A Gift From A Flower To A Garden

Performer: Donovan
Artist: Jack Bruce
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Personnel includes: Donovan (vocals, guitar); Jack Bruce (bass). Recorded around the time that Donovan studied meditation with the Beatles in India under the tutelage of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, A GIFT FROM A FLOWER TO A GARDEN is an ambitious 22-track double album. (In fact, it's one of the first two-LP sets in pop/rock history.) While the album offers more of the whimsical psychedelia first put forth by the Scottish singer/songwriter on 1966's SUNSHINE SUPERMAN, Donovan opts for a gentler, more thoughtful approach to both the music and lyrics. Oddly enough, it was also around this time that he publicly turned his back on drug use. The alleged lack of hallucinogens, however, doesn't stop the fantasy-loving performer from unveiling trippy tunes such as the dreamy classic "Wear Your Love Like Heaven," along with spare, absurdist songs like "Voyage to the Golden Screen" and "Starfish-on-the-Toast." While only the former track proved to be a hit, GIFT is filled with fine mellow moments such as "Song of the Naturalist's Wife" and "The Lullaby of Spring," making it essential listening for those seeking to venture into the welcoming realm beyond Donovan's singles.

Q (11/93, p.144) - 3 Stars - Good - "...taken with a large pinch of salt [A GIFT FROM A FLOWER] remains an oddly palatable hymn to hope and innocence..." Q (Magazine) (p.117) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t remains a charming period piece with an enveloping magic all its own: party hippy utopianism, part Eastern mysticism, part British folk traditionalism." Record Collector (magazine) (p.90) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[Donovan] found a more comfortable niche with primarily acoustic arrangements behind a poetic gentleness....In its balmy quietness, the new songs that poured from Donovan epitomised mid-60s pop's gingerbread castle hour..."

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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