Donovan

Donovan had the best of L.A. session help here, but his writing remained cosmic ("Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth" was the title of the lead-off track), and he seemed to have lost the knack for appealing whimsy that had floated his career thus far…

Upon his emergence during the mid-'60s, Donovan was anointed "Britain's answer to Bob Dylan," a facile but largely unfounded comparison which compromised the Scottish folk-pop troubadour's own unique vision. Where the thrust of Dylan's music remains its bleak introspection and bitter realism, Donovan fully embraced the wide-eyed optimism of the flower power movement, his ethereal, ornate songs radiating a mystical beauty and childlike wonder; for better or worse, his recordings remain…

Epic's Greatest Hits may not be a perfect collection – for instance, it contains re-recordings of his earliest folk songs, "Catch the Wind" and "Colours," not the originals – but for many casual fans, that may not matter since the remaining nine songs offer an excellent summary of his hit singles…