Do you hear me now? (Donovan) (LP 623 - 624)

Donovan  Fairytale (Vinyl, Marble Arch Records, 1965/1969) ***

Donovan  Universal Soldier (Vinyl, Marble Arch Records, 1967) ***

Genre: Folk music 

Places I remember: Second hand shop in Havelock North.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Jersey Thursday

Gear costume: Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness)

Active compensatory factors: These are both on the budget Marble Arch label. Fairytale is mostly made up of tracks from Donovan's second album which came out in 1965, while Universal Soldier is a compilation from 1967.

And they are great! Pye have a bizarre history of bastardising their catalogue (The Kinks and Status Quo suffered in the same way), but there's something about their cavalier attitude and their budget line Marble Arch subsidiary label that fits with these very British acts.

This version of Fairytale hacks Colours and The Little Tin Soldier from the original (Colours is on Universal Soldier), so it zips by with 5 songs a side.

Universal Soldier compiles songs from the original Universal Soldier EP, singles and the odd album track. It's a great mixture of early Donovan songs.

The following list from the Wikipedia entry explains the original releases of each song:

• "Universal Soldier" (from Universal Soldier EP, released 15 August 1965)
• "To Sing for You" (from What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid, released 14 May 1965)
• "Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do?" (b-side of "Catch the Wind", released 12 March 1965)
• "Turquoise" (UK single, released 30 October 1965)
• "Colours" (UK single, released 28 May 1965, different from Fairytale LP version)
• "Catch the Wind" (UK single, released 12 March 1965, different from What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid LP version)
• "Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)"* (b-side of "Turquoise", released 30 October 1965)
• "The Ballad of a Crystal Man"* (from The Universal Soldier EP, released 15 August 1965, different from Fairytale LP version)
• "Do You Hear Me Now?" (from The Universal Soldier EP, released 15 August 1965)
• "The War Drags on" (from The Universal Soldier EP, released 15 August 1965)

Great budget covers to these albums too!

Where do they all belong? A few more late period Donovan albums to go on vinyl.