23 August 2024

Qouth the Raver, Evermore

 

NØ sez:
     I guess I'll be disclosing my ancient age, but 1968 was a pivotal year in my life. The U.S. industrial-military complex decided that in order to expand & maintain their Imperialist war in Vietnam that it was necessary to institute a Draft Lottery for the inscription of young men into the War Machine. My lottery number was 40. I was destined for tropical Southeast Asia unless things in my life drastically changed. Donovan was a big influence on me at that time. Often mentioned together in musickal commentaries of the time, Dylan was the greater poet & probably the better musickian, but songs like "Universal Soldier" & "The War Drags On" put Donovan's humanity squarely into the minds of a generation, while classics like "Catch the Wind" & "Sunny Goodge Street" touched that deepest spot within our souls where we all desired to reside.

Like it Is, Was, & Evermore Shall Be is a compilation album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan (Leitch) released in the U.S. on Hickory Records in April 1968. This was the second Hickory Records compilation using Donovan's 1965 Pye Records material, following the moderately successful The Real Donovan from 1966. By 1968, Donovan had released a string of hit singles & albums in both the U.S. & U.K.

Although most of the songs on Like it Is, Was, & Evermore Shall Be had been released on: What's Bin Did & What's Bin Hid (U.S. title: Catch the Wind); Fairytale; The Universal Soldier EP & the "Turquoise" single , the new compilation did contain "Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do" & a cover of Bert Jansch's "Do You Hear Me Now?", neither of which had been included on any of Donovan's U.S. lps.

The following are the original releases of each song:
"Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do?" b-side of "Catch the Wind" released March 12, 1965;
"Josie" & "Catch the Wind" from What's Bin Did & What's Bin Hid released May 14, 1965;
"Summer Day Reflection Song", "Colours", "To Try for the Sun", & "Sunny Goodge Street" from Fairytale released October 22, 1965;
"Do You Hear Me Now?", "Universal Soldier", & “The War Drags On” from The Universal Soldier EP released August 15, 1965;
& "Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)" b-side of "Turquoise" released October 30, 1965. 

 

Donovan - Like it Is, Was, & Evermore Shall Be, Hickory Records LPS143, 1968.
decryption code in comments

Side 1-
Summer Day Reflection Song
Do You Hear Me Now? (Bert Jansch cover)
Colours
Universal Soldier (Buffy Sainte-Marie cover)
Josie
Catch the Wind

Side 2-
Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do?
To Try for the Sun
Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)
The War Drags On
Sunny Goodge Street

I'm having a meltd0wn, a Digital Meltd0wn,

8 comments:

  1. Like it Is, Was, & Evernore Shall Be
    1m8qUq3MNqpM-M7ZudWHf-iRINyf_Q2_ZJZFgV_MRBs

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Five Guns & shine3y3. Some of Donovan's finest moments here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. thanks! saw him at a small club in Santa Fe, NM in 1988. 20 years (from '68) seemed like a LONG time then as I was 17.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In 1988 Donovan hadn't released any new music in a while. I'd guess he was doing some of these same tunes, probably some stuff from Cosmic Wheels era, would seem to have been an awesome time to see him. & for sure, at age 17, twenty years was more tan a lifetime. Thanks for the comment.

      Delete
  4. Hey dear Nathan.
    Been drafted too in the Argentina army as a teenager.
    Learned to kill with a wire string but never made great use of it so far.
    Maybe that's why I love Wire...
    At least some other dirt-poor guys had some schooling there and learnt to read amidst all the military life nonsense.

    As G Marx said "military intelligence is to intelligence what military music is to music"
    Never understood why Dylan was such a great deal to everyone.
    And I tried hard.
    I'll try with Donovan once more.
    All the best
    Diego

    ReplyDelete
  5. THANKS Nathan! God bless you and those like you for holding the line during that time of my birth.

    ReplyDelete