Donovan with David Gilmour

Donovan Philips Leitch (normalmente chamado apenas de Donovan) (nascido em 10 de maio de 1946) é um músico britânico. Emergente do cenário folk inglês, Donovan ficou famoso depois de uma série de apresentações em programas de TV. Seu sucesso inicialmente ficou restrito ao Reino Unido, mas depois de assinar com a Epic Records americana e juntar forças com o produtor Mickie Most, ele desenvolveu um estilo eclético e bem-sucedido, que incorporava folk, jazz, pop, psicodelismo e world music. Donovan rapidemente tornou-se um dos mais famosos e populares artistas britânicos de sua época, produzindo uma série de sucessos entre 1966 e 1970. Ele também tornou-se amigo próximo dos Beatles, sendo um dos poucos a colaborar em suas músicas,além disso, foi ele quem ensinou John Lennon a tocar violão dedilhado. A fama de Donovan começou a se esvair depois que ele separou de Most em 1969, e, embora ele tenha continuado a tocar durante os anos 70 e 80, seu estilo musical calmo e sua imagem hippie passaram a ser severamente atacados pela crítica, principalmente depois do surgimento do punk rock. Em 1990, Donovan grava um álbum com David Gilmour e por motivos não muito claros, este álbum não é lançado na época, sendo re-acessdo somente em 2002. Este misterioso álbum chamado de Celtia, nem consta em sua discografia oficial.

1990 Celtia [unreleased album]

Released: 2002 Recorded: February 1990

Sulan Studios, Ireland Label: Durga Records

Musicians:

· Donovan: acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals.

· David Gilmour: guitar.

· Nigel Kennedy: violin.

· Sharon Shannon: box accordion and fiddle.

· Noël Bridgeman: congas, drums and percussion.

· Anthony Thistlewait: mandolin and slide mandolin.

· Colin Blakey: whistles and flutes.

· Eleonor McIvoy: violin and backing vocals.

· Maire Bhretnach: violin, celtic strings, backing vocals and electric violin.

· Dan Fitgerald: tambourine.

· Steeve Cooney: bass, didgeridoo, lead acoustic guitar, bass and finger picking guitar.

· Mandy Murphy: backing vocals.

· Astrella Celeste: spoken.

· Celtia is an unreleased album that was recorded around 1990. There's no record of this album until 2003, in issue number 17 of Pat Hehir's fanzine, Donovan's Friends. Suddenly, in that year of 2003 the album is supposed to be on sale, under the fictitious Durga Records label.

· There's no reliable proof about this fact, and there is no evidence that Durga Records ever released Celtia, you run into the same story over and over again on the Internet when looking for information about this album, which is probably based on Pat Hehir's statements in Donovan's Friends. It's more likely that this was another of Pat Hehir's bootleg releases, masqueraded as an official release, as it was only available through the fanzine and Pat Hehir's website. This was not the first time that Mr. Hehir did that, as he did the same with One Night In Time and Greatest Hits Live: Vancouver 1986. Donovan didn't get a single penny for any of this albums.

· According to Pat Hehir, after the disappointment of One Night In Time not being released, he took Donovan to Ireland to start a new project: Celtia. Hehir and Donovan went into Sulan studios, in southern Ireland, with a bunch of magnificent but not very known musicians, to join Donovan. Like in the old times, it took them just eight days to record the whole album. These songs were more rehearsal songs never intended for issue, until Hehir decided otherwise.

· The Ferryman's Daughter was first recorded around 1968, this early version was included on Disc 3 of 2005 magnificent compilation Try For The Sun: The Journey Of Donovan. The first time this song ever appeared on a Donovan record was for the album Live In Japan: Spring Tour 1973.

· An earlier version of Madrigalinda was recorded for 1980 album Neutronica.

· Lover O Lover was originally released on the album Love Is Only Feeling, and later re-recorded for the Beat Café album in 2004.

· Everlasting Sea was later re-recorded and included on the album Sutras.

Mais uma descoberta de Peter Hammil.