On these pages, I'm going to concentrate on documenting Donovan's long and somewhat confusing discography / filmography both released and, in some cases, unreleased. Other material, such as circulating live concert tapes, television performances and home recordings are beyond the scope of these pages. Note that corrections, additions and comments are always welcome! Please see this thread on "The 910" discussion board:

https://dsulpy.proboards.com/thread/14969/donovan-discography

My rule-of-thumb here is the same as it is elsewhere - if I haven't actually heard something, it's not included. This keeps errors from creeping in. Keep in mind, these pages are a work-in-progress as I make my way through Donovan's long career. Earlier pages will also be updated as need be. Major works can be located by consulting the index.

Sixty Four

01 Crazy 'bout a Woman (Jesse Fuller)

02 Talkin' Pop Star Blues (Donovan Leitch)

03 Dirty Old Town (Ewan MacColl)

04 Keep On Truckin' (Traditional)

05 Co'dine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)

06 London Town (Tim Hardin)

07 Isle of Sadness (Donovan Leitch)

08 The Darkness of My Night (Donovan Leitch)

09 Freedom Road (Donovan)

This half hour of early, mono demos from 1964 wasn't released until 2003, although two of the songs, "Co'dine" and "London Town" were released on the "Troubadour" compilation in 1992 (surprisingly, none of the four Donovan originals were released on that set).

The collection itself is spotty – at its worst when Donovan sounds like he's either imitating Bob Dylan, or the singers that Dylan was also imitating. But the final trio of Donovan originals are fine (as is his cover of Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town"), and showcase Donovan singing more like Donovan. "Keep On Truckin'" would be re-recorded for his first album and he'd add it to his live set in 1971. He'd also record another demo of the final song, "Freedom Road," on March 3rd, 1971, though that remains unreleased.

In spite of its deficiencies, this collection is well worth listening to. Indeed, a number of the songs are stronger than some that would appear the next year on his first official album.

Catch The Wind

aka What's Bin Did And What's Bin Hid

01 Josie (Donovan)

02 Catch The Wind (Donovan)

03 Remember The Alamo (aka The Alamo) (Jane Bowers, arr. Donovan)

04 Cuttin' Out (Donovan)

05 Car Car (Riding In My Car) (Woody Guthrie)

06 Truckin' My Blues Away (aka Keep On Truckin') (Blind Boy Fuller, arr. Donovan)

07 Gold Watch Blues (Mick Softley)

08 To Sing For You (Donovan)

09 You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond (Blind Willie Johnson, arr. Donovan)

10 Tangerine Puppet (Donovan)

11 Donna Donna (Secunda, Zeitlin, Kevess, Schwartz)

12 Ramblin' Boy (Donovan)

Donovan's first album was issued in mid-1965 by Pye in England (and most everywhere else) and Hickory in the States under different titles. Whatever you want to call it, it's not a very strong album, unless you're into the naval-gazing early 1960's pretentious folk scene, or love the first Bob Dylan album so much that you feel the urge to have more just like it.

Mostly, the music isn't bad - just boring, occasionally rising above mediocrity ("Josie" is catchy, "To Sing For You" is bearable, and "Catch The Wind," of course, went on to be a Donovan classic). Half of the songs are cover versions of old blues and folk songs.

Some issues of the Hickory album (including the one shown here) flip the cover photo. Issues marked "stereo" aren't (it's been "electronically enhanced"). Unlike the early Beatles catalog, the UK and US albums have the same songs and running order. The Hickory album does, however, have some unique back cover notes.

Don't be fooled by the "Catch The Wind" CD that was released on Garland in 1988, and features the same cover photo and title. That one's a compilation.

"Catch The Wind" / "What's Bin Did" has been released several times on CD, but you're better off buying "Summer Day Reflection Songs," a double CD compilation that compiles all of Donovan's Hickory recordings and sounds fine.

Donovan's second album, "Fairytale" (released at the end of 1965), is comprised primarily of acoustic folk songs, not unlike his first. The difference is that he's lost the irritating Dylanesque twang in his voice and is exploring more sophisticated rhythms and jazz for the first time. There are also more original compositions here than on his first album. That said, there are decidedly some throwbacks – particularly "Candy Man" and the last few songs on the album, which are fairly forgettable, but there are also more interesting numbers which give us a glimpse of things to come. The best songs are "Colours" (which, like "Catch The Wind," he'd re-record for his 1969 "Greatest Hits" album), "To Try For The Sun" and "Sunny Goodge Street."

Unlike the first album, the US and UK editions of "Fairytale" aren't identical, with the former replacing "Oh Deed I Do" (written by Bert Jansch) with Donovan's cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier" (which had been released as an EP track in the UK). Although all of the songs from both versions are available in one place or another in both mono and stereo, you'll need to get multiple sources to have everything.

"Fairytale" has been issued on CD many times, beginning in 1991. All the songs from the UK version (except for "To Try For The Sun") were released in stereo on CD by Sequel Records in 1996 and also released as a DVD audio disc (by Silverline) in 2002. All of the tracks are available in mono on the "Summer Day Reflection Songs" compilation. The DVD also features what they call a "stunning" 5.1 mix which is, in actuality, entirely fake, as well as mono bonus tracks containing the UK "Universal Soldier" E.P. and the "Turquoise" / Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness)" single (which is covered below). A true stereo mix of "To Try For The Sun" can be found on Hickory's "The Real Donovan" compilation LP, while a stereo mix of "Universal Soldier" is on Hickory's version of "Fairytale" as well as the "Like It Is, Was and Everymore Shall Be" and "The Best Of Donovan" compilations. These two stereo mixes have not shown up on CD as far as I know. Conversely, though, the true stereo version of "Colours" does not appear on the "stereo" version of the Hickory "Fairytale" LP, which has a slightly rechanneled version of the mono mix of the song (with harmonica on the break). The true stereo version of "Colours" was later issued by Hickory, however, on the US "Like It Is..." compilation in 1968.

The stereo and mono versions of "Ballad of a Crystal Man" are completely different performances (with the stereo being longer as well - 3:54 compared to 3:19). Mono mixes of both of these are on the "Summer Day Reflection Songs" CD, but this creates yet another mystery - where does that mono mix of the longer version come from?

Finally, the back cover notes for the UK "Fairytale" credit Shawn Philips [sic] with playing electric guitar on "Song With Your Name." Unfortunately, there is no song with that title on the album, which must have confused the original purchasers just as much as it confuses me now.

Additional Early Recordings and Oddities

So far I've covered Donovan's first two Hickory albums, "Catch The Wind" and "Fairytale." That leaves a number of stray tracks from the Hickory era which were originally released on EPs or singles. All of these are only available in mono and were written by Donovan unless otherwise indicated.

1. Catch The Wind (mono single version) - This version has overdubbed strings onto Donovan's original recording. The album version does not have the strings.

2. Colours - A different stereo mix of this appears on the 1967 UK compilation "Stars Of '68" LP from Marble Arch.

3. Do You Hear Me Now - This Bert Jansch cover was originally released in August, 1965 on Donovan's "Universal Soldier" EP in the UK (it was also released by Hickory as the b-side to "Universal Soldier" in September, 1964, and, much later, on the "Like It Is, Was, And Evermore Shall Be" compilation LP).

4. The War Drags On - Written by Mick Softley, this protest song also appeared on the "Universal Soldier" EP, and, later, was the b-side to "Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness) in the States. It can also be found on "The Real Donovan" LP compilation.

5. Turquoise - This lovely ballad was released by Pye as a single in the UK in October, 1965. This, too, was released by Hickory much later in the States, on both "The Real Donovan" and as a single.

6. Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness) - The upbeat b-side of "Turquoise," also released much later by Hickory on "The Real Donovan" as well as a single.

7. Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do - The b-side of Donovan's first single, "Catch The Wind," in both the US and UK.

8. Every Man Has His Chain - Another Donovan original, originally only released on a French EP in April, 1965 - possibly because it's too similar to "Catch The Wind."

9. Ballad Of a Crystal Man - the mono mix of the long version discussed above.

All of these tracks except #2 are on the "Summer Day Reflection Songs" compilation CD. In addition to these, alternate studio takes from "Fairytale" and one otherwise unreleased song can be heard on the "A Boy Called Donovan" television program, filmed in October, 1965 and aired by ITV Rediffusion on January 19th, 1966.

1. Running From Home (Bert Jansch)

2. The Little Tin Soldier

3. To Try For The Sun

4. Belated Forgiveness Plea

5. The Ballad Of Geraldine

6. The Ballad Of A Crystal Man

7. Summer Day Reflection Song (partial)

8. Colours (same as released version, but with an alternate harmonica overdub in the break)

Finally, several film soundtracks (released on DVD and blu-ray) provide a handful of additional performances from the Hickory era.

1. To Sing For You - Donovan plays this song for Bob Dylan & Co. in the "Dont Look Back" [sic] documentary. It was recorded in Spring, 1965. Criterion has released this on both DVD and blu-ray.

2. Colours - This duet with Joan Baez was recorded live at the Newport Folk Festival on July 22nd, 1965. It can be found on the Joan Baez boxed set "Rare, Live & Classic" as well as the CD "Live At Newport" from Time / Life and Vanguard's "Newport Festival Sampler." An excerpt of this performance appeared on a flexidisc issued with the February / March, 1966 issues of "Sing Out!". Even though he wasn't officially on the bill, we know that Donovan also performed "The Ballad Of A Crystal Man" and "The War Drags On," since portions of these performances can be seen in the film "Festival" ("Colours" is in the film as well, but is accompanied entirely by footage of the crowd). "Festival" has been released on both DVD and blu-ray.

3. Universal Soldier

4. Summer Day's Reflection Song

5. Bert's Blues

6. Sweet Joy

These numbers were recorded in Los Angeles for "The Big T.N.T. Show" on November 29th, 1965. The final number, "Sweet Joy," was written by Beverley (then just performing as Beverley - later Beverley Martyn). Donovan would also play the song a few months later on the television program "Rainbow Quest."

Page 1

Sixty Four, Catch The Wind, Fairytale

Fairytale

(US version)

01 Universal Soldier (Buffy Sainte-Marie)

02 To Try For The Sun (Donovan)

03 Sunny Goodge Street (Donovan)

04 Colours (Donovan)

05 Circus Of Sour (Paul Bernath)

06 Summer Day Reflection Song (Donovan)

07 Candy Man (Arr. Donovan)

08 Jersey Thursday (Donovan)

09 Belated Forgiveness Plea (Donovan)

10 The Ballad of a Crystal Man (Donovan)

11 The Little Tin Soldier (Shawn Phillips)

12 The Ballad Of Geraldine (Donovan)

(UK version)

01 Colours (Donovan)