Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Donovan (2014)

By 1966, Donovan had shed the Dylan/Guthrie influences and become one of the first British pop musicians to adopt flower power, immersing himself in jazz, blues, Eastern music, and the new generation of counterculture-era US West Coast bands such as Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. He was entering his most creative phase as a songwriter and recording artist, working with Mickie Most and with arranger, musician, and jazz fan John Cameron, and their collaboration on Sunshine Superman was one of the first psychedelic pop records. Donovan's rise stalled in December 1965 when Billboard broke news of the impending production deal between Klein, Most, and Donovan, and then reported that Donovan was to sign with Epic Records in the US. Despite Kozak's denials, Pye Records dropped the single and a contract dispute ensued, because Pye had a US licensing arrangement with Warner Bros. Records. As a result, the UK release of the Sunshine Superman album was delayed for months, robbing it of the impact it would have had off the back of the hit single. Another outcome was that the UK and US versions of this and later albums differed, with three of his Epic LPs not being released in the UK, while 'Sunshine Superman' was issued in a different form in each country. By spring 1966 the American contract problems had been resolved, with Donovan signing a $100,000 deal with Epic Records, and he and Most went to CBS Studios in Los Angeles, where they recorded tracks for an album, much of which was composed during the preceding year. 

Although folk elements were prominent, the songs showed increasing influence of jazz, American west coast psychedelia and folk rock, especially from The Byrds. 'Sunshine Superman' was released in the US as a single in June, and reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart, and later number 2 in the UK. The US version of the album features instruments including acoustic bass, sitar, saxophone, tablas and congas, harpsichord, strings and oboe, and highlights include the swinging 'The Fat Angel', written for Cass Elliot of the Mamas & the Papas, 'Bert's Blues' (a tribute to Bert Jansch), 'Guinevere', and 'Legend Of A Girl Child Linda'. The driving, jazzy 'The Trip' was named after a Los Angeles club, and chronicled an LSD trip during his time in L.A., and is loaded with references to his sojourn on the West Coast. Because of the earlier contractual problems, the UK version of 'Sunshine Superman' was not released for another nine months, and as Donovan had released another record in the US by this time, the UK version was a compilation of tracks from the US 'Sunshine Superman', and its follow-up 'Mellow Yellow'. I think most of the better tracks on the UK version come from the US 'Sunshine Superman' album, so for this post I've used that as a basis, and every track has received a superlative cover version, all of which are included on this reimagining of arguably Donovan's best album. 

Track listing

01 Sunshine Superman (Mike Vickers 1967)
02 Legend Of A Girl Child Linda (Joan Baez, Judy Collins & Mimi Farina 1967)
03 Three King Fishers (Gabor Szabo 1968)
04 Ferris Wheel (Rick Wooley 1980)
05 Bert's Blues (Burnt Branch 2014)
06 Season Of The Witch (Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll & The Trinity 1967)
07 The Trip (Ryan Green 2013)
08 Guinevere (Paul Roland 1992)
09 The Fat Angel (Jefferson Airplane 1969)
10 Celeste (Scott McKenzie 1967)

Miller Anderson - ...and on guitar (1994)

Miller Anderson was born on 12 April 1945 in Houston, Renfrewshire in Scotland, and started his career in the group The Royal Crests in Scotland around 1964, and after moving down to London in March 1965 they renamed themselves Karl Stuart And The Profiles. Under this name they released two singles in 1965, 'Love Of My Eyes'/'Not A Girl In A Million' and  and 'Haven't They Got Better Things'/'Touch Of Your Hand', before dropping the Karl Stuart part and becoming The Profiles. Two more singles followed in the same year, before Anderson left the band and joined The Voice. This time the group only managed one single, 'Train To Disaster'/'Truth', before he departed, although he was there long enough to play with Mick Ronson when they were both members at the same time. Anderson then formed a duo with Dave Dufort in the mid-60's, but with the addition of future Mott The Hoople leader Ian Hunter on bass and Dante Smith on keyboards they became The Scenery, and after Dofort left the band and was replaced by John Vernon Smith, yet another single emerged in 'To Make A Man Cry'/'Thread Of Time'. In March 1968 he joined the strangely-named At Last the 1958 Rock And Roll Show, bumping into Hunter again, and with Freddie Fingers Lee on keyboards and Pete Phillips on drums, they released one single, with the Jimmi Duncan-produced 'I Can't Drive'/'Working On The Railroad' appearing on the CBS label in 1968. 

In October 1968 the band changed their name to Charlie Woolfe, with the same line-up, and they were soon back in the studio to record another single, this time for NEMS in UK (also released by CBS in Holland), with 'Dance Dance Dance'/'Home', with the b-side being a Freddie Fingers Lee, Miller Anderson and Ian Hunter co-write. Soon afterwards, Anderson and Hunter decided to abandon Charlie Woolfe, so they resurrected The Scenery, and although this edition of the band did not record, they did back singer David McWilliams for a British tour. In November 1968 Anderson finally got the call that he'd been waiting for, with an offer to join the Keef Hartley Band as vocalist and lead guitarist, and he ended up composing most of their original material. They released the excellent 'Halfbreed' album, recorded in just three days, and which opened with 'Sacked', a recording of an answerphone message from John Mayall telling Hartley that he was out of The Bluesbreakers. On this album Miller only contributed vocals, with guitar courtesy of Spit James, but once James left the band, Anderson took over the guitar role completely, and this line-up played in Woodstock Festival on its second day, although unfortunately they don't appear on the movie or soundtrack. With the addition of Mick Weaver, the Keef Hartley Band released their second album, 'The Battle Of North West Six', with guitar by Spit James, who was still in the band when it was recorded, and with one track featuring Mick Taylor guesting on guitar. 

'Overdog' followed in 1971 , and the group converted into a big band, in order to record a live album in the legendary Marquee in London, called 'Little Big Band', and they toured with a line-up of up to 20 members. After the live recording, the band returned to their usual quintet, and after recording some tracks for BBC in March 1971, Anderson started to think of pursuing a solo career. leaving the band in 1971. His first solo album 'Bright City', was released on Dream later that year, and he assembled a band to play some concerts, although he didn't actually tour. Around January 1973 he  formed a new band with keyboardist Mick Weaver, with Hemlock having more of a folk feel than the blues that he was associated with. They released a self-titled album, 'Hemlock', which was originally conceived as Anderson's second solo album, with help from Pete Willsher on steel guitar and Chris Mercer on sax. They toured supporting Procol Harum in England in March 1973, followed by another tour supporting Savoy Brown and Uriah Heep. On that tour, the chemistry between Savoy Brown's Kim Simmonds and Anderson finished with the offer of them forming a band together, so with the addition of Hemlock's rhythm section the formed The Boogie Brothers, which eventually led to him joining Savoy Brown themselves in January 1974, giving a three-guitar line-up of Simmonds, Anderson, and ex-Chicken Shack leader Stan Webb. 

They released the 'Boogie Brothers' album in 1974, but with too many leaders in the band, they only stayed together until December. In 1975, Anderson teamed up with his old boss Keef Hartley, and formed the short-lived Dog Soldier. After releasing their self-titled album, 'Dog Soldier', Hartley and bassist Paul Bliss left the band, and although they carried on with replacements Jim Leverton and Eric Dillon, they soon parted ways after touring with Back Street Crawler. Around August 1976, Marc Bolan refreshed the line-up of T Rex completely, keeping only Dino Dines, who recruited his old mate Anderson to play on Bolan's next album 'Dandy In The Underworld', and after that he joined Donovan for a tour, but before he could re-join T Rex, Bolan was killed in a car accident in 1977. The following year Anderson put together another band with keyboardist Ronnie Leahy, and after adding Colin Allen on drums, and recruiting guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, The Dukes recorded their only album in 1979, and then toured with Wishbone Ash. They had a minor success with the single 'Hearts In Trouble', but soon after that, tragedy struck again and Jimmy McCulloch sadly died. They replaced him with Mick Grabham, but the band folder shortly afterwards. In 1982 Anderson was asked to join Stan Webb in his new band Stan Webb´s Speedway, but he was only in the group for a short while, and didn't record with them. 

His next gig evolved from a collaboration between Ian Hunter and Corky Laing, who was the drummer in Mountain, who wrote several songs together, and then Hunter called Anderson to come over and sing and play guitar on the recordings. After Leslie West was invited to contribute to the project, it was suddenly a full-blown Mountain reunion, and in 1982 they started recording an album, 'Go For Your life', but Anderson has been forced to switch to bass after West joined, and so when he realized his part was to be too small, he left the band, although he can be heard on 'Makin' It In Your Car' from the record. In 1988 he joined The Spencer Davis Group, alongside vocalist Chris Farlowe, bassist Colin Hodgkinson, Zoot Money on keyboards, Pete York on drums, and Davis himself on vocals and guitar. They released a live album, 'Extremely Live At Birmingham Town Hall' in 1988, with Anderson in great form on 'Feet's Too Big' and 'Stormy Monday'. In November and December 1988 the toured Germany under the name of Pete York's R&B Revue, and in 1991 they recorded a live album under their alternative name of Pete York & Superblues, released in 1994, and featuring renditions of the Billie Holliday classic 'Lover Man', Chris Farlowe's early hit 'Out Of Time', and Anderson's showcases on 'Dimples' and 'Resurrection Shuffle'. Anderson is still working, and in the spring of 2016, he returned to the studio, releasing his new album 'Through The Mill' in the July, and this collection of tracks from throughout his long and varied career will go some way to show how he got to that point.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Love Of My Eyes (single by Karl Stuart And The Profiles 1965)
02 Got To Find A Way (single by The Profile 1966)
03 The Train To Disaster (single by The Voice 1966)
04 Thread Of Time (b-side of 'To Make A Man Cry' by The Scenery 1967)
05 I Can't Drive (single by At Last The 1958 Rock And Roll Show 1968)
06 Dance Dance Dance (single by Charlie Woolfe 1968)
07 You Can Choose (from 'Overdog' by The Keef Hartley Band 1971)
08 The Actor (from 'Two Weeks Last Summer' by Dave Cousins 1972)
09 Ship To Nowhere (from 'Hemlock' by Hemlock 1973)
10 You Don't Love Me (from 'Boogie Brothers' by Savoy Brown 1974)

Disc Two
01 Broken Glass (from 'Broken Glass' by Broken Glass' 1975)
02 You Are My Spark (from 'Dog Soldier' by Dog Soldier 1975)
03 Jason B. Sad (from 'Dandy In The Underworld' by T. Rex 1977)
04 We Can Make It Together (from 'Heartbreak Hill' by The Strawbs 1978)
05 Time On Your Side (from 'The Dukes' by The Dukes 1979)
06 We Are One (from 'Neutronica' by Donovan 1980)
07 Makin' It In Your Car (from 'Go For Your Life' by Mountain 1985)
08 The Thrill Is Gone (from 'Extremely Live At Birmingham Town Hall' by The Spencer Davis Group 1988)
09 Dimples (from 'Superblues' by Pete York 1994)

Dave Mason - ...and on guitar (1984)

David Thomas Mason was born on 10 May 1946 in Worcester, and was a professional musician by his teens, making his recording debut with 'Opus To Spring' in 1963 with the instrumental group the Jaguars. It was with this band that he first encountered drummer Jim Capaldi, and the two became members of the Hellions, who played around the U.K. and in Hamburg, West Germany, as well as cutting a few singles in 1964 and 1965. Mason quit the Hellions in the spring of 1965 to study music formally, while also sitting in occasionally with another band featuring Capaldi, Deep Feeling. In early 1966 he took a job as road manager for the Spencer Davis Group, where he met Steve Winwood, and when Winwood left The Spencer Davis Group in March 1967, he took Mason with him to form Traffic with Capaldi and flautist Chris Wood. After their first single 'Paper Sun' was a UK hit, they followed it with Mason's 'Hole in My Shoe', which hit number two in the U.K. Mason stayed in the band long enough to record Traffic's debut album 'Mr. Fantasy', but left just as it was being released, recording a solo single 'Little Woman' in early 1968. He then rejoined Traffic, staying with them until the band broke up in late 1968. After that he moved to Los Angeles and joined Delaney & Bonnie & Friends in 1969, and then in 1970 he signed a solo contract with Blue Thumb Records and released his debut solo album 'Alone Together', which reached number 22 and went gold in the U.S. Despite this success, he continued to work in group contexts, serving temporarily as second guitarist in Eric Clapton's band Derek And The Dominos, recording with George Harrison on 'All Things Must Pass', and forming a duo with Cass Elliot, releasing their album 'Dave Mason & Cass Elliot' in February 1971. During this time he was a busy session guitarist, starting almost as soon as Traffic ceased to exist, and as he was a friend of Jimi Hendrix he was invited to play 12-string acoustic guitar on his recording of 'All Along The Watchtower', as well as singing and playing on 'Crosstown Traffic'. In 1969/1970 he toured with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and contributed a searing solo to their 'Comin' Home' single, as well as playing with Eric Clapton on Derek And The Dominos' single 'Tell The Truth'/'Roll It Over'. In the early 70's he was very much a part of the US West Coast singer/songwriter collective, not only with his own albums, but also featuring on records by Graham Nash, David Crosby, David Blue, Bobby Keys, and his old friend Jim Capaldi. In 1973 he was the guest guitarist on jazz pianist Dave Brubeck's 'Two Generations Of Brubeck' album, showing that he was as much at home with jazz as he was with rock. He also added his guitar to Wings' hit single 'Listen To What The Man Said', and helped out Stephen Stills, Ron Wood, and Donovan in the late 70's/early 80's. Although Mason is pretty much a household name for his work with Traffic and his solo career, I was surprised at just how much he'd spread himself around in the 70's, and so this is a fine celebration of his work from that period.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Crosstown Traffic (from 'Electric Ladyland' by Jimi Hendrix Experience 1968)
02 Sing To Me, Woman (from 'Thinking Back' by Gordon Jackson 1969)
03 Hello Little Girl (from 'Word Of Mouth' by Merryweather 1969)
04 Comin' Home (single by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends 1969)
05 Freedom (from 'Bobby Lester' by Bobby Lester 1970) 
06 Plug Me In (from 'All Things Must Pass' by George Harrison 1970)
07 Roll It Over (b-side of 'Tell The Truth' by Derek And The Dominos 1970)
08 All Life Is One (from 'Warm Waters' by Charles Lloyd 1971)
09 Military Madness (from 'Songs For Beginners' by Graham Nash 1971)
10 Don't Be A Hero (from 'Oh How We Danced' by Jim Capaldi 1972)
11 Steal From A King (from 'Bobby Keys' by Bobby Keys 1972)

Disc Two
01 Immigration Man (from 'Graham Nash - David Crosby' by Crosby & Nash 1972)
02 Outlaw Man (from 'Nice Baby And The Angel' by David Blue 1973)
03 Blue Rondo A La Turk (from 'Two Generations Of Brubeck' by Dave Brubeck 1973)
04 No Show Tonight (from 'Phoebe Snow' by Phoebe Snow 1974)
05 Ain't That Loving You (out-take from '461 Ocean Boulevard' by Eric Clapton 1974) 
06 Listen To What The Man Said (from 'Venus And Mars' by Wings 1975)
07 Hideaway From Love (from 'Black And White' by Mike Finnigan 1978)
08 You Can't Dance Alone (from 'Thoroughfare Gap' by Stephen Stills 1978)
09 F.U.C. Her (from 'Gimme Some Neck' by Ron Wood 1979)
19 Boy For Every Girl (from 'Lady Of The Stars' by Donovan 1984)

Donovan - One Night In Time (1993)

After receiving a poor reception in the UK and US for his 1983 album 'Lady Of The Stars', Donovan retired from the recording studio, although he did continue to perform live concerts. However, as the new decade dawned he found that his 60's hit albums were being released on CD for the first time, and this, along with the release of the live album 'Rising' in 1990 and the box-set compilation 'Troubadour' in 1992, helped renew and increase his fans' interest in new material from him, despite him having no label in the UK or US to issue an album. His manager, Patrick Hehir, who had already invoked Donovan's wrath by selling unreleased albums, such as 1990's 'Celtia', through the 'Donovan's Friends' fanzine that he ran, did it again around 1993/1994 by making the shelved 'One Night In Time' available on cassette through this source. It was reportedly due to the fact that this album was cancelled that Donovan decamped to Ireland in February 1990 to record the 'Celtia' album, although that timeline doesn't seem to add up if 'One Night in Time' was recorded in 1993. Whatever the order they were recorded, 'Celtia' was very much a 'back to the roots' folk effort, whereas 'One Night In Time' is a very different beast altogether, with Donovan being ably assisted by Steve Jones on guitar, Jim Keltner on drums, Matthew Seligman on bass, and Robbie Blunt on slide guitar, and the result is a much more 'rock' sound than we'd heard for a while. It's a shame that this wasn't released when it was recorded, as it might well have kick-started the next phase of his career, whereas we had to wait until 1996 for his next official album 'Sutras'. 

Track listing

01 One Night In Time
02 Dear Heart
03 You Got Me Reeling (Only For You)
04 The Sensitive Kind
05 Runaway
06 When All The World Is Young
07 What's A Girl
08 Forever Your Love
09 You Do Belong (Teenage Suicide)
10 There Are No Roads

Donovan - Celtia (1990)

After the disappointment of 'One Night In Time' not being released, Donovan and his manager Pat Hehir decamped to Ireland in February 1990 to start a new project. Hehir and Donovan went into Sulan studios, in southern Ireland, with a bunch of magnificent but not very known musicians, although they did include David Gilmour, Sharon Shannon, Anthony Thistlewait, and Nigel Kennedy, and just like in the old times, it took them just eight days to record the whole album. The songs were produced by Hehir, who had recorded several of Donovan's concerts for Mellow Records throughout the 1980's. The songs recorded during the 'Celtia' sessions were written at various stages throughout Donovan's life -  'The Ferryman's Daughter' was originally written and recorded for 'Moon In Capricorn', another unreleased album whose sessions dated from 1968 and 1969. 'Everlasting Sea' was reportedly written during the sessions for 'The Hurdy Gurdy Man' and later appeared on Donovan's 1996 album 'Sutras'. 'Lover O Lover' was originally released on Donovan's 1981 album 'Love Is Only Feeling' and later recorded and released on his 2004 album 'Beat Cafe'. While it is not publicly known why 'Celtia' was not officially released, it has been speculated that Donovan and  Hehir had disagreements about the running of Donovan's business affairs, but it did appear in 2002 on the (allegedly fictitious) Durga Records, and was made available on Patrick Hehir's 'Donovan's Friends' website, although it was quickly withdrawn, and that release of the album is now viewed as a bootleg.

Track listing 

01 Watchin' The Sun Go Down  
02 Moon Over Clare
03 Glasgow Town
04 The Ferryman´s Daughter
05 Ghost Of Pagan Song
06 Where Are You Now
07 Living On Love
08 Madrigalinda
09 Lake Isle Of Innisfree
10 I Love You
11 Wahine
12 Down By The Harbour
13 Against Your Will
14 Rock Me
15 Lover O Lover
16 Awakening Year
17 Everlasting Sea

Peter Frampton - ...and on guitar (1975)

Peter Kenneth Frampton was born on 22 April 1950, and first became interested in music when he was seven years old, having discovered his grandmother's banjolele in the attic, and teaching himself to play it, going on to later teach himself guitar and piano as well. His early influences were Cliff Richard & the Shadows, especially guitarist Hank Marvin, and American rockers Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. By the age of 12 he was playing in The Little Ravens, while both he and David Bowie, who was three years older, were pupils at Bromley Technical School, where his father Owen Frampton was Bowie's art instructor. By the age of 14 he was playing with The Trubeats, followed by The Preachers, who were produced and managed by Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones. In 1966 he became a member of the Herd, where he was the lead guitarist and singer, and the band scored several British hit singles, at the same time as Frampton was named 'The Face of 1968' by teen magazine Rave. In 1969, while still only 18 years old, he joined with recently departed Small Faces guitarist Steve Marriott to form Humble Pie, going on to record one live and four studio albums with them, and while playing with Humble Pie he also did session recordings with other artists, including Harry Nilsson (and his alter ego Buck Earl for the 'I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City' single), John Entwistle, Andy Bown, Lon & Derrek Van Eaton and Suzi Quatro. Frampton left Humble Pie in 1971 and embarked on a solo career, with his debut album 'Wind Of Change' coming out in 1972, and featuring guest artists Ringo Starr and Billy Preston. This was followed by 'Frampton's Camel' in 1973, which featured Frampton working within a group project, then 'Something's Happening' in 1974, and 'Frampton' in 1975.

He had little commercial success with his early albums, but this all changed when he released his live album 'Frampton Comes Alive' in 1976, from which the hit singles 'Baby, I Love Your Way' and 'Show Me The Way' were extracted, and the album was on the Billboard 200 for 97 weeks, of which 55 were in the top 40, and 10 were at the top, becoming the best selling album of 1976. His following-up 'I'm In You' contained the hit title single and went platinum, but fell well short of expectations compared to its predecessor, with all subsequent releases being unfavourably compared to that high-point. Frampton suffered a near-fatal car accident in the Bahamas in 1978 which marked the end of this prolific period of his career, returning to the studio in 1979 to record the album 'Where I Should Be', and releasing records fairly regularly since then. Although his albums generally met with little commercial success, he achieved a brief, moderate comeback of sorts in 1986 with the release of his 'Premonition' album, and the single 'Lying' was a big hit on the mainstream rock charts. His heyday, though, was undoubtedly the early to mid 70's, not only with his own albums, but also with guest appearances on records by fellow artists. The Johnny Halliday track has an interesting story, as by the end of 1968 the original Small Faces were in the middle of breaking up, with Steve Marriott going on to form Humble Pie, and the rest of the band morphing into The Faces. In late December the group were asked to collaborate with French pop legend Johnny Halliday on an album that was to showcase his attempt at hard-rock, and Marriott dragged his chum Frampton along to the recording sessions. Marriott and Lane donated three songs to the project, two of which were later recorded by Humble Pie under different titles, so this track is something of a curiosity to start this showcase of Peter Frampton's guest appearances in the first half of the 1970's.

  

Track listing

01 Regarde Pour Moi (from 'Riviere Ouvre Ton Lit' by Johnny Halliday 1969)
02 Girl From Denver (from 'Don't Freak Me Out' by Jimmy Stevens 1972)
03 The Blues In England (from 'Feel Your Groove' by Ben Sidran 1971)
04 Open Your Eyes (from' Gone To My Head' by Andy Bown 1972)
05 Sweet Music (single by Lon & Derrek Van Eaton 1972)
06 Rolling Stone (single by Suzi Quatro 1972)
07 I Guess The Lord Must Be Tn New York City (single by Buck Earl 1972)
08 Perfection (from 'Painted Head' by Tim Hardin 1973)
09 Ten Little Friends (from 'Whistle Rymes' by John Entwistle 1972)
10 Life Goes On (from 'Essence To Essence' by Donovan 1973)
11 Celebration (from 'First Of The Big Bands' by Tony Ashton & Jon Lord 1974)
12 The Serf (from 'Everything Changes' by Leslie Duncan 1974)
13 Daybreak (from 'Son Of Dracula' by Harry Nilsson 1974)
14 Slow Down (from 'Get Off Of My Cloud' by Alexis Korner 1975)

Jeff Beck - ...and on guitar (1977)

Geoffrey Arnold Beck was born on 24 June 1944, and as a teenager he learned to play on a borrowed guitar, while making several attempts to build his own instrument. While still attending Wimbledon College of Art, he was playing in a succession of groups, including Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages during 1962, when they recorded 'Dracula's Daughter'/'Come Back Baby' for Oriole Records. In 1963, after Ian Stewart of The Rolling Stones introduced him to R&B, he formed the Nightshift, with whom he recorded a single, 'Stormy Monday'/'That's My Story', for the Piccadilly label. Other groups followed, including The Rumbles and The Tridents, and he acted as a session guitarist on a 1964 Parlophone single by the Fitz and Startz entitled 'I'm Not Running Away'. In March 1965, Beck was recruited by The Yardbirds to succeed Eric Clapton on the recommendation of fellow session musician (and original choice for the job) Jimmy Page. The Yardbirds recorded most of their Top 40 hits during Beck's short but significant 20-month tenure with the band, but he only appears on one of their albums, the legendary 'Roger The Engineer' in 1966. In June Page joined the Yardbirds, at first on bass and later on second lead guitar, but this dual lead-guitar line-up only lasted a short while, as Beck was fired during a US tour for being a consistent no-show. 
Now at a loose end, he recorded a couple of singles for Mickie Most, and then formed the Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano and Aynsley Dunbar on drums. The group produced two superb albums for Columbia Records, 'Truth' in 1968, and 'Beck-Ola' the following year, and it was about this time that Beck started to collaborate with oher astists. In May 1969 The Jeff Beck Group recorded some songs with Donovan for his seventh studio album 'Barabajagal', and a slightly retitled 'Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)' / 'Trudi (Bed With Me)' made the UK Top Twenty. Some of the songs recorded at that session were held back, with 'Homesickness' eventually appearing on 1971's 'HMS Donovan', and most of the other tracks being added to the CD re-issue of 'Barabajagal'. Also in 1969, Beck and Stewart were visiting a US recording studio where Frank Zappa's protégés The GTOs were recording an album, and they were persuaded to join in. Beck added some guitar to a couple of tracks, and Stewart also sings on 'Shock Treatment'. 
In 1970 Vanilla Fudge recorded a couple of adverts for Coca Cola, which included Beck on guitar, probably because of his connection with Carmine Appice, who he would later form a group with. A couple of years later Stevie Wonder was recording his 'Talking Book' album, and invited a select group of musicians to help him out, including Ray Parker Jnr., David Sanborn, Buzz Feiten, and Beck. The agreement was that Beck would get involved in the sessions in return for Wonder writing him a song, which turned out to be the classic 'Superstition', which they wrote together. Originally, the plan was for Beck to release his version of the song first, with his newly formed power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice. However, due to the combination of the trio's debut album getting delayed and Motown CEO Berry Gordy's prediction that 'Superstition' would be a huge hit, Wonder released the song as the album's lead single months ahead of Beck's version. Oddly enough, despite Beck co-writing the song, he didn't play on Wonder's version, only appearing on 'Lookin' For Another Pure Love', where you can hear Wonder say 'Do it, Jeff' during the solo. 
Over the next couple of years Beck contributed his guitar to recordings by Pete Brown, prog-rockers Badger (formed by Tony Kaye after he left Yes), US singer/songwriter Michael Fennelly (ex The Millenium and Crabby Appleton), and British/African jazz-fusion band Zzebra. In 1975 he produced the debut album for British jazz-rockers Upp, playing uncredited guitar on it as well, and doing the same production/guitarist job on the follow-up 'This Way Upp' in 1976. That same year he was invited to play on Stanley Clarke's third solo album 'Journey To Love', and Clarke wrote 'Hello Jeff' for him as a showcase. In 1976 Beck played on Billy Preston's self-titled album, although his solo is somewhat diluted as Preston carries on singing over it, but his work on Narada Michael Walden's 'Saint And The Rascal' is just sublime. The album closes with the most obscure track here, where he played guitar on the 1977 album 'Dorian', by Kenneth Dorian Passante, a veteran of the glam-rock scene and pals with Jobriath, and who financed the album himself, roping in Beck along the way. If there's one thing Jeff Beck is known for its spanning the genres, and this album is no exception, so enjoy his pop, rock, prog, soul, jazz-rock, fusion, and glam-rock guest appearances from the early to mid 70's.    

Track listing

01 Homesickness (from 'HMS Donovan' by Donovan recorded 1969, released 1971)
02 Shock Treatment (from 'Permanent Damage' by The GTO's 1969)
03 Coca Cola Commercial (with Vanilla Fudge 1970)
04 Lookin' For Another Pure Love (from 'Talking Book' by Stevie Wonder 1972)
05 Spend My Nights In Armour (from 'Before Singing Lessons' by Pete Brown 1973)
06 Watch Yerself (from 'Lane Changer' by Michael Fennelly 1974)
07 White Lady (from 'White Lady' by Badger 1974)
08 Put A Light On Me (from 'Panic' by Zzebra 1975)
09 Get Down In The Dirt (from 'Upp' by Upp 1975)
10 Hello Jeff (from 'Journey To Love' by Stanley Clarke 1975)
11 Bad Case Of Ego (from 'Billy Preston' by Billy Preston 1976)
12 Saint And The Rascal (from 'Garden Of Love Light' by Narada Michael Walden 1976)
13 Destination Nowhere (from 'Dorian' by Dorian Passante 1977)

Donovan - Breezes Of Patchuli (1969)

Donovan is one of those artists whose catalogue is something of a nightmare to unravel, as his US albums tended to be made up of compilations of his UK releases, sometimes even including songs not on the parent records, meaning that neither country ended up having a definitive discography from him. As well as this he did release a couple of singles which had b-sides which were not taken from his then current album, and a few songs never even made it out of the studio, so this album complies them all together as a companion piece to his late 60's releases between 1966 and 1969. This take of 'Superlungs' is a great early version recorded some years before he re-did it with Jeff Beck for the 'Barabajagal' album, and 'Fat Angel' is his original recording of the song which Jefferson Airplane later made their own. The Jeff Beck sessions also provide four out-takes which are each good enough to have made it onto the 'Barabajagal' album if there had been space for them. 

Track listing

01 Breezes Of Patchuli (Previously unreleased)
02 Ferris Wheel (b-side of 'Mellow Yellow' 1967)
03 Superlungs (1st version)
04 The Trip (b-side of  'Sunshine Superman' 1966)
05 Preachin' Love (b-side of 'Epistle To Dippy' 1967)
06 The Fat Angel (omitted from the UK issue of the 'Sunshine Superman' album 1967)
07 Good Time (Previously unreleased)
08 Poor Cow (b-side of 'Jennifer Juniper' 1968)
09 Teen Angel (b-side of 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' 1968)
10 Aye My Love (b-side of 'Lalena' 1968)
11 Snakeskin (with Jeff Beck 1969)
12 Lauretta's Cousin Laurinda (with Jeff Beck 1969)
13 The Stromberg Twins (with Jeff Beck 1969)
14 A Poor Man's Sunshine (Nativity) (with Jeff Beck 1969)