Like many casual music fans, I went into this exploration with a handful of familiar hits and a truckload of assumptions about Donovan as an artist. What I came out with on the other side was fewer hits – I abandoned both “Mellow Yellow” and “Season of the Witch” – and far more diversity than I expected.
Out of curiosity, I sought out Donovan’s best-selling greatest-hits LP, released in 1969 and eventually certified platinum after reaching No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Of its 11 tracks, only five appear on this Fringe Binge playlist, including the usual suspects such as “Sunshine Superman,” “Jennifer Juniper,” and “Hurdy Gurdy Man.”
The greatest-hits album is undoubtedly entertaining. Our playlist is revealing.
- “Sunshine Superman”
Psychedelic Donovan at full strength…cool, confident, and far more rhythmically grounded than the flower-child stereotype suggests. - “Sunny Goodge Street”
A quietly observational city song that shows how good Donovan could be at atmosphere without relying on whimsy. - “Wear Your Love Like Heaven”
Warm, melodic, and almost weightless, but with enough craft underneath the sweetness to keep it from floating away. - “Get Thy Bearings”
One of the playlist’s biggest revelations: jazzy, loose, and sophisticated, with Donovan sounding nothing like the version most casual listeners think they know. - “Catch the Wind”
The early folk troubadour in pure form…simple, earnest, and still effective without needing any psychedelic decoration. - “Barabajagal”
Funky, dirty, and surprisingly aggressive, with Donovan sounding like he wandered into a completely different musical neighborhood and immediately made himself at home. - “Jennifer Juniper”
One of the familiar songs that survives easily because the melody is simply too charming to discard. - “Hurdy Gurdy Man”
Darker, heavier, and more mysterious than Donovan’s reputation usually allows, with a hypnotic intensity that still sounds powerful. - “Tangier”
Sparse and exotic without becoming ornamental, this shows Donovan’s ability to create a vivid place and mood with very little clutter. - “Atlantis”
Grand, strange, and unapologetically mystical. It should be ridiculous, but somehow Donovan sells the whole thing. - “People Used To”
A terrific deep-cut discovery…earthier, bluesier, and more muscular than expected, and another reminder that his catalog refuses to stay inside one genre. - “Riki Tiki Tavi”
Catchy, sly, and socially pointed, with a message that feels almost disturbingly current. One of those songs that makes you wonder how it ever slipped out of cultural circulation. - “Changes”
A fitting closer: reflective, mature, and stripped of most of the psychedelic mythology, leaving behind a songwriter looking forward rather than backward.
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