Jump to content

Sunshine Superman (album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 204.213.231.92 (talk) at 23:42, 6 June 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Untitled

Sunshine Superman is the third album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in the United States in September of 1966 (Epic Records LN 24217 (monaural) / BN 26217 (stereo)), but was not released in the UK because of a contractual dispute. In June 1967, a compilation of the Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow albums was released as Sunshine Superman (Pye Records NPL 18181) in the UK. Sunshine Superman was named after Donovan's hit single released the previous July. On June 3, 1997, St. Clair Records released a compact disc entitled Sunshine Superman (St. Clair 2356) by Donovan. This album is not the original 1966 Sunshine Superman album, but rather a reissue of Donovan's 1984 album Lady of the Stars which included a rerecording of the song "Sunshine Superman".

History

These recordings mark a distinct change in Donovan's music, representing some of the first psychedelia released. A full rock band backs up Donovan on many of the songs, and the instrumentation has been expanded to include sitar and other unique musical instruments. This change is partially the result of working with producer Mickie Most, whose pop sensibilities led to chart hits for many other artists at the time.

Donovan's lyrics began to encompass his increasing ability to portray "Swinging London" and give listeners an insider's look into the mid-sixties pop scene. He was known to be close to The Beatles and Brian Jones at this time, and he became widely known after "Sunshine Superman" became a chart-topper in the US, and hit #2 in the UK. Donovan's penchant for name-dropping in songs such as "The Trip" and "The Fat Angel" (written for Mama Cass) coupled with his chart success helped elevate him to superstar status. In addition to noting the people in the pop scene, Donovan recorded "Bert's Blues" for his friend and folk music notable Bert Jansch.

Contrasting this modern bent was Donovan's fascination with medieval themes in such songs as "Legend of a Girl Child Linda" (written for Brian Jones' girlfriend Linda Lawrence) and "Guinevere". The rich descriptions of color and environment that Donovan developed in individual songs on Fairytale were now evident throughout his writing.

Several other songs were recorded for Sunshine Superman, but did not make the cut. These include "Museum" (later rerecorded and released on Mellow Yellow), "Superlungs My Supergirl" (later rerecorded and released on Barabajagal and "Breezes of Patchulie" (originally called "Darkness of My Night" and released on Donovan's 1964 demo collection Sixty Four). The Sunshine Superman recordings of these songs were all included on Troubadour The Definitive Collection 1964-1976.

In the video for the Beatles' "A Day in the Life", a close up of a spinning turntable shows the Epic Records version of Sunshine Superman playing. The film was shot at the recording sessions for the song, which was included on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Reissues

  • On October 24, 1994, EMI released Four Donovan Originals (EMI 7243 8 30867 2 6) in the U.K.. Four Donovan Originals is a compact disc box set containing four Donovan albums that were not previously released in the U.K.. The U.S. version of Sunshine Superman is disc one of that set.
  • On May 24, 2005, EMI reissued the U.S. version of Sunshine Superman (EMI 8735662) on compact disc in the U.K. with seven bonus tracks.

Track Listing

Original album (U.S.)

Side 1

  1. "Sunshine Superman" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:15
  2. "Legend of a Girl Child Linda" (Donovan Leitch) - 6:50
  3. "Three King Fishers" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:16
  4. "Ferris Wheel" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:12
  5. "Bert's Blues" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:56

Side 2

  1. "Season of the Witch" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:56
  2. "The Trip" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:34
  3. "Guinevere" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:41
  4. "The Fat Angel" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:11
  5. "Celeste" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:08

1967 Pye Records version (U.K.)

Side 1

  1. "Sunshine Superman" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:16
  2. "Legend of a Girl Child Linda" (Donovan Leitch) - 6:55
  3. "The Observation" (Donovan Leitch) - 2:22
  4. "Guinevere" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:40
  5. "Celeste" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:11
  6. "Writer in the Sun" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:30

Side 2

  1. "Season of the Witch" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:57
  2. "Hamstead Incident" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:42
  3. "Sand and Foam" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:19
  4. "Young Girl Blues" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:48
  5. "Three Kingfishers" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:16
  6. "Bert's Blues" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:00

1997 St. Clair Records version (Lady of the Stars reissue)

  1. "Lady of the Stars" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:34
  2. "I Love You Baby" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:26
  3. "Bye Bye Girl" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:21
  4. "Every Reason" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:01
  5. "Season of the Witch" (Donovan Leitch) - 5:18
  6. "For Every Boy There Is a Girl" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:37
  7. "Local Boy Chops Wood" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:28
  8. "Sunshine Superman" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:07
  9. "Living for the Love Light in Your Eyes" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:47
  10. "Till I See You Again" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:16

2005 EMI version (U.K.)

  1. "Sunshine Superman" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:15
  2. "Legend of a Girl Child Linda" (Donovan Leitch) - 6:50
  3. "Three King Fishers" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:16
  4. "Ferris Wheel" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:12
  5. "Bert's Blues" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:56
  6. "Season of the Witch" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:56
  7. "The Trip" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:34
  8. "Guinevere" (Donovan Leitch) - 3:41
  9. "The Fat Angel" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:11
  10. "Celeste" (Donovan Leitch) - 4:08

Bonus Tracks

  1. "Breezes of Patchulie" (Donovan Leitch) -
  2. "Museum" (Donovan Leitch) -
  3. "Superlungs" (Donovan Leitch) -
  4. "Land of Doesn't Have to Be" (Donovan Leitch) -
  5. "Sunshine Superman" (Donovan Leitch) -
  6. "Good Trip" (Donovan Leitch) -
  7. "House of Jansch" (Donovan Leitch) -
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Sunshine_Superman_(album)&oldid=14890026"