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Donovan's First Record and One of His Best

Danielle Lane | Horseshoe, North Carolina | 07/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is Donovan's debut album in the UK and it was released on May 14th, just four days after Donovan turned nineteen, so the songs were all recorded when Don was just a Scottish lad. This is a folk type record with Donovan accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica. Though many people of the day were heralding Donovan as the British Dylan, his music is really quite different. True he does play the harmonica, but Donovan has a melodic voice that Dylan, and most anyone else for that matter, could ever equal. "Josie" is one of my all time favorite Donovan songs. I heard him sing it when I was sixteen at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, California and was really blown away. "Remember the Alamo" not written by Don leaves a lot to be desired lyricwise in my opinion, but the way Donovan sings it makes you want to get up and shout. Boy could he get the most out of a song. Of course, "Catch the Wind" Donovan's first huge single is everybody's favorite (if it's not it should be), but Don's rendition of Woodie Guthrie's "Car Car" and the Traditional "Keep on Truckin'' are out standing as is his version of "Donna Donna," which I like much better than the way Joan Baez does it. And then there is "Goldwatch Blues," boy what a song, "If you've a son who wants a good career, just get him to sign on the dotted line and work for fifty years." "Here's your gold watch and shackles for your chain." Yeah isn't that they truth, sometimes, like the lad in the song says, "I just want to take a broom and sweep the bloody floor." And if you don't get what I'm saying, well I feel sorry for you."