Beat Cafe [Digipak]

Performer: Donovan
Engineer: Jimmy Hoyson; Glenn Nishida; Mike Glines; Jimmy Hoyson
Producer: John Chelew
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Personnel: Donovan (vocals); Donovan Leitch (vocals, guitar); Danny Thompson (bass instrument, bass guitar); John Chelew (keyboards); Jim Keltner (drums, percussion). Recording information: Capitol Studio B, Hollywood, CA (2002-2003); Pacifica Studios, Los Angeles, CA (2002-2003). Author: Donovan Leitch. Arranger: Donovan Leitch. BEAT CAFE is UK troubadour Donovan's first adult album of the 21st century (he released a kids' album in 2002), its predecessor being the '96 Rick Rubin-produced acoustic record SUTRAS. Where the latter was strictly a solo affair, full of hushed spirituality, BEAT CAFE is a group effort that bears a markedly more sensual, rhythmic tone closer to Donovan's '68 hit "Barabajagal." As the title implies, there's a loose sonic concept at work; undertones of beatnik jazz/blues simmer beneath many of the tunes, most explicitly the title track, which bears echoes of SUNSHINE SUPERMAN's "Bert's Blues." There's an organic, spontaneous feel to the mostly acoustic arrangements. Donovan is accompanied only by famed British folk-rock bassist Danny Thompson (Nick Drake, Pentangle) and American drumming deity Jim Keltner, with occasional keyboards from producer John Chelew. Utilizing such sympathetic musicians in a spare, intimate setting helps make BEAT CAFE an album that lives up to this famed singer/songwriter's legacy.

Rolling Stone (p.146) - 3 1/2 stars out of 5 - "[C]rime rap par excellence - unrepentantly grimy lyrics backed by soulful production." Uncut (p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[A] warm evocation of the bohemian world of bebop, poetry, berets and coffee houses....It's great to have him back and sounding so fresh."

He began as a Guthrie/Dylan-style folkie, but soon Donovan Leitch adopted a more psychedelic flower-power stance. His knack for sunny, wistful pop songs produced a batch of giant 1960s hits. His fragile manchild voice and image made him a hippie pinup boy, but there was a deep wellspring of emotion behind songs like "Catch the Wind" and "Colours." By the '70s, Donovan had largely dropped off the radar, but he made a resounding comeback in the '90s with the spare, affecting, Rick Rubin-produced SUTRAS.

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