Sunshine Superman

Donovan's Sunshine Superman appeared in two different versions, one in America and another -- slightly later owing to the need of the artist to disentangle himself from his contract with Pye Records -- in England. Beat Goes On has reissued the U.K. version, complete with its extra tracks. The latter include the breezy jazz-flavored folk number "The Observation," the elegantly languid "Writer in the Sun" (which ended up on Mellow Yellow in America), the brooding, ornately arranged psychedelic mood piece "Hampstead Incident," and "Sand and Foam" (also pushed onto Mellow Yellow in America), the latter a beautifully stripped-down acoustic number with about as high a haunt-count as any melody ever generated from Donovan's pen. Missing from this edition of the album are "Ferris Wheel," "The Trip," and "The Fat Angel," which dated from the spring 1966 American recording sessions that went into the U.S. version of the LP. ~ Bruce Eder