Cheap Open Road (Music) (Donovan) Price

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Customer Reviews of Open Road

quite a pleasant departure
By 1970 the music world was changing. Just a year or two earlier music was being tye-dyed in peace, love and flowers. Psychedelia ruled the world. Donovan was the prince of psychedelic music, releasing numerous albums and enjoying top chart success. With Open Road he made a radical change in the sound of his music. But you need not worry, this album is pure delight, from start to finish. You won't hear sitars or finger cymbals on this album, but instead a pretty powerful band knocking out one pop gem after another. Picking a "favorite song" on this album is pretty much impossible. The only real filler song on the whole album is "Joe Bean's Theme" and maybe "Song for John." Unfortunately, there are no real mega-hits on this album. The rural, under-produced feel of the Open Road album suffers the same radio-neglect fate as Paul McCartney's eponymous first solo album. The lyrical flow of Open Road is quite crafty, especially on "Clara Clairvoyant." The final song on the album, "New Year's Resovolution" with it's "do what you've never done before" mantra could have easily appeared on a 1967 Donovan release. Otherwise, it's all about "changes." And the changes will not get you down with this sturdy 1970 release.

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The Road Not Taken
Open Road is a brief glimpse at Donovan's road not taken. Open Road was not only the title of the album but the name of the group, which was supposed to be Donovan's regular working band. It consisted of Donovan on vocals and guitar, John Carr on drums, and Mike Thomson on bass and guitar, augmented here by Mike O'Neill on piano. For some reason Donovan didn't continue recording with this band; instead, he followed up this recording with a trio of albums featuring outstanding studio musicians.

At the time of this recording Donovan had recently parted company with producer Mickey Most, preferring to produce himself, and his exuberance at finally being in control of his own destiny shines through on every track. The lyrics dwell repeatedly on the themes of independence, anti-authoritarianism, freedom, and self-reliance. Musically, there are a couple of ballads, a bossa nova, a couple of tracks on which Donovan explores the blend of rock and traditional British sounds that bands like Fairport Convention and Pentangle were working with more extensively, and the remainder is a batch of tough, punchy, stripped-down rock & roll. Of special note is Poke at the Pope, which devout Catholics will probably find offensive but which most other people will find hilarious- even those too young to remember this particular Pope.

The original inner gatefold, which featured the lyrics, more complete musician credits (Donovan plays lead guitar on Clara Clairvoyant and Poke At the Pope, Thomson on Song for John and Season of Farewell), and photos of O'Neill and engineer Mike Boback, has been replaced with a perfunctory overview of Donovan's career that scarcely mentions this album. If you own a copy of the original vinyl album you might want to keep ahold of it to preserve this material. There are no bonus tracks.

If your previous experience of Donovan has been confined to his hits and you've found him too fey, coy, sweet (or saccharine) for your taste, give this one a try. You might be surprised.

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Eureka! I've Found It
I bought the vinyl (twice) and had it pinched at parties (twice). I bought the tape (new technology then!) and well, you know what happens to tapes. When I went online, I scoured the internet for it. No luck. I even bought the sheet music just to prove to myself that I hadn't actually dreamed it.

I was just about to get a different vinyl album changed to CD for a considerable charge and I thought.....why not.......give it one more go on the internet. I looked for that album and Open Road and couldn't believe my eyes...

I can only echo what everyone else has said - you've not had the full experience of Donovan till you've heard this one. As much as I like his other, better known work, there was an extra magic here that infiltrates your mind and memory. Be warned! I hadn't heard the songs for 25 years but I could still sing them to myself so these are the type of songs you'll sing in the shower and hum in the supermarket.