Product Overview
Donovan – Fairytale / Castle Classics Audio CD 1991 / CLACD226
UPC 5017615622621
Product Details:
2. To Try for the Sun (Leitch) – 3:36
3. Sunny Goodge Street (Leitch) – 2:55
4. Oh Deed I Do (Bert Jansch) – 2:00
5. Circus of Sour (Paul Bernath) – 1:50
6. The Summer Day Reflection Song (Leitch) – 2:11
7. Candy Man (traditional; arranged by Leitch) – 3:25
8. Jersey Thursday (Leitch) – 2:13
9. Belated Forgiveness Plea (Leitch) – 2:54
10. The Ballad of a Crystal Man (Leitch) – 3:50
11. The Little Tin Soldier (Shawn Phillips) – 3:02
12. The Ballad of Geraldine (Leitch) – 4:38
Studio Peer Music, Denmark Street, London
Donovan – banjo, guitar, harmonica, vocals
Skip Alan (Alan Skipper) – drums
Brian Locking – bass guitar
Harold McNair – flute
Shawn Phillips – guitar, twelve-string guitar
Description:
Fairytale is the second album from British singer-songwriter Donovan. It was first released in the UK on 22 October 1965 through Pye Records (catalog number NPL 18128). The US version of Fairytale was released by Hickory Records (catalog number LPM 127 [monaural] / LPS 127 [stereo]) in November 1965 with a slightly different set of songs. Peter Eden, Geoff Stephens and Terry Kennedy produced the original album.
Editorial review:
Donovan's second album found the Scottish folkie in possession of his own voice, a style of earnest, occasionally mystical musings indebted neither to Woody Guthrie nor Bob Dylan. True, Fairytale's highlights -- "Sunny Goodge Street," "Jersey Thursday," and "The Summer Day Reflection Song" -- use a sense of impressionism pioneered by Dylan, but Donovan flipped Dylan's weariness on its head. His persona is the wistful hippie poet, continually moving on down the road, but never bitter about the past. The folkie "Colours," already a hit before the album's release, is also here (though without Donovan's harmonica). A few of his songs are inconsequential and tossed-off ("Oh Deed I Do," "Circus of Sour"), but a few of these ("Candy Man" especially) succeed too, thanks to Donovan's effervescent delivery.
Tracklist:
| 1 |
Colours
|
|
| 2 | I'll Try For The Sun | |
| 3 | Sunny Goodge Street
Arranged By – T. Kennedy |
|
| 4 | Oh Deed I Do
Written-By – Bert Jansch |
|
| 5 | Circus Of Sour
Written-By – Paul |
|
| 6 | The Summer Day Reflection Song
Guitar [Twelve String] – Shawn Philips |
|
| 7 | Candy Man
Arranged By – Donovan |
|
| 8 | Jersey Thursday
Guitar [Twelve String] – Shawn Philips |
|
| 9 | Belated Forgiveness Plea | |
| 10 |
Ballad Of A Crystal Man | |
| 11 | The Little Tin Soldier
Written-By – Shawn Philips |
|
| 12 | Ballad Of Geraldine |
- Liner Notes – Lorne Murdoch
- Producer – Stephens, Eden, Terry Kennedy
About the Artist:
Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music (notably calypso). He has lived in Scotland, Hertfordshire (England), London, California, and since at least 2008 in County Cork, Ireland, with his family. Emerging from the British folk scene, Donovan reached fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with live performances on the pop TV series Ready Steady Go!.
Having signed with Pye Records in 1965, he recorded singles and two albums in the folk vein for Hickory Records (US company), after which he signed to CBS/Epic Records in the US – the first signing by the company's new vice-president Clive Davis – and became more successful internationally. He began a long and successful collaboration with leading British independent record producer Mickie Most, scoring multiple hit singles and albums in the UK, US, and other countries.
His most successful singles were the early UK hits "Catch the Wind", "Colours" and "Universal Soldier" in 1965, written by Buffy Sainte-Marie. In September 1966 "Sunshine Superman" topped America's Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week and went to number two in Britain, followed by "Mellow Yellow" at US No. 2 in December 1966, then 1968's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" in the Top 5 in both countries, then "Atlantis", which reached US No. 7 in May 1969.
He became a friend of pop musicians including Joan Baez, Brian Jones and the Beatles. He taught John Lennon a finger-picking guitar style in 1968 that Lennon employed in "Dear Prudence", "Julia", "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and other songs. Donovan's commercial fortunes waned after parting with Most in 1969, and he left the industry for a time.
Donovan continued to perform and record sporadically in the 1970s and 1980s. His musical style and hippie image were scorned by critics, especially after punk rock. His performing and recording became sporadic until a revival in the 1990s with the emergence of Britain's rave scene. He recorded the 1996 album Sutras with producer Rick Rubin and in 2004 made a new album, Beat Cafe. Donovan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014.
