Hurdy Gurdy Man

Donovan met the Maharishi and perked enough interest in Transcendental Meditation that after he finished recording A GIFT FROM A FLOWER TO A GARDEN, he was able to lead a troupe of celebs to Rishikesh, India, among the notable names: all four of The Beatles with their wives/girlfriends (John and Cynthia Lennon, George Harrison and Patti Boyd, Paul McCartney and Jane Asher, Ringo and Maureen Starkey), Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence, Mike Love of The Beach Boys. The inspired troupe pretty much all came away disappointed. In fact John wrote Sexie Sadie as a blistering indictment on the two-faced Maharishi (the song was originally titled "Maharishi", same four syllable enunciation as "Sexie Sadie", and George warned him that it could be libelous), John and Paul chronicled Prudence's locking herself in the room in hiding from the guru in Dear Prudence, Ringo left after only 10 days with his wife Maureen, unable to reconcile himself to the vegetarian diet, and some other sources even implied that the Maharishi made overt advances to Mia and/or Prudence. Donovan remained mum on the entire experience. One positive thing did arise out of the trip and that was a source of inspiration for Beatles and Donovan music. According to Paul McCartney, it was during this time that Donovan instructed Lennon and McCartney in the claw hammer style of finger picking which is highly visible on Dear Prudence, Julia, Blackbird, and Mother Nature's Son. For Donovan, the cross-fertilization of The Beatles with Donovan Leitch, resulted in a desire to reach the wider audience of trendier rock which was blooming into the late 60's "classic rock" era. For his next recording, Donovan wanted Jimi Hendrix to play guitar but he was on tour and it was looking like he would call on old friend Jimmy Page again. John Paul Jones and John Bonham would round out the New Yardbirds about to lend their hand to the HURDY GURDY MAN.HURDY GURDY MAN further benefits from eastern Indian classical influences as in previous inclusions of sitar, tablas, and other instruments, but takes these patterns a step further with the inclusion of harmonic drones. Chiefly used in Peregrine, The River Song, and Tangier, the effect is hypnotic. Those who enjoy and are familiar with Led Zeppelin's song In The Light (Physical Graffiti) will appreciate the earlier use of this. Hurdy Gurdy Man itself was released as a very successful psychedelic-electric single and to that date was Donovan's hardest rock song yet. The electric guitar leads swirled around the listener and no doubt Page contributed to this song! It charted to #4 on the Billboard charts and #5 in the UK. In addition to distorted guitar leads, an east Indian tambura is played by Donovan for seasoning on what would soon be labeled the "Celtic Rock" sound and what would eventually form into Led Zeppelin. The tambura was a gift from George Harrison. The other single on the album, also released prior to the album release was Jennifer Juniper, written for Jenny Boyd, sister of Patti Boyd who was George Harrison's first wife. Donovan met both Boyd's in India with the Maharishi. He became enamored of Jenny's free spirited manner which is reflected in the lilting song featuring wind instruments and a French coda. Included on the CD as a bonus track is the third single from this period, Laleña, written about a character portrayed by Lotte Lenya in the 1931 film, The Three Penny Opera. Of it, Donovan says "she's a streetwalker, but in the history of the world, in all nations, women have taken on various roles from priestess to whore to mother to maiden to wife. This guise of sexual power is very prominent, and therein I saw the plight of the character. Women have roles thrust upon them and make the best they can out of them, so I'm describing the character Lotte Lenya is playing, and a few other women I've seen during my life, but it's a composite character of women who are outcasts on the edge of society."Most of the other songs on the original album are uplifting, accessible, pop-rock numbers with a splash of jazz or Caribbean flavor, rounding out an excellent album of the highest musicianship, lyric writing, and songcraft from an era. Get Thy Bearings, West Indian Lady, and Teas are significant standouts, but HURDY GURDY MAN is the one Donovan album I pick out as perfect with no warts. Even the bonus material on the CD is the best addition out of all four of the EMI reissues. Laleña already covered above, is accompanied by its B-side Aye My Love and the B-side from Hurdy Gurdy Man single, Teen Angel, both are fine songs. Poor Cow, the B-side to Jennifer Juniper was written for and used in the film of the same name, another very poignant song. What A Beautiful Creature You Are is a duet sung with the amazing Lulu, an infectious, happy, and slightly sexy song with a wisp of Jamaica Mon! Finally, HURDY GURDY MAN is rounded out by the bonus track addition of re-recorded (and actually better sounding) singles of Colours and Catch The Wind which first made their appearance on Epic Records 1969 release of Donovan's Greatest Hits, when Pye Records would deny them access to his first two hit singles. Including them here was pure genius on the part of EMI!I've given all five of the "hippy" albums, and the small label pastiche Catch The Wind folk album, 5-Stars, but I would like to say that HURDY GURDY MAN, for me, is the 5th Star above the others. Stellar!

Anyone who is a Donovan fan or is really into the psychedelic-folk-rock scene of the mid to late 1960s needs to have the following albums in their collection:Sunshine SupermanMellow YellowA Gift From a Flower to a GardenIn Concert: Complete 1967 Anneheim ShowHurdy Gurdy Man(I would add his "Greatest Hits" album released in that time period, except that songs not found on other albums, such as "Lalena", have since been included on the Hurdy Gurdy re-release CD, and the re-release of Greatest Hits replaced the newer versions of "Colours" and "Catch the Wind" with older and lower quality productions of the same songs. Dumb move!)Donovan is frequently and grossly underated, but he helped define this era. And in spite of getting lost musically and being much maligned in the 1970s, during these years he was second to none -- the Beatles, the Stones, Dylan... (and I was a fan of all of these)."Hurdy Gurdy Man" is Donovan at the top of his game. I bought the original vinyl album when it was released in the 1960s and played it to death. When I went to digitalize all the old vinyl, I realized I had to get this on CD.Besides the killer hits "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "Jennifer Juniper", you have the infectious "Sun is a Very Magic Fellow." A simple child song, similar to his "Gift" album, but so charming! I have been playing this on my guitar for 40 years now. Its such a fun and uplifting song.In the same vein, "The Entertaining of a Shy Girl" is another lighter "fun" song."Get Thy Bearing" is also one of my all-time favorite Donovan songs. Although Donovan incorporated a lot of Jazz influence into his albums, most of it was more along the lines of "camp", e.g. "As I Recall It," "Hi It's Been A Long Time", et al. "Get Thy Bearings" stands out as one of the few really powerful and bluesy Donovan songs.Donovan was also one of the few artists who really did interesting things with Sitar and "Raga rock". Although George Harrison and the Beatles are credited with introducing the west to Indian music, Donovan actually put out more Indian influenced folk-rock music. Although I don't believe there is any actual sitar on any of these cuts, "Peregrine", "River Song" and "Tangier" all have a distinctively Eastern flavor with heavy use of drones, and are all really gorgeous songs."West Indian Lady" introduces a caribbean influence, with flute and bongos ala "There Is A Mountain". Another favorite.And actually, there are no weak songs at all on the original album. The rest of the songs may not be as powerful as the ones I have already mentioned, but are thoroughly enjoyable and complete the album.The new re-issue has some very important additions to the original. The awesome "Lalena" was originally only available as a Single and on the Greatest Hits album. (and one of the big reasons originally for buying that album). Recorded during the same time period as HGM, it fits in well here and is a very welcome addition.I believe "Poor Cow" was originally a single "B-Side" and only released on Donovan album (the Anneheim concert) as a live version entitled "Poor Love".I should mention that the version of "Poor Cow" on this record is overproduced, with strings and other instruments that don't enhance the recording. I am guessing this is the version that was included in the film score. The live Anneheim concert version is a simpler arrangement and far superior. Great song, nevertheless. Its still pretty and a bonus, so who's complaining?"Teen Angel" and "Aye My Love" were originally single "B-Sides". If memory serves me, the A-Sides were "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "Lalena". I destroyed both vinyl singles by playing them over and over on a cheap turntable in order to learn the words and chords for guitar. Very good choices to include!And then there are the additions of "Colours" and "Catch the Wind", two of Donovans best songs. They were some of the first songs I learned on guitar and I still play them today. They are just as wonderful today as the day Donovan released them! And best yet, these are the new/improved versions that were originally on the "Greatest Hits" album, but have since been replaced by older versions.The only weak song on the album is "What A Beautiful Creature You Are." There is a reason this song was never released. Its just a throw-away. However, as its a bonus track, and the only real loser out of 20 cuts, there's no reason to cry over it.As I said, if you like Donovan and "flower children" music of the mid to late 1960s, you wont go wrong with this album. It is a real treasure!

"Hurdy Gurdy Man" was Donovan's 1968 album, built up around the strong singles "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "Jennifer Juniper". Like Donovan's other Micky Most produced albums this one touches upon a great varity of musical styles and instrumentations, with tasteful and original arrangements by John Cameron. Some of the more rocking tunes were arranged by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin - e.g. the stunningly build-up title track, starting with Donovan's silent humming joined by his acoustic guitar and building up towords its climax with electric guitars and drums. The overall sound-quality of this re-mastered version is great!"Jennifer Juniper" is a beautifully arranged pop-ballad featuring both oboe and harp.The album features a handful catchy free and easy tunes among which "The Entertaining of a Shy Girl"and "The Sun is a very Magic Fellow" stand out!A couple of the droning tunes, combing traditional Eastern sounds with Celtic sounds, may sound a little dated."West Indian Lady" revives memories of the Caribbean feel of Donovan's earlier single "There is a Mountain".A few tracks like "As I Recall it" and "Get Thy Bearings" are quite jazzy, and "Hi, It's Been a Long Time" is a great pop-tune, beautifully instrumentated.Among the 7 bonus-tracks several stand out. The B-side "Teen Angel" is an early Donovan composition; a fine melody and a great addition.The album out-take "What a Beautiful Creature You Are" is a fun track with a very catchy melody. The song features singer Lulu. The song ought have been included on the original album.The two re-recordings of "Catch the Wind" and Colours" done for a for a best of album, are both fine, though they lack the charm of the original versions.All in all another fine Donovan reissue!

Love Donovan. Great cd, great value.

Arrived very quickly as usual with Amazon. Due to the record company/management mess up of donovan releases, in spite of loving all of his work, there were a couple of tracks i had not heard before which rank among his best.The rest are first class. I'm very pleased with this purchase. (Also sound is great!)

I now know how old I am

One of his better early albums and good vintage sounding mix.

A personal favourite. Among his best recordings, improved considerably by remastering.

fantastic album, took me back forgot just how much I liked this album stared to collect more on cd to replace the vinal

Was not the advertised item, but I kept it anyway

Sorry, but the updated version of these songs do not appeal to me

good package

The Hurdy Gurdy Man in LP vinile, che dire da Emozione, musica dei mie tempi (Psychedelic classic) memorabili tracce da sentire e risentire, suoni ai me che non si sentono più, il pezzo che dal nome al disco lo avevo sentito su i titoli di chiusura di un film riproposto di recente...allora ho voluto acquistare il disco intero e in vinile naturalmente.Il Disco in vinile ristampato Originale EPIC del 1968 è in mono, ma pulitissimo e chiaro, arrivato mi sembra un giorno prima del previsto, eccellente, forza e grande vinile continua!

Je ne découvre pas cet album que j’ai toujours écouté avec beaucoup de plaisir. J’ai acquis cet album à sa sortie aux USA et en France en octobre 1968, mais pas en Grande Bretagne à ma connaissance. Il a eu du succès aux USA (#20 US) mais curieusement ignoré en UK. Cette version remasterisée apporte un plus indéniable à l’écoute, on distingue bien la voix de Donovan et tous les instruments avec précision, procurant une scène sonore parfaite et captivante.Tous les morceaux sont excellents notamment les deux hits “Hurdy gurdy man” (#05 US - #04 UK) en juin 1968 et “Jennifer Juniper” (#26 US - #05 UK) en mars 1968 qui débutent chacune des faces de l’album. Les autres morceaux abordent différents styles avec réussite : pop avec les hits, “Hi it’s been a long time” ou “Teas”, jazz avec “Get thy bearing”, calypso avec “As I recall it”, hindou avec les délicats “Peregrine”, “West Indian lady” ou “Tangier” et folk avec les charmants “The entertaining of a shy girl”, “The river” ou “A sunny day”. Les orchestrations sont toutes réussies et mettent bien en avant les percussions.On peut apprécier également les bonus avec “Teen angel” et “Poor cow” les faces b de deux hits, “Lalena” (#33 US) en octobre 1968 qui a été repris avec succès par Deep Purple en 1969 (différent mais aussi bien que l’original) et sa face b “Aye my love”. Un nouveau morceau “What a beautiful creature you are” qui est à découvrir absolument. Deux reprises actualisées de deux de ses anciens succès “Colours” et “Catch the wind”, personnellement je reste attaché au version originale.Une réedition vraiment géniale à acquérir sans hésitation.

il disco di Donovan lo conoscevo già. L'ho acquistato per avere una copia recente

1968, Donovan est au sommet et c'est aussi l'année de l'album blanc de ses amis Beatles.Cet album porté par d'excellents hits a un "coté album blanc", il y a de l'audace dans la publication de certains titres qui vont au delà de "simples" titres d'album, pourquoi pas !? et même si cet album est inégal, il reste très réussi, magique.Les hits : le titre éponyme est pour moi le plus réussi des tubes qui ont au niveau populaire porté Donovan au sommet et l'autre "Jennifer, Juniper" est adorable.Quelques morceaux ont cette fraicheur à la limite de la mièvrerie mais ils sont portés par un charme caractéristique, irrésistible de l'Auteur en cette deuxième moitié des sixties.Mais préférés : "Get thy bearings" à l'excellent mise en place et ce ton que l'on qualifiera de Jazzy, "The sun is..." légèrement répétitif mais surtout "The river song" mieux que folk, quelque chose de plus vibrant encore.Excellente chose que cette réédition remastérisée - je ne suis pas sûr que le son soit vraiment mieux, j'avais le vinyl, la simple édition CD mais cela était correct - augmenté de bonus et avec livret intéressant.

:)