Sunshine Superman is the third studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in the United States on 26 August 1966, but was not released in the UK because of a contractual dispute. In June 1967, a compilation of tracks from this album and the follow-up Mellow Yellow was released as Sunshine Superman in the UK.

The album featured Donovan's titular hit single, which was initially released in the US in July 1966. The album was Donovan's most successful, peaking at number 11 in the US and remaining on the Billboard Top LPs chart for six months. The 1967 UK edition peaked at number 25.

The tracks from Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow were not mixed into stereo, with the exception of the title track and "Season of the Witch" which appeared in that format on Donovan's Greatest Hits, until the 2011 2-CD deluxe edition issued by UK EMI.

Background

Donovan had enjoyed a year of chart success in both Britain and the United States through 1965, beginning with his first hit "Catch the Wind" that March. However, the singer had been stung by accusations of copying Bob Dylan's look and musical style and was now looking to break out of his established folk image; the jazz-classical backing on "Sunny Goodge Street" from his second album Fairytale pointed in a new direction. Around this same time toward the end of 1965 he suffered a breakup in his relationship with Linda Lawrence, who was unwilling to marry a pop star after a prior relationship (and child) with Brian Jones. The fallout of his relationship with Lawrence would inspire most of the new crop of songs he was writing, in which he pined for her presence and vowed he would win her back again.

In October Donovan's solicitor announced the termination of his contract with managers Peter Eden and Geoff Stephens (who had also co-produced his records up to that point), to be replaced by Ashley Kovack as his business manager and his father Donald Leitch as his personal manager. Satisfied with the result, most of the same musicians recorded what was intended to be the new single's flip side, "Sunny South Kensington", with the addition of Shawn Phillips on sitar. The single's release was set for 28 January 1966 which would have predated both The Byrds' "Eight Miles High" and The Yardbirds' "Shapes of Things" which, coincidentally, also began work the same week as "Sunshine Superman". The release date was postponed, however, when Donovan's UK label Pye claimed that they could not release a Mickie Most production, since he was contracted to EMI. "Bert's Blues" and "House of Jansch" were penned in tribute to Donovan's friend, British folk personage Bert Jansch, while the artist claimed "Legend of a Girl Child Linda" had come to him in a dream, where he had seen himself composing it.

The second phase of the album's recording took place in Los Angeles during the first week of April 1966, where Donovan played a ten day residency at The Trip, a hip Sunset Strip nightclub. Time was booked at CBS Studios where Donovan recorded "Season of the Witch", "The Trip" and the outtake "Superlungs" with a West Coast rock combo that included Bobby Ray on bass, Lenny Maitlin on Hammond organ and "Fast" Eddie Hoh on drums. "The Trip" had been written that week in Hollywood, as Donovan and a friend looked over the Sunset Strip from their guest house while on an acid trip, A full rock band backs up Donovan on many of the songs, and the instrumentation had been expanded, being one of the first pop albums extensively to use the sitar, bouzouki, electric violin 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, as well as arranger John Cameron.

The album's lyrical content encompasses Donovan's increasing ability to portray Swinging London and give listeners an insider's look into the mid-sixties pop scene. Donovan's penchant for name-dropping in songs such as those influenced by his stay in Los Angeles, "The Trip" and "The Fat Angel", recount his association with other big rock stars of the day which when coupled with his chart success helped elevate him to superstar status. Contrasting this modern bent was Donovan's fascination with medieval themes in songs such as "Legend of a Girl Child Linda" and "Guinevere", which would greatly influence the coming hippie and flower-power movements. Above all, Donovan's infatuation with Linda Lawrence and the pain of their recent breakup colors nearly every track; he would eventually win her back and the two would marry in 1970.

Album cover art

Donovan had wanted the front cover of the album to be a color illustration by his artist friends Mick Taylor and Sheena McCall, which consisted of a series of pop culture, fantasy, and literary figures (some referenced in the album) arranged in the shape of an "S". Finally, the album received its UK release (Pye NPL 18181) in June 1967, featuring 7 tracks from the US version of the album combined with 5 from its February 1967 followup Mellow Yellow that had also not seen release in the artist's home country. Donovan was disappointed, as he felt the delayed release had allowed many other innovative 1966-67 recordings to appear to have come first.

The album proved to be his most successful in America outside of 1969's Greatest Hits , charting at number 11, while the UK release peaked at number 25.

Reception

Upon release, Sunshine Superman received positive reviews in Billboard and Cashbox, with the former calling the material "new and intriguing", singling out "Celeste" as "exceptionally performed" while the latter picked "Season of the Witch", "The Fat Angel" and "Legend of a Girl Child Linda" as "blue ribbon tracks". Paul Williams of Crawdaddy, in a track-by-track review, claimed "what may be overlooked as one remarks upon the sitar, the overdubbing, the electricity, is the fact that this album has a producer, an excellent one. Most ... has translated concept to actuality with remarkable grace" and also favourably compared the album to The Beatles' Revolver, noting that its atmosphere was more consistently applied. Ralph Gleason of the San Francisco Examiner opined it was the best work Donovan had done to date, singling out the title track and "The Fat Angel".

Upon the album's 1967 UK release, Melody Makers Nick Jones noted that "every number has a mood, an atmosphere, a current along which the perceptive listener can float. Donovan glides playing beautiful guitar and singing his songs like they should be sung—with love." Allen Evens of New Musical Express observed "Donovan pours his sincere vocal mood-making into every track, from the wistfulness of "Season of the Witch" to the bluesiness of "Hampstead Incident" to the fast-paced beatiness of "Sunshine Superman", pointing out John Cameron's attractive arrangements.

Retrospectively, John Bush at AllMusic states "producer Mickie Most fashioned a new sound for the Scottish folksinger, a sparse, swinging, bass-heavy style perfectly complementing Donovan's enigmatic lyrics and delightfully skewed, beatnik delivery" although he notes that "Legend of a Girl Child Linda" "plods on for nearly seven minutes". Reviewing the 2011 stereo special edition, Andy Gill of The Independent called it "powerfully evocative of its era...with psych-rockers such as the title-track balanced by mythic poesie like "Guinevere" and sitar-laced hippie whimsy like "The Fat Angel".

Legacy

Sunshine Superman is often singled out as pioneering due its combination of classical, jazz, Celtic folk, acid rock and raga-rock influences, as well as its lyrical preoccupation with Eastern, medieval and nature themes which would come to define the flower-power movement. To put the album in context, its eclectic arrangements were recorded at the same time Brian Wilson was working on Pet Sounds, and the last day of recording on 6 April 1966 coincided with the first day of work on The Beatles' Revolver. However, because of delays in the album's release, both Pet Sounds and Revolver beat it to the shops, although it paralleled or pre-dated both comparably ambitious works.

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. A cover version of "The Fat Angel" was recorded by Jefferson Airplane for their 1968 live album Bless Its Pointed Little Head. Monster Magnet covered "Three King Fishers" (as "Three Kingfishers") on their 2013 album Last Patrol, with a live version included on 2014's Milking the Stars: A Re-Imagining of Last Patrol.

In June 2011, Donovan performed the entire Sunshine Superman album from start to finish at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He was accompanied by the London Contemporary Orchestra conducted by John Cameron, which also featured many of the musicians who played on the album including Jimmy Page, Shawn Phillips, and Danny Thompson along with his children Astrella Celeste and Donovan Jr. on backing vocals. A DVD of the show was released in time for the album's 40th anniversary in 2016.

Track listing

Original US release

All tracks are written by Donovan.

Side one

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

Side two

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

UK release

Due to the contractual dispute between Pye Records and Epic Records, Donovan's releases were held back in the UK throughout 1966 and early 1967. During this time, Donovan released Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow in the US. To catch up to the Epic Records schedule in America, Pye Records compiled a cross-section of both albums and titled it Sunshine Superman.

Side one

  1. "Sunshine Superman"
  2. "Legend of a Girl Child Linda"
  3. "The Observation"
  4. "Guinevere"
  5. "Celeste"
  6. "Writer in the Sun"

Side two

  1. "Season of the Witch"
  2. "Hampstead Incident"
  3. "Sand and Foam"
  4. "Young Girl Blues"
  5. "Three Kingfishers"
  6. "Bert's Blues"

:(Titles in italics are from Mellow Yellow)

Personnel

  • Donovan – vocals, guitar, organ
  • Bobby Ray – bass guitar
  • Eddie Hoh – drums
  • Shawn Phillips – sitar
  • Lenny Maitlin – Hammond organ
  • Cyrus Faryar – bouzouki
  • Peter Pilifian – electric violin
  • John Carr – bongos

On "Sunshine Superman" and other tracks recorded in England:

  • Donovan – vocals, acoustic guitar
  • Jimmy Page, Eric Ford – electric guitar
  • John Cameron – keyboards, arrangement
  • Spike Heatley – bass guitar
  • Bobby Orr – drums
  • Tony Carr – percussion

Charts

{| class="wikitable"

! Chart (1966)

! Peak<br />position

|-

| US Billboard Top LPs

| align="center"|11

|-

| US Cashbox Top 100 Albums

| align="center"|12

|-

| UK Top Albums

| align="center"|25

|}

References

<!-- This is a licensed stream for the album, which is allowed under Wikipedia polices -->

  • Sunshine Superman at Radio3Net (archived copy of April 2013, streamed copy where licensed)