There Is An Ocean

01 Sailing Homeward

02 Two Types Of People

03 Sailing Homeward

04 If You Like To Dance

05 The Pee Song

06 The Very Thing

07 The Garden

08 Electric Moon

09 It's Got To Be Gas

10 Barabajagal Came To Blythe Fair

11 Two Days Late

12 Your Love Is Taking Me Higher

13 Sailing Homeward

14 Riki Tiki Tavi

15 When The Good Moon Rise

16 Happy Birthday

17 Twist And Shout

18 The Little White Road

19 There Is An Ocean

In the spring and summer of 1970, Donovan and the "Open Road" band ("Candy" John Carr and Mike Thompson) traveled on Donovan's yacht for what was to be a year-long tour, undertaken primarily to keep him out of the U.K. for tax reasons. This short film, directed by Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon, documents their sojourn in the Greek islands. Somewhat surprisingly, the dip in the quality of Donovan's songwriting, as heard on the "Open Road" album, is not as evident here, and the strongest songs on the film's soundtrack are arguably better than anything on that album.

Before I continue, I should explain that there are two different edits of "There Is An Ocean." A DVD of the 38 minute version was released on the "Try For The Sun" boxed set (which is why I'm including it here). The longer edit runs just over 50 minutes and includes some additional music, listed above. And they are two different versions - you can't simply edit down the longer version and end up with the shorter one.

As for the songs, Donovan would perform "Sailing Homeward" in the "Pied Piper" film in 1972 (although no soundtrack album was released). That song and "There Is An Ocean" would be re-recorded for 1973's "Essence To Essence" LP. "The Pee Song" would (unfortunately) be released on 1971's "HMS Donovan" album, as would "The Little White Road." Donovan would re-record "In The Garden" many years later, releasing it as a bonus track on the Japanese CD of the 1996 album "Sutras." He also recorded studio versions of "Barabajagal Came To Blythe Fair" and "Two Days Late," though neither of these was officially released.

Although little more than a glorified home movie, "There Is An Ocean" is certainly worth watching (it's readily accessible on YouTube), as it features a handful of obscure songs and gives us an interesting look at Donovan's life and career at a pivotal moment.

Buried Treasures

The Morgan Studios Sessions 1970

01 Over Grown Gardens Of Dream

02 John Riley

03 Two Lovers

04 Days In Silence

05 Dream

06 Can Ye Dance

07 And Clett Makes Three

08 The Moon In Capricorn +

09 Willy 'O Windsboro

10 Lord Of The Universe ++

11 Honey Mouth (aka Open Up Your Heart)

12 Song Of The Wandering Aengus

+ See the "Moon In Capricorn" discussion on page 4.

++ See the "Barabajagal Demos" discussion on page 5.

All songs written by Donovan except "John Riley" and "Willy O'Windsboro" (which are traditional) and "Song Of The Wandering Aengus," which is set to a poem by W.B. Yeats.

This collection of mono demos was released by Donovan in 2016 on a CD-R available through his website. The first thing I should mention is that, in spite of the album's title, these performances were probably not all recorded in 1970, nor necessarily even recorded at Morgan Studios. The album's artwork shows a master tape dated July 19th, 1970, which suggests that these songs were compiled at that time. Donovan himself says there are hundreds of unreleased tapes in his possession, but only two volumes of "Buried Treasure" have been issued, and it appears now that the series has stopped.

As for the songs themselves, Donovan would continue to work on "Over Grown Gardens Of Dream," since a different demo can be heard on the second volume of "Buried Treasures." He'd performed a different arrangement of "Two Lovers" both live and on the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" in 1968, and would return to the song on the "Sensual Donovan" album in 1971 (unreleased until 2012) and again for the 2004 album "Beat Café." A different demo of it is also included on "Buried Treasures 1971" (see next page). "Can Ye Dance" was performed on the Andy Williams Show in 1969, and would later be re-recorded for "HMS Donovan." "And Clett Makes Three" refers to the name of the third island that Donovan had purchased. The recording of "Moon In Capricorn" on "Buried Treasures" the same one I previously discussed as part of the unreleased "Moon In Capricorn" album. Donovan performed "Willy 'O Windsboro" at his June, 1969 concert at Hyde Park (suggesting the time-frame this demo might have been recorded). He had also performed "Lord Of The Universe" live as early as 1968 and would also re-record it for his album "Beat Café" in 2004. "Song Of The Wandering Aengus," where Donovan sets William Butler Yeats' poem to music, had also been performed live in 1968. Although the performance on "Buried Treasures" is very similar, this is not the same recording that was eventually issued on "HMS Donovan."

Some of these demos might have originally been part of the unreleased "Moon In Capricorn" album (see page 4), but there's no way to tell. Unfortunately, unlike The Beatles, there's been no published research into Donovan's recording sessions (if such information even survives), so with these and some of the following demos I'll be discussing, there's little to go by to date them. Nonetheless, these performances are an important and enjoyable part of Donovan's recorded legacy and this CD is well worth hunting up.

More Demos - ca. 1970

01 Barabajagal Came To Blythe Fair

02 Christo (#1)

03 Christo (#2)

04 Everlasting Sea

05 I've Got A Call

06 Lady Of The Lemon Tree /

     The Trouble With Me / Changes

07 Maria, Maria

08 Saccharin Sue

09 Seeking Sorrow's Joy

10 Song For David Crosby

11 Get Myself Together

12 The Runaway (not overdubbed)

13 John Riley (stereo)

14 Here Come The Threes

These demos sound, to me, as if they come from a later period than the ones discussed above. "Barabajagal Came To Blythe Fair" was also performed in the "There Is An Ocean" film (discussed above). "Christo" is a touching song that Donovan wrote about his close friend, "Gypsy" Dave Mills, the lyrics of which are published in Donovan's 1971 book "Dry Songs And Scribbles."  One of the two available takes was uploaded to Donovan's webpage when Mills died in 2019, so I guess you can consider it semi-released. "Everlasting Sea" would be re-recorded in 1990 for "Celtia" (aka "Gaelia") and again in 1996 for "Sutras." This demo is the best of them. A medley of songs begins with "Lady Of The Lemon Tree." The lyrics for this, untitled, are lso in "Dry Songs And Scribbles," where the line is changed to "Lady Of The Lemon Tea." This runs into "The Trouble With Me" (my title), and "Changes," an early version of the lead-off song from "Open Road." I discussed "The Maria Trilogy" above. The performance of "Maria, Maria" is a separate performance of one part of it. This version of "Saccharin Sue" is different than the one heard on "Buried Treasures 1971" (see the next page). With revamped lyrics, it would be released as "Only To Be Expected" on 1980's "Neutronica" LP. "Seeking Sorrow's Joy" (also my title) is the first verse of another untitled poem from "Dry Songs And Scribbles." It runs only 28 seconds. Conversely, "Song For David Crosby" (often bootlegged as "I Spoke To Willie") runs over six minutes, and is a letter-in-song to David Crosby. Two versions of this performance circulate, one slightly longer because Donovan sings a wrong word at one point, stops and then continues with the correct lyric (on the other version, someone has edited out the breakdown). "Get Myself Together" is pretty awful. I'm throwing it in with these demos because Donovan also performed it at the Isle of Wight concert in August, 1970. "The Runaway" is the same performance discussed under the "Barabajagal" demos on page five, but this version hasn't been overdubbed. A mono mix of "John Riley" can be heard on "Buried Treasures 1970" (see above), though a stereo mix of the song also circulates. "Here Come The Threes" was Donovan's contribution to a 30th birthday tape for John Lennon. This was broadcast on "The Lost Lennon Tapes" radio series.