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Donovan's Greatest Hits | 
 enlarge | Artist: Donovan
Label: Sony
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $10.99
You Save: $0.99 (8%)
New (38) Used (18) from $5.63
Rating:  82 reviews
Sales Rank: 1760
Format: Extra Tracks, Original Recording Reissued, Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.8 x 0.4
MPN: 65730
UPC: 074646573020
EAN: 0074646573020
ASIN: B00000ICNY
Release Date: March 30, 1999
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Mellow Yellow | | • | Colours | | • | Hurdy Gurdy Man | | • | Catch The Wind | | • | Lalena | | • | Epistle To Dippy | | • | Sunshine Superman | | • | There Is A Mountain | | • | Jennifer Juniper | | • | Wear Your Love Like Heaven | | • | Season Of The Witch | | • | Atlantis | | • | To Susan On The West Coast Waiting | | • | Barabajagal | | • | Riki Tiki Tavi |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Greatest Hits is the budget option for those who've concluded that two discs of Donovan is a disc too many and zero is one too few. Troubadour, Sony's 1992 Donovan box set, boasts nearly three times the tracks this 15-song single-disc retrospective offers, but Greatest Hits delivers what it promises: "Colours" and "Catch the Wind" from his folkie phase and "Mellow Yellow," "Sunshine Superman," and "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" from the lad's best-pal-a-flower-ever-had period. Also included are plenty more catchy folk-rock hits cut between 1964 and 1970 as well as four bonus tracks, including the delightfully earnest "Atlantis" and "Barabajagal," with the celebrated first-edition Jeff Beck Group providing backing. Donovan's blissed-out liner notes ("Whatever you think this song is about, it probably is") round out the package quite quaintly. --Steven Stolder
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| Customer Reviews: Read 77 more reviews...
 Donovan's Greatest Hits-Expanded June 24, 2008
Donovan Leitch was an icon, of sorts, of the sixties. He was a part of the hippie/folk music movement that began back then. Bob Dylan was one of the big movers & shakers of this movement & many, including Donovan, took up this banner. Donovan was definitely at the front of this movement for a period of time & had some major hits, some of them classic & timeless. This is supposedly the original version with bonus tracks added. Well, it is & it isn't; at least two of the tracks that were on the original vinyl version, as many others have stated, aren't the versions that was on that vinyl record.
In 1969, when the original vinyl version was released, this album went to #4 on the album charts, which was the highest any of his albums ever charted. I was never that much of a Donovan fan so I never owned any of his albums with the exception of this. Actually, I never fully bought into the folk movement, it was generally too mellow for my tastes. Normally, artists of this nature, those that would later be renamed as soft rock, never appealed to me. But, invariably, they would release singles that I thoroughly enjoyed. Such is Donovan, he had several hits that I enjoyed.
This version has the eleven songs that were on the vinyl release plus four bonus tracks that came a little later. "Mellow Yellow" opens the album, it was a #2 hit. "Colours" only made it to #61 & this isn't the version that was on the vinyl. It's pleasant enough but I really miss the background vocals that echo some of what Donovan sang. "Hurdy Gurdy Man" was a #5 hit & is one of my absolute all-time favorite songs. Donovan dispensed a large portion of his folk sound in doing this song, ala Dylan. Donovan is often lambasted for being an imitator of Dylan & I can't completely disagree. The liner notes lists the musicians that play on each track & offer some insight also. On this particular track Donovan mentions that he wanted Jimi Hendrix to play lead on this song but he wasn't available. He ended up with Jimmy Page, also on this track is John Paul Jones & John Bonham before Led Zeppelin was ever formed. So, I guess, in a sense, we can blame or credit Donovan, somewhat, for the creation of that band. "Catch the Wind" follows & this, also, isn;t the version that was originally on the vinyl, it was a #23 single. "Lalena" is next & was a #33 single, a pretty good song. "Epistle to Dippy" went to #19 but it;s on the lame side. "Sunshine Superman", along with "Mellow Yellow", are probably the two songs most associated with Donovan, it went to #1. "There Is a Mountain" went to #11. "Jennifer Juniper" (I cringe hearing this song) was a #26 single. "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" is a pleasant ballad & went to #23. The final song on the original record was "Season of the Witch", a unique song for Donovan as he put aside some of his folk/hippiedom.
The four bonus tracks pick up on the tail end of Donovan's commercial career. Donovan was fading pretty fast by this time in 1969. "Atlantis" is the first bonus track & the last great single of his career, at least domestically. It's one of his best songs & peaked at #7 on the charts. "To Susan on the West Coast Waiting" was an anti-Vietnam war song & is better off to be forgotten; it peaked at #35. "Barbajagal" peaked at #36 & was one of the first songs to feature a reggae feel. The final bonus track is "Riki Tiki Tavi" that only made it #55.
This pretty much covers all of Donovan's charting singles in the U.S. except for three: "Universal Soldier" (#53), ""Celia of the Seals" (#84) & "I Like You" (#66). This is probably all the Donovan you'll ever need.
 Excellent remastering June 22, 2008
This remastered version of Donovan's greatest hit's really hit's the spot. Buyer beware though, the track sequencing has been rearranged from the original. I have the nice price issue of this same collection and the track listing is as follows on it.
1.Epistle To Dippy
2.Sunshine Superman
3.There Is A Mountain
4.Jennifer Juniper
5.Wear your Love Like Heaven
6.Season Of The Witch
7.Mellow Yellow
8.Colors
9.Hurdy Gurdy Man
10.Catch The Wind
11.Lalena
It's not that really big of a deal, just not sure WHY they did it. The bonus tracks are a great addition with Atlantis, Barabajagal & Riki Tiki Tavi. if this collection isn't enough, pick up the entire albums.
A Renaissance Kind of Guy March 10, 2008
Familiarity with Donovan's recordings is essential to understanding pop culture of the 60's, particularly the psychedelic/flower power/Summer of Love era. Donovan had a strong mystical, spiritual edge and a quality of educated refinement and erudition which not only fit right in but also gave the era some class.
This collection is a very good summary of what Donovan had to offer. The versions of "Catch The Wind" and "Colors" on this CD are the original folk (acoustic) versions, as opposed to the rock-band versions found on the original LP of the greatest hits. Why this was done, I don't know, but it's OK with me, because that is how I first knew Donovan, and his evolution into a rock artist had a similar shock value, although lesser, to Bob Dylan's. The thing to remember is that both were folk artists first, and they brought that sensibility to rock music, thereby changing it. And change it they did! "Sunshine Superman" and "Mellow Yellow" not only have fascinating lyrics and superb music, but the vocals - how cool can you get? I love "Epistle To Dippy" because of the mindbending humor and the tight, tight production - a most excellent track, one of my absolute favorites. "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" has colorful imagery, spiritual lyrics and magical music - it's practically a hymn. "Jennifer Juniper" is special to me because it has some French lyrics, and I was learning French at the time it was released. Also, the hot book at the time was "Valley of the Dolls", which had a main character named Jennifer. I always associated that song with her, and it took on added poignancy when Sharon Tate, who played Jennifer in the film, was murdered. "Hurdy Gurdy Man" is a musical and poetic explosion that really blew my mind when I first heard it. "Lalena" is a more personal piece, a somber song about a woman who leads a suffocating life. "Atlantis" has a beautiful spoken description of how that island might have been, and it ends with a rousing "Hey Jude"-style repeated sentence, and fades out. And "Barabajagal" - "Love is hot, Truth is molten..." The song is funky and boiling. What else can I say?
If you want to explore Donovan more deeply, the "Sunshine Superman" album is a masterpiece, with my favorite tracks being "The Trip", "Guinevere" and "Celeste". Also, the "Mellow Yellow" album is almost as good, with "Sand and Foam", "Writer In the Sun" and "Sunny South Kensington" being standouts.
 donovan and sebastian January 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I don't listen to Belle & Sebastian but I recently heard "the boy with arab strap" and some of their other stuff at friends house who's cukoo for those cocca puffs. I suggested to her that she should listen to Donovan because BS are doing the exact same thing he did.
There's a long influential sleeve here.
Donovan/CD January 8, 2008
You just can't beat the old ones. CD came in excellent condition and was fast!!
Roxann Hill
Gecko Girl
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