Track Listing

1. Lord Of The Dance
2. Little Ben
3. Can Ye Dance
4. In An Old-Fashioned Picture Book
5. Song Of Wandering Aengus
6. Funny Man
7. Lord Of The Reedy River
8. Henry Martin
9. Queen Mab
10. La Moora

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #85905 in Music
• Released on: 1998-01-12
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

This could be Donovan's best work...really!!
"Where has our soft glow gone? To sleep within our hearts" so quoth the bard of all things naive and mythical in the sleevenotes to this,his magnificent fairytale compendium of an album,and that glow is certainly re-awakened by a peaceful cosy listen to this collection of Victoriana steeped music and magic.
Donovan's double LP length excursion deep into the smokey world of sobbing walruses,fairy realms and the dewey evenings of childhood hits the spot in your heart that no other disc of then or now ever could,a sepia tinted land of childhood innocence and spirit inhabited otherworldliness that can actually evoke feelings dormant since infanthood.
From the beautiful cover paintings-the Edwardian children's book style illustrations of the singer lounging in a mysterious meadow in full sailor's garb clutching his storybook surrounded by the songs' subjects in all their cosmic glory,a pot of stars at his feet-the mood is set.
Quiet folky strummings wash into poetry recitals set to trickling catchy tunes and melodies,filled with mystical beasties,goblin trains rushing 'neath thistles and children stolen away by playful fairies to rowan woods,all delivered in Donovan's settling Celtic burr to calm the strained nerves.The whole disc flows like a misty river of imagery and dream,the highlights being an arresting take on the traditional 'Henry Martin',complete with a broad Scottish brogue and Don's patented vocal reverb technique;the ethereal 'Things To Wear',acapella and gently awash with fairytale mystery;foot tapping jig 'Can Ye Dance' set in a whirl of deftly plucked guitar and joyously precise singing;and one of Donovan's greatest songs,the towering and heartwarming 'Celia Of The Seals',the best environmental ditty ever concocted,stuffed with magical chord changes and a beautiful vocal.
Like a turn of the century sweet box,this compendium reveals new goodies upon every opening,hangs together perfectly and does exactly what it intends to do,a treat for all ages who wish to lose themselves in that netherworld of memory and wonder.

The Great Donovan
There is not much add except that Amazon just have selected highlights of the track listings and no mechanism to update the product info on track listings. The full track listing is:

1. Walrus And The Carpenter
2. Jabberwocky
3. Seller Of Stars
4. Lost Time
5. Little White Road
6. Star
7. Coulter's Candy
8. Road
9. Things To Wear
10. Owl And The Pussycat
11. Homesickness
12. Fishes In Love
13. Mr Wind
14. Wynken Blynken And Nod
15. Celia Of The Seals
16. Pee Song
17. Voyage Of The Moon
18. Unicorn
19. Lord Of The Dance 20. Little Ben
21. Can Ye Dance
22. In An Old-Fashioned Picture Book
23. Song Of Wandering Aengus
24. Funny Man
25. Lord Of The Reedy River
26. Henry Martin
27. Queen Mab
28. La Moora

and it stll comes in at 74 (odd) minutes and fits on one disc

A Mix Of Powerful Folk Ballads and Silly Songs
After "Gift From A Flower To A Garden" we learnt that Donovan doesn't always do what his fans expect. There has always been a clear divide between the poppy-rock anthems of Sunshine Superman and the folky tunes of Catch The Wind. So what IS HMS Donovan?

On "Gift" there was a fairly clear (according to the sleeve notes anyway) differentiation between the first disc (we're talking vinyl here folks!) which was more "rocky" and the second "for the wee ones" folky stuff. On HMS the styles are all muddled together.

Now the question is, had Donovan run out of lyrical inspiration when he turned to putting Edward Lear to music (Jabberwocky and Walrus And The Carpenter) or did he just think it was a good idea at the time? Then we have "Lord Of The Dance" and "An Old Fashioned Picture Book" which again weren't original lyrics.

I don't know what it is (how can you really analyze musical creativity?) but I love this album. Something "magic" brings the lyrics and Donovan's often folk-based music together to be greater than the sum of the parts.

What was once an expensive double album on vinyl or a rare deletion, is now one £12 CD from BGO, it represents a jolly good listen - and one you can repeatedly enjoy, say every 6 months to a year.

I would recommend listening to Coulter's Candy, Celia Of The Seals, Little Ben, Can Ye Dance, Lord Of The Reedy River, Henry Martin, Queen Mab and La Moora. I'm not so sure about "The Pee Song" which is really quite embarrassing. The poetry set to music is not so good though.

If you have some Donovan albums but not this one - go for it :) If you don't know his material - try his "Greatest Hits" and "Gift" first.