Customer Reviews
Dated/timeless - By: 192, 22 Feb 2009 
this lp sounds exactly as it did when I bought the vinyl boxsetin April '68: dated yet timeless. In April '68 it sounded several months out of date, yet resonated like billy-o. Nowadays it's 40+ years out of date, & still it resonates.
Donovan's naivete/knowledge continues to enthrall. I've played this disc to peoplein their 80s & to people barely into their teens, & everyone's gone away happier & uplifted.
A big shout for Don. (His conceit that he invented world music is way out of line, mind you - he'll eventually realise that world music is an erroneous concept, & that if you livein the world then you'll listen to world music.)
But that's a minor quibble & not particularly germane to this lp - it's a corker. A couple of listens & you'll be thinking "He's right - oh gosh, life is really too much"!
No Original Artwork ? Why ? - By: Ellis Dee, 02 Feb 2009 
Great album...indeed arguably Donovan's psychedelic masterpiece BUT !! Why is the beautiful original packaging misssing from this CD reissue ? This album is made for a box set - as the original UK LP was packaged - & where are the beautiful beautiful illustrated lyrics inserts ? At least it'sin stereo (unlike the out of print BGO mono edition) otherwise track down the Japanese CD if you want the full on experience done right...
Remastered properly - at long last - By: Tone, 29 Jan 2009 
This review is mainly for Donovan fans.
The first CD release of this was by BGO backin 1993 & it was mono, although the remastering was great. BGO realised their mistake & quickly issued a stereo version. Unfortunately they did a crap job 'remastering' (for want of a better word) & the result was that it stayedin the CD drawer & was rarely played.
I was apprehensive when I saw the upcoming release of this by EMI using THAT word 'Remastered' again, but ordered it none the less. 4 days after release date it turns up on my doorstep on the other side of the world for less than a local release (including postage). Great job Amazon U.K..
The verdict: SOUND IS SUPERB. Don't hesitate getting this one.
The only down side is EMI couldn't use the Karl Ferris cover shots, but they do have most of the Mick Taylor & Sheens McCall artwork & the presentaion is top class.
An Inconic album - By: Kevin Mcclure, 07 Nov 2006 Donovan is simply one of those genius singer sonwriters who kept producing wonderful, evocotive & beautifully realised songs but was also a brilliant interpreter of other peoples songs. Here he is on top form. He took a step back from the mainstream pop oreientated music with which he had become associated. That is not the devalue any of that work, it is wonderful too, however, this is a perfectly realised Donovan album that exudes a towering writing & performing confidence. The songs here are as fresh as the day they were written.
For many people this is the peak of Donovans career, however, I believe that he went on to record many more wonderful albums. I would advise anyone who is at all interestedin this great artist to check out any of his albums they are all head & shoulders above much of what you will findin the avaerage record collection
Although he became less commercially successfulin the 1970s, to paraphrase Gloria Swansonin Sunset Boulevard, it was not Donovan that stopped being big but the music that got small.
Ethereal, quintiessentially British and brilliant - By: Alan Sturgess, 04 May 2006 I still have my original boxed set of this double album, complete with all it's beautifully presented sheets of lyrics. It was always a favourite of mine, not just because I like folk music, but because it lacks the pop music bias of much of Donovan's otherwise excellent work. In these tracks he isn't trying to appeal to just those people who liked his top 10 music, he's out to create beautiful & etheral soundscapes which arise naturally from the long legacy of British folk music. There are mystical images, romanticism & impressions of idyllic landscapes .... yet underneath many songs there is also a subtle darkness that gives his music great depth.
Without wanting to sound grandiose or precocious, this album strikes me as being the musical equivalent of 'art nouveau' .... beautifulin the way it is designed & presented; inherently associated with an individual's view of the natural & mythical world; & timeless.
Having said all that, there are subtle influences of jazz & modern rhythms which prevent 'Gift' from being a reworking of stale ideas. Even so long after it's initial release, the whole thing remains fresh & will repay you handsomely the more times you listen to it.
