Donovan
photo: Don Hustein/Sandy Speiser
64 articles
Free articles
Donovan: Hurdy Gurdy Man Rolls Into Town
Live Review by Rick McGrath, The Georgia Straight, October 1971
TWO THINGS I found quite interesting at the Donovan Concert last Monday night. First, the Humble Minstrel of psychedelic folk music seems to be running ...
Audio interviews
Interview by Joel Selvin, Selvin On The City, KSAN 107.7, 2005
Mr Leitch looks back at his 40 years in music, from scoring hash in Goodge Street to recording with Rick Rubin, via Alice Cooper, Linda Lawrence and more.
File format: mp3 File size: 35.1mb Interview length: 38' 19"; Sound quality: ****
List of articles in the library
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 20 March 1965
DOUBLE EXPOSURE ON THE FOLK SCENE ...
The Beatles, The Rolling Stones et al: NME Poll Winners' Concert, Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 April 1965
IT WAS THE GREATEST POP SHOW ON EARTH ...
Donovan: I'll Quit After Two More Years
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 April 1965
GIPSY DAVE sat in Donovan's dressing room playing a strange instrument – a leg off a Queen Anne chair strung with one guitar string. ...
Report and Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 1 May 1965
BOB DYLAN got the full star treatment at London Airport on Monday night. A mainly young crowd of about 150 created chaos as the 24-year-old ...
Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home
Review by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 15 May 1965
DONOVAN REVIEWS NEW DYLAN ALBUM! RM Exclusive by Richard Green ...
Interview by Dawn James, Rave, June 1965
Mention the name Donovan and someone, somewhere will whisper — 'Dylan'. For wherever he goes, whatever he sings or writes about, Don is haunted by ...
Donovan Gambles On Anti-war Song About Vietnam
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 2 July 1965
DONOVAN doesn't wear his faded denim cap any more. But this isn't the only change in the life of the young curly-headed folk singer whose ...
Hollywood Not So Hot — say Donovan and Baez!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 July 1965
"I WASN'T exactly knocked out with it, man," said Donovan, having "done" Hollywood and in the process of "doing" a large plateful of ravioli in ...
It's School-Marm Joan Baez Now!
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 August 1965
JOAN BAEZ has turned school-marm. In a Californian town she has started an unusual "School For Non-Violence", where children turn up to sit in silence. ...
The Byrds, Donovan, Kenny Lynch et al: Finsbury Park Astoria, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 August 1965
Byrds' Weak Stage Act ...
Report and Interview by uncredited writer, Disc Weekly, 4 September 1965
WHY DO pop stars get banned from hotels? ...
Protest Songs: How sick will they get? asks Alan Smith
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 September 1965
SING A SONG of protest — and you, too, could find yourself there in the charts. Suddenly a whole flood of these let's-put-the-world-right numbers has ...
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express Annual, December 1965
BOB DYLAN – the undisputed King of Folk. He causes as much controversy personally as do his records. ...
Fun, Work Behind The Cameras At Filming of 2nd T.A.M.I. Show
Report by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 25 December 1965
A COUPLE OF weeks ago The BEAT took you behind the scenes of a recording session to show you that it was not so easy ...
Summertime Songs on the Heat Parade
Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 28 August 1966
THIS SUMMER may rank along with most Christmases for the number of seasonal records it has produced — every radio station's hit list is loaded ...
Donovan: All Things Bright and Beautiful
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 January 1967
At new Wimbledon home DONOVAN talks about shape of things to come ...
Donovan: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 21 January 1967
THAT THERE is still room for audacious youth in 1967 is a good sign. Donovan is an audacious youth, and in the vast monument to ...
Review by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 26 January 1967
YOU KNOW something's fishy when you see that elastic grin on Brian Jones's face for the record jacket The title above tells all: 'Let's Spend ...
Platter Chatter: Albums from The Beatles, Donovan, Ravi Shankar et al
Review by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, February 1967
SUNSHINE SUPERMAN, Donovan's first big "commercial" success, is a beautiful, poetic, soothing, soaring, lyrical, rhythmic, groovy experience. ...
Beatle Blind Date: Paul McCartney reviews the new pop singles
Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 25 February 1967
LEE DORSEY: 'Rain Rain Go Away' (Stateside) Lee Dorsey. It's in the same old vein and it'll be a hit. Sometimes I wonder if he ...
New albums from Donovan, Jefferson Airplane, more
Review by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 26 February 1967
MELLOW YELLOW The Provocative Donovan ...
Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, March 1967
IT'S A FACT. Not many artistes give a thought to the guys who produce their records. Listeners seem to be as bad. Do you think ...
Column by Mike Grant, Rave, March 1967
RAVE man Mike Grant is here again with more gossip on your favourite stars! ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 March 1967
WHENEVER returning from interviewing Donovan these days I feel that I've been the subject of a Sunday School treat. He surrounds himself with such nice ...
The Psychedelic Yenta Strikes Again!
Report by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 23 March 1967
THE LOVIN' Spoonful may soon find their names anathema to the very underground which nurtured them. ...
Donovan: Saville Theatre, London
Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 29 April 1967
DONOVAN AT THE SAVILLE — A PSYCHEDELIC TROUDADOR ...
Donovan: Saville Theatre, London
Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 29 April 1967
EXPERIENCE BUT NO SATISFACTION FOR DONOVAN ...
Donovan: "I Remember Donovan... And It Makes Me Feel Good!"
Interview by Keith Altham, Flip, August 1967
DONOVAN HAS achieved something that at one time I would have thought impossible — he has emerged from 'The Scream Age' into 'The Ear Age' ...
Various Artists: Seventh National Jazz And Blues Festival, Windsor
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 19 August 1967
I've got those Seventh National Jazz And Blues Festival blues ...
Cream/Donovan: The Cream Set Records in Detroit
Report and Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, October 1967
LAST WEEKEND about 4,500 kids proved that Detroit knows good contemporary music. ...
Report by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 6 October 1967
BACK FROM two weeks in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Back to Detroit where the man on the street still gets uptight seeing long-haired, bearded ...
Cream: Grande Ballroom; Donovan, Janis Ian: Masonic Auditorium, Detroit
Live Review by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 17 October 1967
Reviews of Detroit's Big Pop Weekend ...
Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (Dir. D.A. Pennebaker, 96 mins)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Goldstein, The New York Times, 22 October 1967
Dylan: 'We Trust What He Tells Us' ...
Donovan: "I Don't Need Drugs for Strength"
Report by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 17 November 1967
PROPOSES BANNING ALL FALSE-GOD TRIPS ...
Your Guide to the Week's New Singles: The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Cream et al
Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 25 May 1968
THE ROLLING STONES: 'Jumpin' Jack Flash'; 'Child Of The Moon' (Decca F 12 782). Back to their famous rhythm and blues oriented sound here from the ...
A Poet He Is, But The Messiah? Not Donovan
Report by Loraine Alterman, GO, 8 November 1968
GLASGOW'S GENTLEST son, Donovan, breezed into the Plaza Nine Room at New York's famous Plaza Hotel for a press conference. Wearing lavender trousers, a blue ...
Donovan: 'I Put Myself Into My Music'
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express Summer Special, Summer 1968
Donovan is the gentle giant in the pop world. He is largely responsible for shattering the conventional image of the folk singer satirized so beautifully ...
Donovan: The Wind Rises And The Tide Goes Out
Interview by Keith Altham, Hit Parader, January 1969
AT THE OFFICE, off Berkeley Square, of "international" Beatles press officer Tony Barrow, they were organizing "instant" interviews with Donovan. Like most writers I have ...
Blind Faith, Richie Havens, Donovan, Edgar Broughton Band, The Third Ear Band: Hyde Park, London
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 14 June 1969
Following Blind Faith to the shores of a lake ...
Report by Geoffrey Cannon, The Village Voice, 19 June 1969
LONDON — take a sheet of thin cardboard. Sprinkle iron filings on top. Place a magnet underneath. All the filings will start and shift, and ...
The Rolling Stones, Plastic Ono Band et al: New Singles
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 5 July 1969
ROLLING STONES: 'Honky Tonk Women'/'You Can't Always Get What You Want' (Decca). An important single for the Stones, but a disappointment for us . ...
Poet-Minstrel Donovan Plays At Hollywood Bowl
Live Review by John Mendelsohn, Los Angeles Times, 30 September 1969
EVERY YEAR at this time Donovan Leitch seats himself beatifically on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl, plays the gentle poet/minstrel from another time and ...
Donovan: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 18 October 1969
Garden (Madison Sq.) Is Ideal For the Ever-Florid Donovan ...
Report and Interview by Miller Francis jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 20 October 1969
OURS IS AN age of reluctant ambivalence. The impact of the new is devastatingly real, but the clinging corpse of what has been and what ...
Donovan: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 13 December 1969
EVENINGS WITH Donovan just aren't the same any more. In the days of yore, there were always stage attempts to shroud Donovan in the mystery ...
Donovan: Meditation Is Like A Miracle Cure
Interview by Keith Altham, Record Mirror, 3 January 1970
IT IS A FAR CRY from 'Catch The Wind' to songs like 'Winking Blinking and Nod' or 'A Poke At The Pope' but then Donovan ...
Report by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 13 May 1972
Maybe if you're young enough, from a dreary home environment with nothing but a soul destroying future, then maybe you could enjoy a festival like ...
Call Mickie Most 'The Hitmaker'
Interview by Harold Bronson, Rolling Stone, 21 December 1972
Mickey Mouse? What can I say about him? When making an album with the band laying down a track in the studio, Mickey is always ...
Donovan: Portrait Of The Artist As A Desert Rat
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
– a small, furry, herbivorous animal, which possesses the happy knack of elusiveness. Just like DONOVAN, in fact, who's so elusive that even CHRIS SALEWICZ ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
NOW THE FACTS are these: 7-Tease is a concept album; 7-Tease is a massive made-in-Nashville production; 7-Tease is also The Album Of The Stage Show. ...
Singles from Elton John, David Bowie et al
Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 1 March 1975
Elton gets lost ...
Donovan: Flower Child's Second Bloom
Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 7 August 1976
FEW ARTISTS evoke memories of the Sixties as much as Donovan who, even in this enlightened age, still clings resolutely to the styles that developed ...
Donovan: The Graying of Mellow Yellow
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 7 July 1987
Donovan admits he feels a little creepy at his ritzy hotel gig ...
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 24 November 1990
IT'S BIN A long time comin'. Twenty-five years since his first Top 20 hit ('Catch The Wind' in '65) and over 20 since his last ...
Happy Mondays, Donovan: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by John Harris, Sounds, 24 November 1990
FUNNY GAME, this pop business. You can either master its niceties, turn yourself into a big bucks circus and revel in the fact that you'll ...
Donovan: Sunshine Superman/Mellow Yellow/The Hurdy Gurdy Man/Barabajagal
Review by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, January 1995
HOW WAS IT that our "Celtic" hippie friend put it to Queen magazine in 1967? Oh, yes: "Pop is the perfect religious vehicle. It's as ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1996
Donovan’s comeback album, produced by bearded eccentric Rick Rubin, owner of American Records and the man behind The Beastie Boys, Slayer and Johnny Cash’s acclaimed ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Mail On Sunday, 1996
THE CURLY hair’s still there, the elfin face, incense wafts about the room, but there is something amiss. That’s it: Donovan is wearing a suit. ...
Mike Ross-Trevor: "Are We Rolling?"
Interview by Paul Gorman, The Word, May 2004
In forty years of recording everyone from Dylan and Hendrix to Abba and Lena Zavaroni, a studio engineer sees a lot of strange things. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Richie Unterberger, MOJO, January 2005
MID JULY 2004. In the dark-wooded, rich red subterranea of San Francisco's Cafe du Nord a song is building off little more than a two-chord ...
Review by j. poet, Paste, 18 January 2005
CERTAIN TRACKS on Beat Cafe sound like they could be outtakes from Donovan's 1967 album Mellow Yellow, but I'll let you decide if that's a ...
Tripping Out: How Two Donovan Songs Defined the '60s
Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, August 2016
'SUNSHINE SUPERMAN' and 'Season of the Witch' each kicked off a side of Donovan's 1966 Epic Records debut, an album that he's celebrating next month ...
back to LIBRARY
