that were considered novelties even during the years they were available. Because most, but not all, 16s had big holes and were 7" in diameter many of them were mistaken for 45 RPMs and at that size the speed allowed for up to 20 minutes of playing time per side. However, there was no true standard size and they were also manufactured to be 9, 10, or 12 inches in diameter, and these larger records played even longer. Just like the other speeds and formats 16s could be played one record at a time or stacked on a changer for continuous play. Radio stations often used the discs for pre-recorded radio shows containing interviews, dramas, and documentaries. More frequen...
Today we're going to find out why 45 RPM records have much larger holes than 78s and 33s. Believe it or not I often wondered about this burning question when I was collecting hundreds of these little seven inch gems back the 1960s. According to several websites, including Answerbag , the reason for the large hole used by 45s was simple. It was difficult for the old 78s, with their smaller holes, to find their way onto jukebox spindles. The large hole effectively eliminated that problem. Strangely, seven inch 45s were often pressed with the smaller holes used for LPs in many countries outside the United States, especially in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Overseas the inserts (commonly know as spiders) were manufactured into the large holes at the factories but they could be punched out if desired. The Beatles' British single of "Love Me Do," pictured here, is a typical example. Why were the spiders built into English 45s? I was unable to fi...
I recently paid a visit to a blog that I read regularly published by my British cyber-buddy, Martin Warminger. At his site, Music Obsessive , he just listed what are, in his opinion, the worst Beatles songs of all time . It's an idea I wanted to steal, and I could come up with a short but bad list, but for the sake of originality I decided to do something different instead. So, here's a list of ten songs by my all-time favorite band that deserve a better place in the annals of Beatles history. Most of them are only known by their hardcore fans. Here they are in chronological order. You can listen to a few of the rarer ones below. 1. I'll Be On My Way The only known recorded version of this very early, 1963, Lennon-McCartney ditty appears on Live at The BBC . The Beatles never put it on vinyl. Yes, it's simplistic and the lyrics even have the audacity to rhyme the word "moon" with "June." However, the song has one of those undeniably cat...
Comments
Post a Comment