Donovan

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风格: #民谣流行　#根源唱作人　#民谣摇滚　#迷幻流行
地区: United Kingdom 英国

艺人介绍

小简介

唱腔低缓成了Donovan的特徵，因此在伴奏上他采取的也极为低调，所以 Donovan的民谣风格中带有很浓的蓝调味。加拿大籍的诗人Leonard Cohen走唱的方式就非常类似Donovan慢板的作品，有一些梦幻，又带点浪漫、不急不躁，很自然的将听者带进舒畅的境界。

Donovan 〔全名Donovan Leitch〕1946年5月10日生于苏格兰的Glasgow。念了一年的专科就辍学四处流浪于英伦，为讨生活他曾做过餐服员、搬运工、矿工，也因为偷窃而吃过两星期的牢饭，不到20岁的Donovan很早就体尝到人间的百态及冷暖。

1964年他首次出现Herts当地的Cock Pub中，与他共同演出的尚有一位叫Gypsy Dave乐手。由于他俩来到Southend小镇演出时，被Geoff Stephens和Peter Eden两人看上，进而当上Donovan的现成经纪人。

1965 年l月Donovan在Geoff、Peter的促动下，於伦敦的一家录音室初次进行试音，并完成一卷母带，没想到引起Pye唱片公司及ITV的青垂。很顺利的，Donovan上了英国当时著名的热门节目Ready Steady Go，而且安排他三个礼拜上档，这是该节目首次推出的特制连约性小单元。Pye公司为了让大众传播立刻对Donovan产生印象，将他外型个性化，肩挂口琴架、手持一把木吉他、满头卷发覆著软布的窄边幅，好像把Donovan当成英国的Bob Dylan。

与Bob Dylan见面惺惺相惜

Donovan l965年春天发表自己的作品"Catch The Wind"，当时Bob Dylan为促销新作也刚好来英国演出，两人不仅见了面，在排行上也过了招，Donovan占尽天时及地利，"Catch the Wind"勇夺第4名，而Dylan的"The Times They Are A-Changing"〔1965年4月〕仅获第9名，这是Bob Dylan在英国发行的第一张单由小唱片。

英国歌迷欣赏 Donovan的才艺，可感觉他是位不随俗的艺人，在音乐上他继承了英格兰的民谣精神，同时为不脱离市场环境，爵士与蓝调倒也融入在他的风格裏，从这即可分辨出Donovan与Bob Dylan虽然同属歌坛民谣创作巨擘，但处於两极不同的环境下，曲风必然有很大的差异。

刚出道就星运亨通的Donovan於1965年6月推出百张专辑「What's Bin Did ahd What'sBin Hid」，成绩相当好，得到英排行第三名。1965的后半年，Donovan行程排的满满的，他应邀往ABC电台的Folk Room，及ABC、BBC电视节目中，演唱曾遍及全英及北欧等国家。

美国民谣歌手激烈反战，Donovan也支持该项活动，曾与Joan Baez在伦敦Trafalgar广场，参加反越战示威游行。后来他推出一首反战的歌曲"Universal Soldier",BBC电视Top of the Pops为纪念诺曼第登陆成功而以此曲制作一段节日播出，但最令Donovan感到荣幸万分的是，1965年7月他有机会到美国参加年度民谣盛会 Newport Folk Festival,Bob Dylan亦受邀其中。Donovan这一次约亮相，对他在美国发行的第一张专辑「Catch the Wind」〔US#30〕预铺了一段坦途。

身价看涨的Donovan，也因为制作人问题引起一场争夺战，后来由Mickie Most坦任他最新制作人，Mickie希望Donovan能普遍为大众接受，将他的乐风由民谣再拉广到流行乐。此招果然奏效，他俩初次合作的歌曲 "Sunshine Superman"打响了美国市场，这是Donovan在美国的第一支百万冠军单曲，它本来取名为"For John and Paul"，后觉不妥才改成现在的曲名。

"Sunshine Superman"的确是一首商业歌曲，反覆多次的固定旋律与曲调，穿插一些鲜活的电子吉他技巧，再加上一大堆不知所云的歌词，就这样一首奇怪的歌将他推向至巨星的地位。当然一位艺人要获得商业成功，主打歌定位在那裏，或许就不那么在意了，专辑「Sunshine Superman」大半歌曲仍以慢歌居多，梦幻Fairy Tale的意境仍是他主述的重点，因此他运用了印度西塔琴在"Three King Fishers"、"Quinevere"及"The Fat Angel"童话题材的歌曲裏，更添加几许神秘的色彩。

特殊风格独树一帜

做过去所没做过的就是一种创新，Donovan凭这一点很快的窜红歌坛，他的歌曲变化不大、平平稳稳的，编曲及所用的乐器也不复杂，以此特色他为了一首风味绝佳的"Mellow Yellow"，裏而设计了一段所谓的WhisperingVocal轻声细语的唱腔，这还有赖於Paul McCartney的指点，另外此曲的编曲人John Paul Jones〔Led Zeppelin贝司手〕，曲子末了表现一段热闹的欢愉声音，其手法后来也运用在披头四"All You Need Is Love"裏，Donovan亦是这首大欢唱中的一员。

1968 年是Donovan歌路起伏变化最大的一年。先前他推出两张一套的专辑叫做「A Gift from a Flower to a Garden」，一张

收录的有近年来的佳作，另一张全是儿歌，推出之后发觉年龄层差别太大，於是再分别以「Wear Your Love Like Heaven」及「For Little Ones」之名发行。

是年2月Donovan与披头四团员远赴印度跟Maharishi大师学瞑想，或许是受到当时风气的影响，药物文化立刻形成时髦文化，大家都来尝试美妙的幻觉、嗑药的舒畅，专辑「Hurdy Gurdy Man」就是一张很好的说明，同名标题曲及"Peregrine"、"Tangier"等多首曲子明显的就是迷幻音乐，从任何角度来看药物可能有促动 Donovan的创作空间，但也缩短了Donovan的创作生命。

Donovan 习研古学多年，很多歌曲他都以古字命名，如"Celeste"、"Barabajagal"、"Trudi"、"Pamelajo"等，至於押韵的字也不少，如"Mellow Yellow"、"Hurdy Gurdy Man"、"Superlungs My Supergirl"以及他推出过单曲的"Jennifer Juniper"〔UK#5、US#26)。

大型演唱会的宠儿

大型演唱会似乎很喜欢找Donovan这类形的歌手上场，他曾参加过National Blues Festival、加州Fillmore West大型场地公演，以及Woburn Music Festival等多种场合表演，於是68年9月他乾脆推出一张「Donovan In Concert」〔US#18〕以满足歌迷需求。

1969 年春天，Donovan精选专辑「Greatest Hits」〔US#4〕问世，回顾这几年Donovan确实成就非凡，相信他自己并不以此为满足，仍想开拓下一步事业的雄心，於是他与吉他高手 JeffBeck合作两首歌曲Barabajagal"及"Trudi"，可惜市场反应不住，大众或许不太能接受他的新摇滚风格。由于Donovan转型期受挫，连带的新作「Barabajagal」（US#23）销路欠佳。如果我们剖析这张专辑，仍可发觉几首像"To Susan on the west Coast Waiting"I Love My shirt"及日白一段"Atlantis"（US#23）都不失之为佳作小品。

1970 年6月Donovan与合作多年的制作人Mickie Most宣告结束，他自组了一个专属的伴奏乐团Open Road，既然有了自己的乐团，当然有心在大的舞台上展现实力。他们参加了前卫音乐Bath Festival，另外Led Zeppelin、Pink Floyd亦是要角之一。8月31日他们又参加Isle of Wight Festival，由此看出Donovan一直都是国际舞台瞩目的焦点。

同年9月，Donovan发表新作就叫「Open Road」，行情并不看好，Donovan只好在年底将乐团收掉。71年他曾避税搬至爱尔兰居住，74年又转往加州移民，这其间似乎不像过去常可听到 Donovan的声音，他曾一度为电影【Brother Sun,Sister Moon】写插曲，73年Mickie Most再找上他重新合作，推出一张「Cosmic Wheels」（US#l5、US#l5），这是Donovan最后一张在英国榜露脸的专辑。之后他仍断断续续有新作发表，如Carole King、Peter Frampton助阵的「Essence to Essence」、概念的专辑「7-Tease」及自己制作的「Slow Down World」。

八O年Donovan以低姿态走过，他组了一个随行乐团四处巡回演唱。换了唱片公司到Polygram之后，即推出东山再起之作「Ris-ing」，这么长的一段时间Donovan并没有脱离音乐，倒引起不少后进对他早期作品的仰慕，1991年於加拿大有15个乐团及艺人分别挑选一些旧作，合录成一张专辑叫「Island of Circles」，开场曲"Donovan"口白了一段感言，从这裏找回了记忆，也找回了一个新起点，这么多艺人共襄盛举，旧瓶盛装了新酒，当中加了些 Rock、也加了些New Music,Donovan的音乐更活化了，蛮符合九0年新的音乐感受。

by Jason Ankeny

Upon his emergence during the mid-60s, Donovan was anointed Britains answer to Bob Dylan, a facile but largely unfounded comparison which compromised the Scottish folk-pop troubadours own unique vision. Where the thrust of Dylans music remains its bleak introspection and bitter realism, Donovan fully embraced the wide-eyed optimism of the flower-power movement, his ethereal, ornate songs radiating a mystical beauty and childlike wonder; for better or worse, his recordings remain quintessential artifacts of the psychedelic era, capturing the peace-and-love idealism of their time to perfection. Donovan Leitch was born May 10, 1946 in Glasgow and raised outside of London; at 18 he recorded his first demo, and in 1965 was tapped as a regular on the television pop showcase Ready, Steady, Go! He soon issued his debut single Catch the Wind, earning the first round of Dylan comparisons with his ramshackle folk sound and ragamuffin look; the single nevertheless reached the UK Top Five, with a subsequent meeting between the two singer/songwriters captured in the classic D.A. Pennebaker documentary Dont Look Back.

Donovans follow-up single, Colours, was also a hit, and after making his American debut at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, he issued Fairytale, his second and last LP for the Hickory label. Signing with Epic in 1966, he released his breakthrough album, Sunshine Superman, which in its exotic arrangements and pointedly psychedelic lyrical outlook heralded a major shift from his previous work; the title track topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, with the enigmatic Mellow Yellow reaching the number two spot a few months later. Donovan remained a chart fixture throughout 1967, generating a series of hits including Epistle to Dippy, There Is a Mountain, and Wear Your Love Like Heaven; that year he traveled to India alongside the Beatles to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a journey which inspired him to renounce drug use and encourage his listeners to turn to meditation. The ambitious double album A Gift from a Flower to a Garden followed, and in 1968 Donovan resurfaced with The Hurdy Gurdy Man, scoring a Top Five smash with the hallucinatory title cut; the record also yielded the hit Jennifer Juniper.

Barabajagal from 1969 generated Donovans final Top 40 hit, Atlantis; for the title track, he collaborated with the Jeff Beck Group, with whom he also worked on 1970s Open Road. He then retreated to Ireland, emerging from a period of seclusion by starring in and scoring the 1972 film The Pied Piper; a pair of new LPs, Cosmic Wheels and Essence to Essence, appeared the following year to disappointing reviews and little commercial interest. Following 1974s 7-Tease, he spent the next years living quietly in Californias Joshua Tree desert, mounting only a small club tour to promote 1976s Slow Down; a self-titled LP appeared a year later, and in the wake of 1983s Jerry Wexler-produced Lady of the Stars, he essentially retired from writing and recording altogether. The Donovan revival began in earnest in 1991 when Happy Mondays titled a song in his honor for their groundbreaking Pills n Thrills & Bellyaches; he later toured with the group as well. Five years later, Donovan released his comeback LP, Sutras, helmed by producer-du-jour Rick Rubin. ther album had the misfiortune to be released after Rubins landmark Johnny Cash record, American Recordings and was virtually ignored or misunderstood by critics. Donovan toured briefly to support Sutras and then went missing once again, playing out only sporadically. In 2004, however, he reappeared with the intimate and stylish Beat Cafe, a collection of nearly all-original songs produced by keyboardist John Chelew. Donovan also enlisted bassist Danny Thompson and drummer Jim Keltner to round out his quartet. The album also featured a pair of covers, a spoken-word rendition of poet Dylan Thomas Do Not Go Gentle, and a startling rendition of the traditional tune, The Cuckoo. Sony released the double-disc CD/DVD Try for the Sun: The Journey of Donovan, the following year.

Donovan

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