Open Road (Donovan album)

Open Road
Studio album by Donovan
Released 1970
Recorded October 1969 - 1970
Studio Morgan Studios, London, UK
Genre Celtic rock
Length 42:19
Label Epic
Producer Donovan Leitch
Donovan chronology
Barabajagal
(1969)		 Open Road
(1970)		 HMS Donovan
(1971)

Open Road is the eighth studio album, and ninth overall, from British singer-songwriter Donovan and the debut album from the short-lived band Open Road.[1]

History

After splitting with producer Mickie Most during the Barabajagal sessions, Donovan decided to move back to the UK against the wishes of his management, who most likely objected due to the heavy taxation in the country and the distance from the American market.[2] There he booked studio time i early 1970 and began recording and producing the tracks that would form his next studio album. For these sessions, Donovan assembled the band Open Road with himself on guitar, and harmonica, frequent collaborator "Candy" John Carr on drums, and Mike Thompson on bass and guitar. The sessions marked Donovan's first time playing electric guitar in the studio and he also took up producing the record himself.[2] The trio were joined by pormer Heads Hands & Feet keyboardist Mike O'Neil for some of the album's songs, and O'Neill stayed on to tour with Open Road.[3]

Donovan's intention was for Open Road to be the band he'd tour with indefinitely, primarily by sea on his own yacht. The plan was to leave Britain for one year, in part to avoid the exorbitant tax that the British government was levying on pop stars.[2] But Donovan soon returned home to focus on his family and to record his next album, H.M.S. Donovan, on which John Carr and Mike Thompson also played. After losing Donovan, Thompson and Carr reassembled Open Road with Barry Husband on guitar and vocals and Simon Lanzon on keyboards. They recorded and released one more album, 1971's Windy Daze, before disbanding.

Songs

Many of the songs on Open Road ponder the negative side of industrialization and the lost peacefulness of a previous time. While some of this had been touched on in Donovan's previous work, this is the first album where the topic is expounded at length. "Song for John" was written for fellow songwriter John Sebastian.

In addition to his mix of folk and rock, Donovan and his band explored a number of musical styles on the album. The album's single "Riki Tiki Tavi" riffs off of a reggae beat. Brazilian guitarist Carlos Jobim inspired the title of "Joe Bean's Theme", which alternates between a bossa nova rhythm and psychedelic melodies. And the album's fantasy-themed song "Celtic Rock" coined the name of a new musical sub-genre.[4]

Releases and reception

Open Road was released on vinyl LP in the US on (Epic in July 1970, and then in the UK on Dawn Records in September. The album's cover featured a photo, taken by Donovan's best friend "Gypsy Dave" Mills, of Donovan flanked by his two bandmates with their names typewritten in small print beneath each of person. Some versions of the record featured neither Donocan's name nor the album title on the front, highlighted only "Open Road" as the album's artist or title on the back. Other versions highlighted either "Donovan" or "Open Road" on the front.

Open Road was Donovan's third-highest charting album in the U.S., peaking at #16. In the U.K. the album reached #30.

In August 2000, the German label Repertoire Records reissued Open Road (RR 4880) for the first time on CD.

Professional ratings
Review scores
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Allmusic link

Track listing

All tracks by Donovan Leitch.

Original album

Side one

  1. "Changes" - 2:56
  2. "Song for John" - 2:43
  3. "Curry Land" - 4:38
  4. "Joe Bean's Theme" - 2:52
  5. "People Used To" - 4:09
  6. "Celtic Rock" - 3:37

Side two

  1. "Riki Tiki Tavi" - 2:55
  2. "Clara Clairvoyant" - 2:57
  3. "Roots of Oak" - 4:53
  4. "Season of Farewell" - 3:25
  5. "Poke at the Pope" - 2:47
  6. "New Year's Resovolution" - 4:45

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ "Donovan: Open Road" (Vol. 82, No. 29). Billboard. 18 July 1970. p. 68.
  2. 1 2 3 Leitch, Donovan (2007). The Autobiography of Donovan: The Hurdy Gurdy Man. Macmillan.
  3. ↑ Watts, Derek (2008). Country Boy: A Biography of Albert Lee. McFarland. p. 107.
  4. ↑ D. Leitch, The Autobiography of Donovan: The Hurdy Gurdy Man (Macmillan, 2007), p. 259.

External links

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