New Then, New Again
Redux Nation
Reissues: New Then, New Again
originally published November 9, 2005
DONOVAN
Try for the Sun: The Journey of Donovan
Epic/ Legacy
With his perpetually sunny demeanor and well-trodden batch of sing-along singles, Donovan Leitch doesn't initially appear to be an ideal box-set candidate. The Scottish psychedelic folk singer hit big during the mid-'60s, only to lose his pop idol footing as that decade came to a close. At one time, as Try for the Sun's liner notes point out, Bob Dylan and Donovan were viewed as creative and commercial equals, but the subsequent years saw them chart decidedly different artistic paths.
There is, however, plenty to enjoy on Try for the Sun's three discs and accompanying 40-minute DVD. All of Donovan's best known nuggets are included, as are several previously unreleased live tracks and a few from his sporadic comeback releases (1996's Sutras and 2003's Beat Cafe). Combined with a glut of additional album tracks, it's not especially designed for dabblers.
Try's first disc begins with Woodie Guthrie-centric acoustic cuts like "Catch the Wind" and a powerful run-through of "Co'dine," learned from folk songstress Buffy St. Marie. As the psychedelic era moved in, Donovan's songs gained hummable melodies and instrumentation more in line with Herman's Hermits or The Monkees than Hendrix or The Who. So, for an artist much of whose work could be politely described as "fanciful," a skittering rocker like "Season of the Witch" or something as potentially creepy as disc two's Maharishi ode "Hurdy-Gurdy Man" really stand out, particularly in the anthologized format.
Donovan's flower-power lyrics were tailor-made for upbeat romps like "Mellow Yellow" or "Sunshine Superman." However, by the time the second disc reaches its halfway point, it's tough to not ride the skip button during inclusions like "The Tinker and the Crab" and "Epistle to Derroll" (in honor of folk revival banjo man and Guthrie collaborator Derroll Adams) as the pleasantly strummed, well-enunciated live cuts are almost too cute for their own good.
But, again, Donovan surprises. He cooks up some seriously horny lover's rock with the Jeff Beck Group on the sweaty "Barbajagal," basically casting the mold for the Eastern-inspired, acid-diluted storyteller guise that made Cat Stevens a star some years later. The opening hook from "There is a Mountain" proved so infectious that the Allman Brothers used it as the basis for their sprawling live opus "Mountain Jam."
The accompanying DVD is a short "lost" film that features a post-Summer of Love Donovan sailing the Greek Isles on his yacht while pontificating, singing and acting, well, fanciful. Not required viewing, exactly, but still an interesting watch.
His music was as much bubblegum and chart pop as it was psychedelic rock and acoustic folk, which is probably why Donovan and his eclectic catalog have managed to stand the test of time. Try for the Sun does a good job of documenting this and, though he'll never be remembered with the same fervor and adulation as Dylan, Donovan's flower child catcall can be heard in many of today's young hipster folkies. From Devendra Banhart to Sufjan Stevens to The Moldy Peaches, they're all Donovan's fancy, flowery bastard children.
BOB DYLAN
The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home Original Soundtrack
Columbia/ Legacy
The soundtrack to Scorsese's new Dylan doc and the seventh entry in the ongoing Bootleg Series offers up studio outtakes, alternate versions and a few live cuts, including a barnstorming "Maggie's Farm" from the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where Dylan went electric.
Beginning with what's officially recognized as the first track Dylan recorded (1959's "I Got Troubles") and ending with selections from the UK Free Trade Hall "Judas" show of 1966, the timeframe covered by No Direction Home is noticeably short but crucially important.
The alternate takes of "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again" and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" show how Dylan subtly shifted the contents of his songs around even early on, and the live version of "Visions of Johanna" heads in a tough, measured direction (courtesy of The Band's unflinching support) not heard on the Blonde on Blonde album version.
Spruced up by a ton of vintage photos and liner notes by Stones producer/ manager Andrew "Loog" Oldham and session vet Al Kooper (who was also in Dylan's rag-tag Newport '65 stage band), Bootleg Series Vol. 7 summarizes how, in a very short time, Dylan went from being another one of Guthrie's guitar-toting disciples to something all the more interesting, enigmatic and misunderstood.
NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND
Acoustic
Capitol/ EMI
Originally released in 1994, Acoustic is nothing too complicated, just 11 original songs played in the intimate guitar/ accordion/ mandolin style personified by such notable NGDB hits as "Mr. Bojangles" and "Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper's Dream)."
Bonus tracks would've been a nice inclusion, but Acoustic's brief listing still gets the job done. Unelectrified arrangements have long suited the Dirt Band, allowing for vocalists Jeff Hanna and Jimmy Ibbotson's high harmonies to ring clear. Here they deliver breezy country rockers like "Sarah in the Summer" and "This Train Keeps Rollin' Along" with the fire and frolic of a '50s-era West Coast party band.
Such songs also help to point out that NGDB not only learned its stuff from '60s California rockers like the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, but also from such star vocalists of the preceding decade as Ricky Nelson and the Everly Brothers.
NINA SIMONE
The Soul of Nina Simone
RCA/ Legacy
This 15-track compilation serves up highlights from Nina Simone's late-'60s RCA years, and focuses chiefly on her interpretive strengths rather than her passionate and well-covered use of the protest song.
Some of these songs threaten to be judged upfront on their familiarity alone, but that does nothing to detract from Simone's fiery delivery. Her soulful take on The Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody" may very well be the most emotionally powerful version of the song out there, and the live "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" boils like a pressure cooker before erupting into a wave of call-and-response vocals.
Soul's audio content is great, but the clincher is the Dualdisc (CD on one side, DVD on the other) feature of the DVD side's rarely seen live footage. Included is an early appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," as well as two selections from a 1968 performance at New York's Bitter End. But it's the four tracks culled from Simone's masterful set at the 1969 Harlem Festival (originally known as the "Black Woodstock" until Wattstax came along) that trump everything else on the disc. Simone and her impossibly tight band rip through "Revolution," "Four Women" and an inspirational "Ain't Got No / I Got Love" before settling into gospel mode on "To Be Young, Gifted and Black." They are absolutely electric here and, for fans of soul music's socially conscious second wave, this is essential.
Michael Andrews
Redux Nation is a monthly column focusing on album reissues, repackagings and box sets.
Michael Andrews
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Redux Nation
Reissues: New Then, New Again
originally published October 12, 2005
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