Mastertapes

Donovan (the A-Side)


Listen Later

Donovan talks about his psychedelic revolution inspiring 1966 album Sunshine Superman.

Series in which leading performers and songwriters talk about the album that made them or changed them.

Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios, each edition includes two episodes - the A-side and B-side.

In the A-side, Donovan talks to John Wilson.

Sunshine Superman, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 'ignited the psychedelic revolution virtually single-handedly' when it was released in the summer of 1966.

It was Donovan’s breakthrough third album and a radical departure from his previous work.

Born in Glasgow, Donovan Phillips Leitch grew up listening to his father reading him poetry and his family singing Scots Irish folk music. He began playing guitar when he was 14 and was 18 when he had his first hit, Catch the Wind. A year later he began work on the album that first introduced meditation, Celtic mythology and Flower Power to the world.

Creating a unique fusion of classical, jazz, folk, pop, Celtic, Latin and Indian music, the album veered from the LA-influenced The Trip and The Fat Angel (written for Mama Cass) to the medieval tinged Guinevere and Legend of a Girl Child Linda (written for Brian Jones’ ex-girlfriend Linda Lawrence who became Donovan’s life-long muse and wife). Linda is also the Sunshine Super-Girl of the song Sunshine Superman which topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and featured a young Jimmy Page on lead guitar.

In the B-side of the programme, it's the turn of the audience to ask the questions.

Producer: Clare Walker

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2016.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

MastertapesBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2

4.2

22 ratings


More shows like Mastertapes

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,389 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,840 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,898 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,781 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,046 Listeners

Desert Island Discs by BBC Radio 4

Desert Island Discs

2,015 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,925 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,080 Listeners

Inheritance Tracks by BBC Radio 4

Inheritance Tracks

28 Listeners

Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip by Scroobius Pip

Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip

162 Listeners

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle by BBC World Service

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

4,108 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

740 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,972 Listeners

I Never Thought It Would Happen by Chris Difford

I Never Thought It Would Happen

56 Listeners