Sunshine Superman

Picking up a lot of s/t Velvet Underground vibes from this one infused with some eastern sitar. Pretty great. Rating: 7/10

I am watching the World Series, which means baseball metaphors abound. If an album has three-four songs that hit .300 every time up, then it deserves classic ranking. Maybe a song hits .300 in your ears at times, but other times fails to catch hold of the high fastball. Are there lesser known songs that you discover are batting .300? Deliver key hits at times? I will halt the connections to state that Sunshine Superman has one Hall of Fame track, “Season of the Witch”, and a bunch of non-stand-outs peppering the line-up. “Sunshine Superman” provides some nostalgic fun. I’ll give credit to Donovan for being a leader in the psychedelic-Indian music bandwagon. (Is it just a wagon if you are a leader, or always a bandwagon?). Elsewhere “Ferris Wheel” was the best of the unknown songs. It had the sensibility of somber singer-songwriters. Donovan mines Pentangle for “Bert’s Blues” and The Mamas and the Papas happy folk-pop for “The Trip.” Decent songs, but neither wore well on their third and fourth playings. The opening of “Celeste” reminded me of R.E.M.’s chamber pop hits circa 1990, but the track never developed. Nothing got on my nerves, which can happen with Donovan (see “I Love My Shirt.). I was hoping he’d “catch the wind” to hit a few more out of the park.

Good for halloween

this is what i’m talking aboutttt

Really cool. Very 60s. Nice and psychedelic with a mellow vibe throughout.

Suitably weird. More orchestral than I expected. Don't expect I'll return to this one, though.

Imagine being the guy that’s super into to Donovan in 2026.

Really cool. 60's Michael Bublé was smooth af.

Donovan must have really stirred the pot with this in 1966. Only a few years earlier Ravi Shankar had introduced the world to Indian music. Donovan really leans into here, incorporating it into a lot of tracks on this record. There are the more typical psychedelic sounds, as well as some folk tracks, but it all works. This was really good overall.

Effortlessly cool. Not my favourite of his albums, but very near the top of the list. Listening to the whole thing it's an interesting fusion of Blues influence, sitar, electric piano with a bit of folk. Folkedelic before the term was properly coined. I think this is worthy of its' place on the list. a bit too uneven to be full marks for 4/5.

Sounds like an incredible hero!

It’s giving teenage Rodriguez vibes, experiencing weed for the first time on a yoga retreat in South Asia.

Good album! Wasn't sure what to expect but it was pretty solid

Although I find all the psychedelic records from that era to be quite similar to one another, you can’t really say that’s a bad thing. 4 stars.

My grandad definitely likes this album. Not what I expected, it was quite pleasant.

Kind of a banger. Sounded and felt so much more different than other music I have listened to recently. Breath of fresh air. 4/5

This is really a great album, so varied yet so cohesive at the same time. The songs are very folk-oriented with a rock/pop-rock sound, but include some pretty interesting elements. I can certainly see the link with The Beatles, as well as a very well-constructed sound that combines different traditions of music in a really clever and enjoyable way. It is a very pleasant and at times even energetic album to listen to, and one that has some quite interesting songs too. I really like how everything feels so well condensed and with such great songs. At least, most of them. But, even those that are not that exciting are still delightful.

season of the witch is appropriate

This is too old for my tastes. My parents (as boomers) would love this album. What the 1960s music sounded like. It could be worse, like fucken Morrissey, so for that, this gets a 3.

Citar isn't my jam but Donovan is ok by me.

Decent psychedelic rock. Not great but it does leave more of an impression than most psychedelic albums from this era.

The psychadelic rock album that started them all, and it stands the test of time.

Decent album, great production for 1966. Apparently this was one of the first psychedelic records and heralded that age in popular music, which I can hear in some of the songs... Never knew he wrote Season of the Witch lol.

This album epitomizes all that’s great and silly about Donovan. It contains some of my favorite tunes — “Season of the Witch” and “Sunshine Superman” — along with a lot of flower-child folk and pop that is both beautiful and frivolous. 60 years on, it feels easy to mock for its earnestness, but it’s also these qualities that make it enjoyable to listen to.

I loved this album. It's the perfect combination of psychedelic pop, psychedelic psychedelia and psychedelic rock. Sunshine Superman is a sign o' the times. Three King Fishers sounds like something that could've been composed a century ago. Ferris Wheel takes me places when I close my eyes. Side B starts off completely different with "Season of the Witch" and gives the album the variety that I crave. "Guinevere" and "Celeste" are forgettable, but the previously mentioned tracks shine so brightly to me that I can overlook the forgettable and give this album a perfect rating.

It’s sort of a fascinating grab bag of ideas floating around in the 60s - the psychedelia, the folk, the “blues that made it to British ears” rock, the fantastical lyricism, the acoustic singer-songwriter pushing with other instruments in little doses to fill out the sounds. And most charmingly of all, it’s pretty good at all of it. Girl Child Linda is a bit overlong and an obvious weak spot, but I could kind of tap in with everything else, all of it just enough sonic layers and spice to work with while never swamping Donovan’s soft-spoken voice and words. A good slice of the 60s pie for sure.

Great album, the production is so vibrant and Donovan has really great songwriting. It doesn’t do anything outstanding but very nice album.

Sjovt album. Der var et par bangers på. Her tænker jeg på åbneren, og Season of the Witch. Stor 3er, måske en 4er hvis der var mere tid til den.

Starter som soundtracket til en virkelig kedelig middelalder film. Bliver lidt mere rocket og topper på Season Of The Witch som er et klasse nummer.

That album cover is the most 60s coded thing I ever saw. ------------- 60s Bard recreates medieval tales whilst getting as high as a kite. There is a lot going on in these mostly laid back 60s tunes. There's a wide range of instruments supporting his man and guitar act with all those classic 60s influences - blues, jazz and fusion with world music. Season of the Witch is my personal highlight, I really like how it builds to the chorus and the drumming is simple but effective.

The story and influence of this album outweigh the content, I agree with the sentiment that this album is probably the closest one to get to hearing the late 60s psych sound

Purely Explicitly Boring

Season of the witch is the standout song. Rest of the album is interesting cause it uses instruments not normally in English rock, but they don't do much for me

No sé muy bien por qué pero tenía un cierto rechazo a Donovan desde siempre. Ahora veo que no era comparable a los grandes de su época pero que tiene su mérito y soporta una escucha atenta.

It was just nice. Some of the songs I just got carried away with, some of them in just enjoyed. It didn't leave a huge impression on me though.

I like the title track a lot. Ferris Wheel made me think of Simon and Garfunkel. It's an odd album. I liked it overall but it has enough boring/aimless tunes to hold it back. Also what's with the medieval theming? Was that a thing and I just never came across it?

whilst i can appreciate the effort and skill, i didnt enjoy this. His voice was too light and the whole vibe seemed weird to me. I know this is of its time and there is some good songwriting here, but i fohnd it like nails down a chalkboard

When I first started going out with Geraldine, we exchanged letters back and forth. In one she lamented that she shared her name with a Donovan song, rather than one by a great songwriter like Bob Dylan (Isis? Sara? Johanna? Sad Eyed lady of the Lowlands?). I replied defending Donovan, whose psychedelic palette I still prefer in principle to Dylan's true blood Americana backing band. I'm not sure which of the two of us was trying hardest to be cool. Her by dismissing the twee Donovan or me by hyping him up. Neither of us was being disingenuous, but I think we were both overselling it. I like Donovan in his psychedelic whimsy. The earlier folk stuff is too weedy, but once he has latitude to add too many layers, to overdo the harpsichord and add a sitar, I can only admire his chutzpah. I certainly admire it more than the lyric-writing for example. Although his Glaswegian accent (strangely, almost identical to Momus's Edinburghian one) makes some of the twaddle charming. Listen out for him on Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies - that's IT! But whatever IT is, Sunshine Superman is not IT. A Gift From A Flower To A Garden is much closer to IT. But even the hITs here are not IT. The title track goes round and round. Season of the Witch has been done better elsewhere - the Vanilla Fudge do the definitive version. The rest of the record is slight. Around the time of the letters written in my opening paragraph, I stole a copy of Donovan's autobiography from the radio station I worked in. All I can remember is a bizarre passage in which he reminisced about a game where the kids in the Glaswegian tenement would rub mud on the groins of the girls and make 'mud willies.' I really don't know why I stanned so hard for him - he is not cool, despite what the Beatles thought. And yet I can't help but be a little charmed, there is a faint bit of Ivor Cutler's Glaswegian surrealism. His association with David Lynch makes one inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps I was right. Perhaps he is cool and not knowing why just magnifies the effect. 2 Where it isn’t unobtrusively pleasant Donovan‘s music is dour. He was only wee - like Kristen Stewart in the first Twilight movie - so there is no call to dwell on the shortcomings of this album. His singing is sweet but immature, his songs the same. 1.5/5

60s orchestration really annoys me and I prefer the folky sound that Donovan initially used So this was a bit disappointing, especially as the previous day’s album was Highway 61 Revisited which shows how to move away from a pure folk sound and produce something cool. This doesn’t do that and I won’t come back to it

Quite unimpressive in my opinion. I listened to this a couple of days a go and had to go back and check I had actually listened because I couldn't really remember any of the songs. Its just quintessentially 60s, and not the kind I really like.

Not really for me this, occasional songs I liked but on the whole couldn't really get into it. Hippy stuff

Herdy Gerdy Goodness. Goodness... but not greatness.

Sort of what I expected looking at the year and the album cover; but actually better than I had thought it would be. Even recognised a couple of songs (the albums opener and Season of the Witch, a certified banger). It's not all good, there is an equal amount of shit on this one. A time capsule album, for sure.

Dugo nisam slušala nešto ovako dosadno. 1/5, 1/10

Psychedelic folk classic, some really cool and original sounds for the time. Influenced a lot of people after him. Legend of a girl child linda had some crazy visual lyrics, as did some of the other songs. Season of the witch is great too

437/1089 okay so it’s gonna be this style of 60s psychedelic pop Three King Fishers went more in the folky direction i was hoping for and i like the sitars/asian influences. I also quite like the more moody, lounge-y vibes of Bert’s Blues OH THIS IS WHERE SEASON OF THE WITCH CAME FROM OKAYYY it’s quite twee and i like the folky aspects but idk it was mostly just fine, it has some highlights as i’ve mentioned but the rest are more unremarkable to me Faves: Season of the Witch, Bert’s Blues, Three King Fishers 50/100

Mostly cool. Overall a nice slice of 60's grooviness

Season of the Witch...and meh songs.

"Sunshine Superman" gets you to 3 stars. "Season of the Witch" takes you to 5. One of the best songs of the era. The rest of the songs brings you back to a 4.

Groovy man. Sunshine Superman and Season of the Witch are by far the hits. The rest are chill psychedelia.

Any more hippie and it wouldn’t be able to fit through doors

An undeniable trailblazer. He did a lot of things first, but everyone else did those things better.

A pleasant surprise. I have always heard that Donovan was a big influence on Belle and Sebastian and you could hear that in some of the orchestral arrangements, which were really rich and deep.

There were some elements of this I really liked - the folk stylings mixed with some interesting instruments, as well as some of the slightly out there subject matter. It ended up a bit too woo woo in places though, almost sounding like a parody of hippy culture as it is so on the nose, but at the time, I imagine this would have really spoken to the emergence of it as a cultural phenomenon and influenced a number of other artists recording at the same time. Overall, this seemed like the beginnings of psychedelic experimentation but rooted in folk, and I kind of liked it.

Perfect album to start off this autumn season. Doesn’t get more ‘60s than this folk, psychedelic, Indian-influenced album. I love that decade, especially the latter half, so I enjoyed this. Top tracks: Sunshine Superman, Ferris Wheel, Season of the Witch, The Trip, Celeste

3 out of 5. I liked when this album got into psychedelia.

Average 60’s pop

I am familiar with Donovan and to be honest I find him a bit wet. However, you can't deny there's some beautiful song craft going on here. Delicate song composition and lyrical elegance, nice blend of instruments from around the world and a chilled 60s vibe. I could honestly get into this, but I've never taken recreational drugs regularly enough to consider it.

Små berättelser, lite orientaliska inslag, behaglig musik. Några rockigare låtar. Amerikanska versionen. 3.5 av 5.

Just found this very boring. The title track is pretty good though but that’s as far as it goes.

I’m caught between a 2 & 3 here. Mostly, this album features stilted lilting old-school British ballads. Not my cuppa, as they say. But the innovations & early psychedelic influences are there (although the sitar effect sounds trite today). As an album, it’s innovative (a 3) but a bit annoying (a 2). A 3, i guess.

Boring hippie drear

I really wanted to like this album more, but apart from the 2 big hits - sunshine & witch - I was left a bit underwhelmed. Maybe because it is of its time & over familiarity of the genre has clouded my judgement.

No comment

I get it but maybe a bit too 60s acid fairy music

Fantastic stuff a great chill out and relax album. Sounds beautiful and the audio quality is so warm. 4.5

Cool vibe! The only Donovan song I know is the one from Goodfellas

Nice jangly 60s pop...

Hahahahahaha!

When it's good, it's great . When it's bad, it sounds like a parody of hippy dippy 1960s psychedelia.

Yeeessssssssssssss

Very open and raw feeling psychedelia. Some of the tracks meander and tell stories in a flat tone with some eastern Sitar playing to give it a worldly feel. The hits feel more timeless than the rest of the album which is very much of the 60's. Has a whole lot of peace and love energy to it at its heart but has a slight edge to it when the rock comes in stronger. Will continue to work on appreciating the classic 60's bands but its a process.

One-hit-wonder-album

Now I'm obsessed with Donovan.

Opening track and Season of the witch are highlights. Quality of the album seems sketchy at times. 2.5/5. Raising to 3.

I have never cared for his vocals or lyrics. Production is also extremely dated- fuzzy and echoey

folk music isn't music for the same reason that folk medicine isn't medicine - if it worked, it would just be "medicine"

One of these stars is just for Season of the Witch.

This album delivers on the 60s sounds I was expecting however it does some more by introducing some 'bard in tavern' vibes. Quite enjoyable overall!

It has both of the Donovan songs I know on it, so that has to count for something. Favourite track: Season of the Witch

Donovan is one of the talented artists to come out of the British folk scene, but instead of adopting another style he became a sort of genre of his own making. His magical blend of folk, psychedelia, jazz, rock, and traditional Celtic music became a trademark sound that helped Sunshine Superman become a breakthrough success. The Beatles loved him and credit his influence on their music, as did T. Rex, Robert Smith, and Nick Drake. Like a psychedelic poet guru, Donovan's influence can still be felt and heard to this day. Though the pacing of Sunshine Superman struggles, it's an ambitious record that reminded everyone that it was okay to have fun and believe in magic along the way.

Beautiful

I was never going to like this. I have never enjoyed the 60's psychedelia, and when you combine in with ren faire style music, it's just doubly bad. For whatever reason, I did kind of like the very last track "Celeste". By that point, it was too little, too late.

Donovan was a bit before my time. Still, in my peace-loving hippie circle, Donovan’s music was played over and over again. Back then, I was more of a rocker—I owned a real, slightly souped-up moped—but the hippies had the prettier girls. And so I kept hearing their music. It was perfect for sit-ins and could be strummed out easily and without much skill around a campfire. And that’s exactly what this album sounds like. Nice, simple, and cheesy melodies that are either perfect for humming along to or for being disgusted by—and can be forgotten immediately afterward. I won’t be going out of my way to listen to this again. 2/5

ÓTIMO ALBUM

Hey sorry about my friend he just gets really into the lyre when he’s on shrooms.

It's all just so...boring.

I don't especially like his voice, and the recording was definitely from that era, but at the same time there's a laid back, hippie approach that I find relaxing.

eh...

not that good

Thank god Led Zep ditched this nodder

Season of the Witch is an undeniable Halloween season song. I didn’t hate it, but the medieval fuckery of it falls on deaf ears. I feel like he mentions a jester in half the songs. Write what you know, I guess

I’m pretty sure no one creating this list ever listened to the full albums. They just knew the one song and demanded the album be represented

Very atmospheric and recognisable.

Acid, man. Acid.

Donovan’s Greatest Hits album is bangers from start to finish. It’s the only album of his I’d ever listened to. So I was kinda excited for this, to see what was on it besides the two hits. It was mostly softer and acoustic but it was quite enjoyable. 3.5 rounded up for the hits and that Jimmy Page played guitar on the two hits and one other track.

This is one of those albums that, while allegedly very influential in its time, is not something I particularly enjoyed listening to. Musically interesting at times, lyrically esoteric. Season of the Witch is a banger.

Not awful, but dated.

Sweet but sort of unremarkable psych folk. The sitar stuff is cool and I enjoyed the Season Of The Witch.

Nope