Pied Piper

Donovan is one of the few true-to-his-heart songwriters of that intriguing era. His music highly influenced my own songwriting (I was born in 1960 and caught the 60s as a child, and loved the music). Turns out so many coeval with him lost their way. He put out an album with a song on it in 1975 (gasp) which was basically at the post-mortem time of the whole scene of the '60s, called "Well Known Has-Been". In my opinion, that has to do with the wicked turn the music industry took at the time, which has lead us to this dreadful place in pop music that we are today. But then again I must be a fuddy duddy! So as fate would have it, he then he went and lived his life, having got the girl of his dreams about whom he'd written all along (read his auto-biography), and luckily was able to escape the madness of being terribly popular (all you have to do is look at those who have been -- what would you prefer?). I have nothing but good things to say about the guy, and if I were ever in Scotland and ran into him, I would be delighted to take a beer at a pub if he would.

These are Donovan's 2002 recordings aimed at younger audiences (and at those of us who knew his work in the 1960s, which -- even apart from his albums of children's songs -- was interspersed with songs intended to delight younger listeners). And it is the perfect follow-up to his albums FOR LITTLE ONES and HMS DONOVAN -- he's still in good voice here (and still is in 2017, incidentally), and the spare arrangements are appealing, as well. I only knew about this CD from spotting it on Amazon (it got by me 15 years ago), and I'm glad to have it. The only caution I would offer is that the current (2017) version is an authorized manufactured-on-demand (i.e., burned) CD, and while that's all well and good, I preferred to (and did, indeed) find an older, mechanically manufactured CD. Look for one of those, if you can, and if that matters.

Being an old Donovan fan and looking for music for my daughter I ran across this CD and really liked it right off. I suppose if you like Donovan you'll like the CD, if you're not a fan, well then..... His gentle voice seems nice for kids. This actually was related toa show that he starred in called the Pied Piper. I haven't really seen that so I can't say much about it, except that the one with himin it seems to be hard to find.

...and Donovan has become one of their favorite entertainers. On road trips we bring Pied Piper along in case the kids are grumpy. I'm an all-round fan of Donovan's music. His playfulness is fully evident here.

Excellent

There's a joyful touch in every song, and the arrangements are super. "I Love My Shirt", "Little Boy in Corduroy", "Jackie Beanstalk", "A Funny Man", and so on. Funny Man: "One day a funny kind of man Came walking down the street He wore a shoe upon his head And hats upon his feet." Cute, and executed with the right touch of amusement, and that's sort of the key, the charm. He doesn't miss in any song. Some are lonely, wistful, others pick-it-up. Mostly the latter. My musical taste runs to Shostakovich, Faure, Vaughn Williams and Chopin Nocturnes, Bach, Couperin and Nicholai Medtner. I've had the album since 2004. It's 2019 as I write. Buy this for your grandchildren, I don't think it will disappoint.

I have just received my copy of this new album, and it is wonderful not to be disappointed! Although there are well established songs featured (and new ones, of course) they are all new arrangements, and very good arrangements at that.The songs featured will be well known to Donovan's fans everywhere, but the addition of childrens' voices in places, as well as new instruments, makes for a refreshingly bouyant collection of happy songs. 'Happiness Runs' and 'Mandolin Man...' are already favourites of mine!Also featured on this CD is the Pied Piper's song 'People Call Me the Pied Piper'. If memory serves me correctly this was not used in the film (much, I think, to Donovan's disappointment) but he has performed the song several times to my knowledge here in the UK at least, and clearly rates it highly himself. And rightly so!His new arrangement of 'Colours' will delight everyone I am sure, with new lyric much more suited to the youngsters of the family. Further, there is the story of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' which every child knows and loves, and retold in the song 'Jackie Beanstalk'.'Voyage of the Moon' is a new arrangement where the melody line is very slightly changed. I must say, I prefer the original to the one featured here, but at least it's different. Finally, I can just imagine classes of kids in schools up and down the country singing along to 'Nature Friends'!You've scored highly with this one, Donovan, but please don't make us wait quite so long for the next one. As for the fans, you won't be disappointed.

This really is the worst album I have ever hears. I listen to a lot of kids music as my son has been crazy about music since he was a baby. I don't always love it - can do without some of the kids choruses, or the super-happy singers. But this is ten times worse. The songs are trite, and rhyme badly, Donovan's singing is unpalatable, the orchestration entirey insipid. There is one exception -- a woman sings with Donovan on the song "Colors" and her voice is extraordinarily beautiful. And then, unfortunatly, he takes over and ruins it.

After a six year hiatus from the recording studio, '60s survivor Donovan gave us another album, his third collection of children's music, and his twelfth studio record overall. The man clearly loves the little people, and when it comes to writing songs aimed at kids, he has a long history of doing so, and as far as I'm concerned, no other songwriter comes close to doing it better.The tracks on 'Pied Piper', which is essentially what the Scottish bard is, are never stuffy or patronising, Donovan treats his audience with intelligence and helps to make the youngsters think creatively. Although he decided to recycle mostly old songs of his, with only three previously unissued cuts on the album: 'Jackie Beanstalk', 'Nature Friends' and 'Little Teddy Bear', the classics from the late '60s to early '70s have been revived quite well, each of which were given new licks of paint, and the 2001-02 direction makes them sound fresh and exciting.The album bares it's name from a magical, but largely unseen film production of 'Pied Piper' in 1972, in which Dono starred in the title role, alongside acting talent such as Diana Dors and John Hurt. I have always had a soft spot for the rather adorable 'I Love My Shirt' from his last album of the '60s 'Barabajagal', along with the still very popular, feel-good anthem 'Happiness Runs', which was also on the same release, and so I was happy to hear him reprise both of these on here. 'Jackie Beanstalk', a re-telling of the familiar children's tale 'Jack in the Beanstalk' is my favourite of the new songs, and could easily add a lot of magic to any future stage show productions or feature films based around it, by using it in the soundtrack.'Pied Piper' is an album aimed primarily at kids, but if the little people in your life don't like it, I'm pretty that the grown-ups will, and very charmed will they feel whilst listening. I love this album, and if I ever have children, I'll play this to them from a young age to ensure they do appreciate this delightful work from one of Scotland's finest ever poets.

Durch Zufall fand ich diese wunderbare Donovan CD, die mir auch noch in meiner Sammlung fehlte. Die Geschichte vom Rattenfänger in Hameln hat Donovan immer begeistert. Ich glaube es gab einen Film darüber, oder war geplant. Die CD ist für Erwachsenen aber auch natürlich in erster Hinsicht für die Kinder, wunderbar.

Beaucoup de morceaux déjà connus (9 sur 13) mais avec des interprétations nouvelles et réussies plus quatre ballades inédites pour enfants "People call me the pied piper", "Jeackie Beanstalk", "Nature friends" et "Little teddy bear". La fin de l'album avec "Voyage of the moon" est vraiment superbe avec une orchestration qui ajoute une touche baroque fort appréciable. Il ne s'agit pas d'une compilation avec quatre inédits mais bien d'un ensemble bien structuré destiné aux enfants. J'écoute avec plaisir cet album, je me trouve ainsi rajeuni et reposé. Merci Donovan.

CELA FAISAIT BIEN LONGTEMPS QUE JE CHERCHAIS CE DISQUE......NOSTALGIE!!!!!J'AVAIS TOUT Çà EN BROUILLON SUR VINYLE ET BANDES, MAINTENANT C' EST SUR CD. MANQUE PEUT ETRE LE CRAQUEMENTSUR LE TOURNE DISQUE.....

殆どの曲は馴染み深いものですが、なんと全曲が幼児向けにカスタマイズされて新規に録音されています。37年前に自分が好きで聞いていたI love my Shirtを今では自分の子供が踊りながら聞いています。ライナーによればDonovan本人もお孫さんのCocoちゃんのためにCDをかけたりアコースティックライブを自宅で演奏したりするそうで、なんとも羨ましい限り。60歳近いはずだけど、独特なバイブレーションヴォイスと歌い方は全く衰えを感じさせない、恐るべし。DonovanファンはもちろんDonovanを知らなくても小さな子供のいる家庭には絶対にお勧めの一枚。