Donovan

This four CD set consists of Sunshine Superman, Mellow Yellow, Hurdy Gurdy Man, and Barabajagal, remastered and repackaged with detailed historical notes. Each of those titles is available in the U.S. catalog, but this box offers advantages beyond the notes – the sound on each is superior to its domestic Epic equivalent…

Donovan's second album found the Scottish folkie in possession of his own voice, a style of earnest, occasionally mystical musings indebted neither to Woody Guthrie nor Bob Dylan. True, Fairytale's highlights – "Sunny Goodge Street," "Jersey Thursday," and "The Summer Day Reflection Song" – use a sense of impressionism pioneered by Dylan, but Donovan flipped Dylan's weariness on its head…

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…