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| Donovan in Concert | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | June 1968(U.S.)[1] | |||
| Recorded | 17 November 1967 | |||
| Venue | Anaheim Convention Center | |||
| Genre | Folk rock,psychedelic rock | |||
| Length | 55:00 | |||
| Label | Epic(U.S.) Pye(UK) | |||
| Producer | Mickie Most | |||
| Donovan chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| Amazon.com | [3] |
Donovan in Concert is the sixth album from Scottish singer-songwriterDonovan, and the first live album of his career. It was recorded at the Anaheim Convention Center inAnaheim, California on 17 November 1967 during a lengthy North American tour, his first there since April 1966. It was released in the United States in June 1968 (Epic Records BN 26386 (stereo)) and in the United Kingdom in September 1968 (Pye Records NPL 18237 (monaural) / NSPL 18237 (stereo)). The album reached No.18 on the US charts, his fourth top 20 album in a row in that country.
This concert was recorded prior to Donovan's release ofA Gift from a Flower to a Garden, and included several songs that would not have been widely known to a US audience, including some which were UK singleb-sides. "Poor Cow" is introduced by Donovan as "Poor Love", its original title, which was changed when the song appeared in the filmPoor Cow. It retained that title when released as the b-side to "Jennifer Juniper" in February 1968. Another new song introduced on the album as "Pebble and the Man" would be recorded as "Happiness Runs" and appear on 1969'sBarabajagal. On the live version of the song, Donovan asks the audience to sing along with the chorus. This album would also mark the only appearance of the song "Rules and Regulations".
The music at the concert was much more subdued than Donovan's singles of the time. The singer was backed by the core group of musicians who had recorded with him on his previous albums including flautistHarold McNair and percussionist Tony Carr. They play many genres of music, from folk to jazz, occasionally joined by The Flower Quartet on strings. Several songs which featured only acoustic guitar on record, such as "Young Girl Blues", were given a full jazz backing while others like "Guinevere" which featured electric violin and sitar in the studio were conversely stripped down only to acoustic guitar. The concert was introduced byKRLA radio personality Rhett Walker, who then hands the proceedings to Donovan's father (and manager) Donald Leitch.
When reviewing Donovan's show at San Francisco'sWinterland a week after the Anaheim concert, journalist Ralph J. Gleason remarked:
Donovan, of course, both in his lyrics and his music and, too, in the way in which he sings, is supremely lyrical. "My songs existin the essence of silence" he told the Winterland audience as he waited for them to become quiet. And they became quiet, almost holding their breath in reverent attention as he sang. He is an extraordinary performer. The pageantry, the flowers (hethrows them to the audience at the end, after a joyous "Mellow Yellow"), the incense, the long robes, are all effective but the musicianship is underneath and solid as a rock. He knows exactly what he is doing, he is show-wise to the nth degree. The songs themselves are artfully constructed with echoes of familiarity, “songs of the realm” in the Tolkian expression and articulating the "beginning of a new world."[4]
The album's front cover featured a painting titled "Desert Journey" byFleur Cowles.[5] The back featured a photo of Donovan in love beads and playing a recorder taken byStephen Goldblatt, along with handwritten notes of his impression of the tour including a drawing of a small jet plane.
Track number, title, length, and on which releases of the studio versions of each song appeared. Songs that were unreleased at the time of the concert are noted with an asterisk (*):
Side oneAll tracks by Donovan Leitch.
Side two
