Customer Reviews

An excellent DVD - By: Mark G. Goacher, 25 Oct 2008
This superb DVD contains an extensive docmentary on Donovan's career on disc 1 & some extensive extras on disc 2. The documentary is comprehensive & shows what a major figure he wasin the sixties. The split screen business that others are mentioning really doesn't bother me. The present day Donovan does seem to have something to prove as far as his achievements are concermed, but this is all part of his amusing charm. Personally I do prefer his early recordings rather than his current mannered style, however there is plenty of footage of these on this set. A must-have purchase.

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Those bloody frames - By: T. Roth, 07 Oct 2008
I have been there since the beginning & I love Donovan. This is a good film that could have been so much better if the director had a bit more experience. Instead he had to make some artistic statements, one being the dotted frames. I hate them & they disturb me so much that I cannot watch more than ten minutes at a time. I recognize the idea behind it, but it was a very bad idea so please release a version without that irritating frame.

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Ballad of a crystal man - By: Ben Koerner, 07 Oct 2008
This could have been wonderful, as the film maker clearly had access to hours of film from the 60s.

Unfortunately, we see that footage onlyin glimpses & we have to put up with Donovan as he is today - sadly obsessed with inflating his placein the world, for most of both discs.

That he calls himself "Dr. Donovan Leitch"in the accompanying booklet (having got an honorary doctorate somewhere or other) is exemplary of his need to feel that he's achieved something. The cosmic waffle that he writes beforehand is just embarrassing.

He also 'performs' a couple of songsin a ridiculously mannered way - nothing natural remains, it seems, & any true humility seems to have departed long ago. Sad also, for one who loves the song "To Try for the Sun", to discover that Gypsy Dave was (and remains) a preening poseur.

But all this probably shouldn't deter anyone who knows how truly great Donovan's music wasin the years up to (and including) "HMS Donovan", his last decent recording. In the sixties, he really did have the muse with him. There are glimpses of his genius herein old black & white film. Since then, he's done nothing worth having & probably that's at the root of his endless attempts to puff himself up. It's all very reminiscent of poor old Paul McCartney.

My hope is that someone will eventually release ALL of the 60s footage here, without the distraction of present-day Donovan trying to persuade us that he was some kind of gifted sage. Don, you weren't. The cosmic nonsense, the sapphic muse & the beat/bohemia stuff are really such a waste of your intelligence. But you were once a gifted singer & you wrote lovely songs when you focused on the natural world. Go there again one day.

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donovan - By: C. J. Sanders, 06 Oct 2008
Donovan - Sunshine Man
excellent documentary type film covering Donovans career. However the split screen photography is very off putting