Reviews

{$Donovan}'s folky 1965 recordings for {@Pye Records} (they were released in the U.S. by {@Hickory Records}) bear only a superficial resemblance to the more hip {\pop} material he began issuing a year later when he switched to {@Epic Records}. Some of his famous bejeweled sensibility is already apparent in these tracks, but for the most part this is {$Donovan} as a straight folksinger, and he isn't bad at it at all. His work from this period has been compared (usually unfavorably) to {$Bob Dylan}, but the strongest influence at play in these songs is probably {$Bert Jansch}, whose {&"Do You Hear Me Now"} is covered here. In the end, the {@Pye} tracks form a complete and distinct cycle in {$Donovan}'s legacy, separate from -- but not necessarily lesser than -- his more ornate {\pop} material. There have been several compilations of these early songs issued by various labels, including this one from {@Castle Pulse}, and any of them is probably sufficient to provide a taste of what {$Donovan} was up to at the time. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide