01 Rock And Roll Souljer

02 Your Broken Heart

03 Salvation Stomp

04 The Ordinary Family

05 Ride-A-Mile

06 Sadness

07 Moon Rok

08 Love Of My Life

09 The Voice Of Protest

10 How Silly

11 The Great Song Of The Sky

12 The Quest

All songs written by Donovan.

7-Tease

The slide into mediocrity continues. Somehow, "7-Tease," released at the end of 1974, manages to be even worse than Donovan’s previous two studio albums. The lead-off number, "Rock And Roll Souljer," is cringe-worth and trite. "Your Broken Heart" and "Sadness" are decent songs, but the unadorned performances on "Live In Japan - Spring Tour 1973" are superior. "Salvation Stomp" almost sounds like a parody of Dixieland jazz. "The Ordinary Family" can also be heard on "Live In Japan" and seen in the "Donovan In Concert" BBC program from 1972. It wasn’t a good song there, and isn’t a good song here, either. "Ride-A-Mile" is bland and eminently forgettable. "Love Of My Life" sounds more like the old Donovan, with a meaningful lyric and nice melody. Unfortunately, like much of "7-Tease," it's over-burdened with unnecessary strings and backup vocals. "The Voice Of Protest" steals from "The Voyage Of The Moon" (on "HMS Donovan"), which is the best thing about it, while "How Silly" appropriates the melody of "A Funny Man" from that same album. "The Great Song Of The Sky," similarly, seems like a rewrite of "Only The Blues" from "Cosmic Wheels." The last track "The Quest," is pleasant enough, but, like many of the other songs on "7-Tease," is pretty much forgettable as soon as you’ve finished listening to it - if you get that far.

All in all, "7-Tease" comes off as the spotty work of an artist in the midst of an identity crisis, looking in all the wrong places for an antidote to his declining popularity in the charts.

"7-Tease" has been released several times on CD, first as a 2-fer with "Slow Down World" by Edsel and later by Repertoire. You’ll want the Edsel version, since the other CD is brickwalled and sounds uniformly awful. There are also two solo acoustic outtakes from the album, "Age Of Treason" and "What The Soul Desires." Recorded on September 13th, 1974 in Los Angeles, both are available on the "Troubadour" boxed set (as well as the Repertoire CD for those of you who are going deaf). Frustratingly, both songs are better than anything on "7-Tease" itself, sadly indicative of a road not taken. Epic issued a mono / stereo promo single of "Rock And Roll Souljer" - again, the mono mix sounds like a fold-down of the stereo. The commercial release (in stereo) had "How Silly" on the other side.

01 Dark-Eyed Blue Jean Angel

02 Cryin' Shame

03 The Mountain (Derroll Adams)

04 Children Of The World

05 My Love Is True (Love Song) (Derroll Adams)

06 A Well Known Has-Been

07 Black Widow

08 Slow Down World

09 Liberation Rag

10 Earthquake View (bonus track on 2018 CD)

11 Black Gal Swing (bonus track on 2018 CD)

All songs written by Donovan except as noted.

Slow Down World

The difference on "Slow Down World" (1976) from the previous few albums is immediately apparent, as the lovely ballad "Dark-Eyed Blue Jean Angel" starts things off with the familiar sound of Donovan's acoustic guitar and accompanying flute. "Cryin’ Shame" is also appealing, and this recording would reappear on Donovan’s "Eco~Song" compilation in 2019 (along with two other songs from this album, "Children Of The World" and the title track). Perhaps he was reconnecting to his roots, since two of the best songs on "Slow Down World" were written by Derroll Adams, for whom Donovan had written "Epistle To Derroll," the closing number of "A Gift From A Flower To A Garden." Indeed, the first of these, "The Mountain" might just be the best song on the album. Donovan himself certainly likes it, since the same performance was reissued on both "Banjoman," a 2002 tribute album for Adams (along with "My Love Is True (Love Song)," the other Adams composition), as well as Donovan’s "Ritual Groove" double album in 2010. The Indian-flavored "My Love Is True" is a successful example of what Donovan’s style should have sounded like all along, given the fuller production styles of the 1970’s. "A Well Known Has-Been" is one of the few up-beat numbers on "Slow Down World." The lyrics, however, are anything but. It’s tempting to see this as Donovan reflecting on the decline of his career at this time, but the song was already several years old – a plaintive, acoustic arrangement was included in the BBC "Donovan In Concert" program from 1972. The song "Slow Down World," similarly, had been around for years (there’s a tape of Donovan playing it at the Isle of Wight concert in August, 1970).

(Mostly) gone is the ill-fitting mantle of rock ’n’ roller that Donovan had been sporting lately while the lyrics on "Slow Down World" are a clear improvement on the previous few albums as well, and the melodies both more intricate and interesting. "Slow Down World" may not be full of A-list material, compared to Donovan’s ’60’s albums, but at least it sounds like the work of the same artist. Except for "HMS Donovan," it’s his best work of the decade.

In discographical terms, however, "Slow Down World" is a problem. It was first issued on CD as a 2-fer with "7-Tease" by Edsel Records in 2004. That CD sounds fine, but two of the songs have been faded early - "A Well-Known Has-Been" from to 7:22 to 6:44, and "Black Widow" from 5:42 to 5:23 in order to fit the two albums on an 80 minute CD (neither song loses much of any musical value, by the way). Donovan Discs issued their own CD of "Slow Down World" in 2018, but apparently used the Edsel disc as their source rather than the LP master tape, since both the sound quality and early fades are identical. You still need that release, however, since two bonus tracks have been added to the album, "Earthquake View" and "Black Gal Swing." These two songs were previously bouncing around the internet in inferior quality on a bootleg compilation titled "The Country Album" (which I'll talk about later), but this is the first time they’ve been officially released. To sum up, you need the original vinyl of "Slow Down World" for the two unabridged songs and the Donovan Discs CD of "Slow Down World" for the two bonus tracks.

Epic once again issued a mono / stereo promo single, this time of the edited "A Well-Known Has-Been" the mono mix of which, as usual, sounds like a fold-down of the stereo. This time around, the stereo commercial release had "Dark-Eyed Blue Jean Angel" as the b-side.

Two outtakes / early demos circulate from "Slow Down World" - "A Well Known Has-Been" and "Cryin’ Shame" (with a much different arrangement). An interview single produced by The Presbyterian Church was also issued to radio stations around this time, as part of the "What’s It All About?" series. Amid musical excerpts from his catalog (including “Children Of The World”), Donovan looks back at his role in the 1960’s, and talks about spirituality and being a teacher as much as an entertainer. The original release of this had the Donovan interview on one side, and Barry White on the other. The same Donovan interview was issued again in June, 1978, this time with several members of Chicago interviewed on the other side.

Donovan

In 1977, Donovan changed labels - moving to Rak Records in the UK and Arista in the States. It also saw his reunion with long-time producer Mickie Most and arranger John Cameron. This sounds good, but, judging by the end result, it hardly mattered. "Donovan" isn't really a terrible album, just a somewhat generic attempt to make commercial music again. To be fair, "Local Boy Chops Wood" (which Donovan describes as "a tribute to Brian Jones") is kind of catchy. "Astral Angel" is a good song, but a little too reminiscent at times of The Rolling Stones' "No Expectations." The next few numbers break no new musical ground. Certainly, "Dare To Be Different," which was chosen to be the single from the album, sounds like disposable radio fare (this was also issued as a stereo / mono promo 45). The US b-side is "International Man," while the UK uses "Sing My Sing." Both are just as forgettable. This performance of "Brave New World" would be included in the 2019 "Eco~Song" compilation. "Lady Of The Stars" is probably the best song on the album, though the version here is over-produced. Along with "Local Boy Chops Wood," Donovan would re-record it for his "Lady Of The Stars" album in 1983 where the song is, unfortunately, even more over-produced. "Maya's Dance" is a lovely acoustic number. Too bad the rest of the album didn't follow suit.

The US and UK versions of "Donovan" contain the same songs, but in a different running order (the US version is shown to the right). BGO released the album on CD in 2000, using the US running order, but not the US master tape, since the song "Brave New World" is 19 seconds longer on the UK vinyl compared to the original Arista pressing, and the CD uses the longer version (as does the later "Eco~Song" compilation).

01 Local Boy Chops Wood (A Death In The Sixties)

02 Astral Angel

03 The Light

04 Dare To Be Different

05 Brave New World

06 Lady Of The Stars

07 International Man

08 Sing My Song

09 Maya's Dance

10 Kalifornia Kiddies

All songs written by Donovan.

Bottom Line 1976

On April 10th, 1976, one of Donovan’s shows at New York’s "The Bottom Line" was simulcast on four major FM stations (including WNEW in New York, which is the source here). On this CD (released in 2019) the original 90 minute broadcast has been edited down to fit on an 80 minute CD. None of the songs have been omitted, but the radio announcers, tuning, between-song audience noise and (unfortunately) a bit of music has been trimmed away. Although Discogs.com flags this as an "unofficial release," it shouldn’t be too hard to find – I bought mine on Amazon. The unedited source tape is also readily available on-line.

Accompanied by just a conga player and keyboardist (no drums!) Donovan starts off the concert well with a pair of songs from the ’60’s, beginning with a stripped-down, jazzy arrangement of "Sunshine Superman" and appropriately bouncy version of "There Is A Mountain." Unfortunately, 14 seconds of the intro to the next song, "Dark-Eyed Blue Jean Angel" has been omitted on the CD. That and the subsequent cover of Derroll Adams’ "The Mountain" were two of the highlights of "Slow Down World," which would be released the next month in the States. "Take Your Time" is an interesting song that I don’t think has appeared elsewhere. After the song, Donovan talks about shaking off the 1960’s, and what’s left now that the decade is over. This leads into "Children Of The World," another song from "Slow Down World."  "A Woman’s Work" would be recorded (but left unreleased) in the early ’80’s, and wouldn’t appear on an album until it was re-recorded again for 2010’s "Ritual Groove." It wasn’t worth the wait. "Catch The Wind" and "Sunny Goodge Street" mark another return to the past. The funk arrangement of "Season Of The Witch" doesn’t work as well. "Black Widow" is the final song from "Slow Down World." It’s not a bad number, but isn’t served well being sandwiched between the more well known series of "oldies." The rest of the show consists entirely of older songs from Donovan’s catalog, unfortunately including the dreadful "Intergalactic Laxative."

This isn’t a great show, by any means, but it’s worth a listen for the otherwise unavailable "Take Your Time" and to hear Donovan inexorably becoming an oldies act.

01 Sunshine Superman

02 There Is A Mountain

03 Dark-Eyed Blue Jean Angel

04 The Mountain (Derroll Adams)

05 Take Your Time

06 Children Of The World

07 A Woman's Work

08 Catch The Wind

09 Sunny Goodge Street

10 Season Of The Witch

11 Black Widow

12 Happiness Runs

13 Lalena

14 Intergalactic Laxative

15 Atlantis

16 I Love My Shirt

17 Mellow Yellow

18 Young Girl Blues

19 Hurdy Gurdy Man

All songs written by Donovan except as noted.

01 Children Of The World

     (original on "Slow Down World")

02 Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth

     (original on "Essence To Essence")

03 There Is An Ocean

     (original on "Essence To Essence")

04 The Mountain (Derroll Adams)

     (original on "Slow Down World")

05 The Quest (original on "7-Tease")

All songs written by Donovan except as noted.

Aliens From Spaceship Earth

This 1978 documentary / propaganda film answers the burning question of whatever became of hippies after the 1960's. The answer isn't pretty. Along for the ride is everyone's favorite ex-hippie, Donovan, who occasionally narrates this dreadful thing. The handful of performances (all of which are incomplete) are different from the ones on their respective albums, and feature just Donovan and his guitar. These sound like studio recordings (even "The Quest," which he's ostensibly singing while walking on the beach) and were probably recorded for this film, which has been issued on both VHS and DVD over the years.

All You Need Is Love

Tony Palmer's "All You Need Is Love" documentary was first aired by ITV between February and June, 1977. Donovan is shown on-stage, performing "Local Boy Chops Wood" (although only about a minute of the song is shown). The entire series was issued on DVD in 2007 by Voiceprint, unfortunately cropped to widescreen.