Come forgiare al meglio un album eterogeneo che contiene elementi folk, pischedelici, suggestioni orientaleggianti e tutto ciò che di meglio aveva da offrire la british invasion durante i mitici anni ’60???
Donovan trova la sua risposta in questo disco; all’epoca della sua uscita considerato come uno dei suoi lavori più riusciti, oggi comincia a mostrare leggermente i segni del tempo che passa insesorabile, soprattutto nella prima parte elettrica. Eh sì perché questo album in realtà nasce dalle ceneri di due dischi precedenti, usciti entrambi nel 1967, ovvero “Wear your love like heaven” (elettrico) ed il più riuscito “For little ones” (acustico).
Il contrapporsi di materiale di così differente natura però non intacca il valore complessivo dell’album, anzi, se mai lo fortifica, rendendo l’ascoltatore partecipe di autentiche delizie del calibro di “Someone’s singning”, “There was a time”, “Epistle to Derrol” (dedicata al banjoista Derrol Adams), “Starfish on the toast”, “The tinker and the crab” ma anche (a voler essere del tutto onesti) qualche raro episodio imbarazzante, come ad esempio l’arabeggiante “The enchanted gipsy”. Per i più pignoli si potrebbe sottolineare l’assenza di una canzone che risalti sulle altre, come invece lo erano state “Catch the wind”, “Colours”, “Sunshine superman”, “Mellow yellow" per le uscite discografiche precedenti ma è anche vero che, pur non contenendo molti hits, l’album si attesta mediamente su livelli più che buoni.
Rimane un’opera fondamentale per capire al meglio la realtà musicale di quella tanto decantata età dell’oro della musica, innanzitutto perché molto curata, poi anche perché è l’unico disco che unisce e riconcilia le due anime del cantautore scozzese, ovvero quella del menestrello malinconico emulo di Dylan e quella del rocker in grado di distillare pillole di psichedelica pura ed acid-rock come pochi altri.
E’ interessante infine segnalare la presenza di musicisti del calibro di Jack Bruce (Cream) e John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) a dare il loro contributo per la riuscita di questo album.
In definitiva chi non ha vissuto quel periodo ed ignora del tutto il contesto sociale e musicale che ha partorito questo e mille altri dischi dell’epoca faticherà necessariamente un po’ a calarsi nel fascino magico e, diciamolo, anche un po’ datato di Donovan; un musicista la cui carriera è stata caratterizzata da un continuo alternarsi di alti e bassi, è vero, ma che forse oggi rimane troppo spesso ingiustamente nell’ombra.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
02 The Enchanted Gypsy (03:21)
Donovan Leitch
The Enchanted Gypsy
A day once dawned,
As sleepers yawned
A day of leaves so green-i-o
That a man rode high
In the tinker’s sky
And begged me to go running-o
And follow the path of the Gypsy-o
Seaweed clings to ruby rings
On the fingers of my lady-o
And the people in the town
They would not look round
To see me go running-o
On the trail of the Enchanted Gypsy-o
I passed the glade
And took near shade
Beneath an oak so twisty-o
And a vision I saw
As the crow did craw
No more did I go searching-o
One the trail of the Enchanted Gypsy-o
Seaweed clings to ruby rings
On the fingers of my lady-o
And the people in the town
They would not look round
To see me go running-o
On the trail of the Enchanted Gypsy-o
His caravan
Was painted by hand
That’s touched every pebble in the ocean-o
And the pictures there
They move in thin air
There forever telling-o
The tails of the Enchanted Gypsy-o
Seaweed clings to ruby rings
On the fingers of my lady-o
And the people in the town
They would not look round
To see me go running-o
For to follow the path of the Gypsy-o
(La la la la la la la la x6)
03 Voyage Into the Golden Screen (03:15)
In the golden garden bird of peace
Stands the silver girl the Wild Jewels niece
Paints and pretty colors Children’s drawings on the wall
Look of doubt I cast you out be gone your ragged call
In the forest thick a trick of light
Makes an image magnet to my sight
Gown of purple velvet enchanted glazed eye
The sound of wings and sparkling rings behold a crimson sky
Tread to light so not to touch the grass
Breathe the air so slowly as you pass
Silent sudden dewdrop remains unseen until
Eyes to fall to hidden call the power of Love and Will
Symphonies of seaweed dance and swoon
Surreal celestial shore beneath the moon
See the dark and mighty peaks pierce the cumulus
Violet and mauve they power you can sus’
Elvin fingers clutch a deep black cloak of fine damask
Aged rock incarnate lie reveal a jeweled cask
04 Isle of Islay (02:24)
How high the gulls fly
O'er Ilay
How sad the farm lad
deep in play
Felt like a grain on your sand
How well the sheep's bell
music makes
Roving the cliff
when fancy takes
Felt like a tide left me here
How blessed the forest
with birdsong
How neat the cut peat
laid so long
Felt like a seed on your land
07 The Tinker and the Crab (02:55)
On the windy beach the sun is shining through with
weather fair
White horses riding on the seas pasture onto the
sand
Over the Dunes came a travelling man
Sack on back Wild flowers in his hand
Old rusty cans, pebbles 'bedded in the sand stand
and stare
Scratching his beard through the grass he steered
his sandy shoe
Disappearing in the dips pondering and wandering
along
Nice as you please comes the travelling man
Drinking a bottle of milk in his hand
Speaking to no one in particular but happily
Down where the gulls dance driftwood lying drying
for the fire
Yellow beak and sleek now the gulls are crying
flying higher
Out from the sea came a little green Crab
Taking the Sun the morning being very drab
Old rusty cans, pebbles 'bedded in the sand stand
and stare
The Tinker and the Crab
The Tinker and the Crab
The Tinker and the Crab
09 The Lullaby of Spring (03:27)
Spring has showered frae a drip
Splash and trickle running,
Plant has flowered in the sand
Shell and pebble sunning;
So begins another spring,
Green leaves under berries,
Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by
Mother bird eating cherries
In the misty, tangled sky,
Fast a wind is blowing
In a new born rabbit's heart
River life is flowing
So begins another spring,
Green leaves under berries,
Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by
Mother bird eating cherries
From the dark and wetted soil,
Petals are unfolding
From the stony village >Kirke<
Easter bells of old ring
So begins another spring,
Green leaves under berries,
Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by
Mother bird eating cherries
Spring has flowered frae a drip,
Slash and trickle running
Plant has flowered in the sun
Shell and pebble sunning
So begins another spring
Green leaves under berries,
Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by
Mother bird eating cherries
10 The Magpie (01:31)
The Magpie is a most illustrious bird
dwells in a diamond tree
one brings sorrow and one brings joy
sorry and joy for me
The Magpie is a most royal bird
black and blue as night
I would that I had feathers three
black and blue and white
I saw the gentle Magpie bird
in the dusky yestereve
one brings sorrow and one brings joy
sorrow and joy for me....
sorrow and joy for me....
11 Starfish-On-The-Toast (02:45)
Fine rock pooling coast
this starfish on the toast
the men in the crabbing boats they cry
Far across the harbor
and 'round the sandy cove
the shepard with his pipe and sheepy drove
big cloud tumbling high
the amazing flying sky
how the gulls are pillaging the town
fan faring daffodilly
trumpetingly small
all along the bathing hut wall
far across the empty beach
the tide has left this world
old men in tweed find study there
Holding whelks and periwinkles
tingling in his hand
little does he know they hold him too
Fine rock pooling coast
this starfish on the coast
the men in the crabbing boat they cry....
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di luludia
Donovan è semplice ed esser semplici è la cosa più difficile del mondo.
Che qui parliamo di canzoni fatte della stessa sostanza di ciò che raccontano.
