The album was released in America on 10 February 1967 and like the single was a success, charting at number 14 that March. However, Donovan was frustrated that neither Sunshine Superman or Mellow Yellow had seen release in his home country; he would have to wait until June before a 12-track album titled Sunshine Superman (again featuring cover art by Taylor and McCall) which compiled tracks from both albums saw a long belated release, yet this meant British fans missed out on several key tracks from both albums unless they were able to secure imports.

Writing for AllMusic, Bruce Eder notes the album is more diverse in its sounds than Sunshine Superman and calls "Sand and Foam" "hauntingly beautiful", while identifying "Museum" as a sequel to "Sunshine Superman" and a precursor to "There Is a Mountain".

Legacy

According to a recent biography ("Darker Than The Deepest Sea: The Search For Nick Drake"), the album was a significant influence on Nick Drake.

The track "Hampstead Incident" was first recorded by Marianne Faithfull as "In The Night Time" on her U.S. album Faithfull Forever released in August 1966, followed by "Young Girl Blues" on her March 1967 effort Love In A Mist. The 1967 Julie Felix album Flowers also contained covers of "Young Girl Blues" and "Sand and Foam", both given John Cameron arrangements although Donovan's originals only featured his voice and guitar.

Reissues

  • On 24 October 1994, EMI released Four Donovan Originals (EMI 7243 8 30867 2 6) in the UK. Four Donovan Originals is a compact disc box set containing four Donovan albums that were not previously released in the UK. Mellow Yellow is disc two of that set.
  • On 16 January 2001, Collectables Records released Mellow Yellow/Wear Your Love Like Heaven (Collectables 6644), which contained all of Mellow Yellow and the first record of A Gift from a Flower to a Garden, Wear Your Love Like Heaven.
  • On 24 May 2005, EMI reissued Mellow Yellow (EMI 8735672) with ten bonus tracks.
  • On 24 September 2010, Sony Music Entertainment reissued Mellow Yellow as part of a 3-CD set with The Hurdy Gurdy Man and Barabajagal
  • On 1 October 2018, The state51 Conspiracy reissued Mellow Yellow (CON224LP) in the UK and Ireland on LP.

Track listing

All tracks by Donovan Leitch. Songs marked with a '+' have been remixed into stereo.

Original album

Side one

  1. "Mellow Yellow" – 3:47
  2. "Writer in the Sun" – 4:33 +
  3. "Sand and Foam" – 3:19
  4. "The Observation" – 2:23
  5. "Bleak City Woman" – 2:24

Side two

  1. "House of Jansch" – 2:43
  2. "Young Girl Blues" – 3:45
  3. "Museum" – 2:54
  4. "Hampstead Incident" – 4:41 +
  5. "Sunny South Kensington" – 3:48 +

2005 EMI CD version

The ten tracks as on the original release plus the following bonus tracks:

  1. <li value=11>"Epistle to Dippy" – 3:11
  2. "Preachin' Love" – 2:40
  3. "Good Time" – 1:54
  4. "There Is a Mountain" – 2:36 +
  5. "Superlungs" (second version) – 3:17
  6. "Epistle to Dippy" (alternative arrangement) – 3:13 +
  7. "Sidewalk (The Observation)" (demo) – 2:29
  8. "Writer in the Sun" (demo) – 3:30
  9. "Hampstead Incident" (demo) – 3:52
  10. "Museum" (demo) – 3:49

Personnel

Musicians

  • Donovan – acoustic guitar, vocals
  • John Cameron – piano (tracks 4–5, 10, 12–13, 15), harpsichord (tracks 9, 10, 11, 16), organ (track 10) celesta (tracks 2, 6), arrangements (tracks 2, 4–6, 9, 11–16)
  • John Paul Jones – bass guitar, arrangement (track 1)
  • Danny Thompson, Spike Heatley – double bass
  • Phil Seamen – drums
  • Bobby Orr – drums (tracks 1, 10)
  • John McLaughlin – rhythm guitar (track 1)
  • Joe Moretti – rhythm guitar (track 1)
  • Danny Moss – saxophone (track 1)
  • Ronnie Ross – saxophone (track 1)
  • Big Jim Sullivan – electric guitar (track 5)
  • Eric Ford – electric guitar (track 10)
  • Shawn Phillips – sitar (track 10)
  • Pat Halling – violin (track 8)
  • Harold McNair – flute (tracks 2, 4, 18)

Additional musicians

  • Paul McCartney – occasional bass
  • Jimmy Page – electric guitar (tracks 11, 16)
  • Tony Carr – percussion, drums (tracks 11, 16)

Technical

  • Mickie Most – producer

Charts

Album

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Year

! Chart (1967)

! Peak<br />position

!Label

|-

! rowspan="3" | 1967

| U.S. Billboard Top LP's

|align=center|14

| rowspan="3" | Epic Records BN 26239

|-

| U.S. Cashbox Top 100 Albums

| align="center"|12

|-

| CAN RPM Top 30 Albums

|align=center|4

|-

|}

Singles

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

!rowspan="2"|Year !!rowspan="2"|Titles !!colspan="4"|Chart positions

|-

!<small>Billboard</small>!!<small>Cashbox</small>!!CAN!!AU

|-

! 1967

|"Mellow Yellow"<br /><small>b/w "Sunny South Kensington" (US)<br />b/w "Preachin' Love" (UK)</small> || align=center|2|| align=center|3 || align=center|2 ||align=center|7

|-

|}

References

  • Mellow Yellow – Donovan Unofficial Site