Track Listing

1. Hurdy Gurdy Man
2. Peregrine
3. Entertaining of a Shy Girl
4. As I Recall It
5. Get Thy Bearings
6. Hi It's Been a Long Time
7. West Indian Lady
8. Jennifer Juniper
9. River Song
10. Tangier
11. Sunny Day
12. Sun Is a Very Magic Fellow
13. Teas
14. Teen Angel [*]
15. Poor Cow [*]
16. Lalena [*]
17. Aye My Love [*]
18. What a Beautiful Creature You Are [#][*]
19. Colours [*]
20. Catch the Wind [*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29267 in Music
• Released on: 2005-05-16
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording remastered, Import, Extra tracks
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Album Description
2005 Digitally remastered re-issue features six bonus tracks 'Poor Cow', 'Lalena', 'Aye My Love', 'What A Beautiful Creature You Are' 'Colours' and 'Catch The Wind'. The album forshadows the coming discontent which eventually drove Donovan out of the music business. The title song, 'Hurdy Gurdy Man,' combines what are upbeat lyrics with a very dark performance. This ambivalence continues in a set of songs with a very bitter edge like 'Teas', 'Tangier', and 'Hi It's Been a Long Time', 'Yet 'Jennifer Juniper' & 'Peregrine', among others, stand in stark contrast. EMI. 2005.

Customer Reviews

The Hurdy Gurdy Man comes singing songs of love
The idea that Donovan Leitch was to Britain what Bob Dylan was to America was always an unfair comparison to make and you have to think if Scottish folk-pop singer's first name had started with any letter other than "D" he might have been saved the analysis. Then again, anybody who cannot listen to the music these two were putting out in the 1960s and not be able to see their music as being opposites is simply not paying attention. Donovan was always the cheerful optimist, while Dylan on a good day was merely being realistic instead of pessimistic. That was just in terms of their lyrics, because once you got to the music Dylan was defined by stark guitar playing sometimes augmented by a harmonica in the style of Woody Guthrie while Donovan was helping to define the psychedelic sound.

In 1965 Donovan was a regular on the television music show "Ready, Steady, Go!" and then had his début single, the folk song "Catch the Wind." That was followed by the hit single "Colours," and then "Sunshine Superman" and "Mellow Yellow." In 1967 he traveled to India with the Beatles to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, after which he renounced drugs and turned on to meditation. Musically these profound changes manifested themselves in the ambitious double-album "A Gift from a Flower to a Garden" and then this 1968 album, "The Hurdy Gurdy Man." The scope of the album is covered in the two hits. The title cut (on which future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham were playing) is a mixture of Indian music with hard-rock, tinged with hallucinatory elements that made it to #5 on the charts. On the other extreme is the more ethereal "Jennifer Juniper," written for Jenny Boyd, the sister of George Harrison's wife, which climbed to #26. If you want to point to a Donovan song as epitomizing his sense of youthful innocence, this would be it.

The only real problem with this album is that producer Mickie Most lays it on a bit too thick in several of the tracks. I like the first two tracks after the title cut, with "Peregrine," a song about friendship that has some Scottish elements in it, and the excellent acoustic song "The Entertaining of a Shy Girl," which offers some nice guitar playing and a touch of woodwinds. But then "As I Recall It" spoils the mood by overdoing the jazz bit. By the time you get to the rest of the album there is a real sense that Donovan has abandoned the stage set by the opening track. In addition to "Jennifer Juniper" there is another odd to the ladies in "West Indian Lady." Then there is an emphasis on nature elements at the end with "The River Song," "A Sunny Day," and "The Sun Is a Very Magic Fellow," which helps the album end on more familiar ground than on which it began.

I was trying to decide if how good the best tracks on this album overcame the lesser efforts, and decided to round up because of "Get Thy Bearings" as the song that is not on the standard Donovan hits collection that would justify having this one as well. Telling this to a Donovan fan would be preaching to the choir and I am not arguing that "The Hurdy Gurdy Man" constitutes the one regular album you would want to have or first pick up when you moved beyond the hits collection. But this song has some of Donovan's better lyrics and if the sound had been catchier it would have made an interesting single. It has psychedelic elements, but there is also some jazz and blues, and some people might mistake it for a Stevie Windwood song, that is, until they listen to the lyrics, which is pure Donovan. This was already a five-star album so added six bonus tracks including "Lalena," "Colours," and "Catch the Wind," was hardly necessary but a nice touch.

Another Fine Donovan Re-Issue!
"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!

Donovan is the Hurdy Gurdy Man
I liked the title song, but not much else on this record the first time I heard it. But after a few months of being in my car (I do a lot of long driving trips) the record started to grow on me. It's not, in my opinion, something you can like right out of the box, like "Mellow Yellow" or "Sunshine Superman," but it's every bit as good. Donovan was sort of moving in a different direction back then. There is a lot of Indian (like in the big country next to China, not Native Americans) influence here, mingled with that kind of medieval atmosphere associated with "Superman" and "Mellow." I don't know, it's hard to wrap my mind around this record that is so hard to define. I just know I like it now, that I play it a lot now.

And on this version I especially like the extra songs. "Teen Angel" originally a B side is just outstanding. And this record is a good place for "Poor Cow" to finally find a home. Also I like that it ends with the versions of "Colours" and "Catch the Wind" that were rerecorded for the Epic "Greatest Hits" record. They work really well here as does "Lalena." The Hurdy Gurdy man brought songs to the people. Donovan is the Hurdy Gurdy Man.