Search - Donovan :: Forever Gold

Repackaged "Lady of the Stars"..

Ray Riddle | Winter Haven, FL | 03/30/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I ordered this CD blind, since there was no track listing or cover scan. I didn't know *what* was on it. But since it was a Donovan CD, I ordered it anyway. It turns out to be a repackaged version of his 1983 "Lady of the Stars" album. The songs are the same, it's just got a different title and cover. Here's the track listing, but be aware, most of these songs are updated versions of previously released songs, which is better for some, and worse for others. I'll explain more after I list the songs:1. Lady of the Stars 2. I Love You Baby 3. Bye Bye Girl 4. Every Reason 5. Season of the Witch 6. For Every Boy There Is a Girl 7. Local Boy Chops Wood 8. Sunshine Superman 9. Living for the Love Light In Your Eyes 10. Till I See You Again I have to give this album 4 stars. The version of "Lady of the Stars" on this one is a slow electric and very melodic song, and, to me at least, one of the best songs ever recorded. "Till I See You Again" is one of my favorite Donovan songs. The versions of "Sunshine Superman" and "Season of the Witch" are updated, and sound exceptionally awful (especially if you know the original 60's versions), but "For Every Boy There is a Girl", while also updated, nearly makes up for it. "Living for the Love Light.." is a love song, and a Donovan one, and sounds quite like it, so you can make your own opinion on that one. I like it, but not as well as some of the others. The rest are okay. Not exactly memorable, but not awful. For the price, it's well worth it. Three of the ten songs are awesome, and aside from "Sunshine" and "Season", the rest are either good or passable. So it's worth paying the low price to hear the good ones, and make up your own mind on the rest."

This is a bootleg

Ray Riddle | 12/15/2002

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This album is a bootleg and was released without Donovan's permission. Donovan receives no royalties from this album. What this is are 1987 re-recordings of all of the songs contained. Sound quality is questionable. This album has been re-released under the name "Sunshine superman", "Golden Tracks" *and* "Lady of the Stars". So all 4 albums (even though they have different names/covers) contain exactly the same 10 tracks... If you buy this, that's your business but please know that Donovan did not approve of this album being released. He also receives no royalties. The money goes directly to the bootlegger."

Sadly, Like the Others, Not That Good

Danielle Lane | Horseshoe, North Carolina | 07/20/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"These songs were recorded 1983, many years after the sixties had been put to rest, so the rerecorded songs are not really "Forever Gold." The Seventies were dead and buried too. Donovan apparently wanted to get back some of his old time fans so he rerecorded "Sunshine Superman" and "Season of the Witch" from the "Superman" LP; "Lady of the Stars" and "Local Boy Chops Wood" from the 1977 "Donovan" LP and "For Every Boy There is a Girl" from the "Essence to Essence" LP. A little known company called Allegiance Records put it out in the States, calling it "Lady of the Stars" and it's since been rereleased under many names on many labels.



Sadly, this isn't even the best stuff from those recording sessions. And why oh why if Don was redoing stuff, didn't he redo something that made some kind of sense. This is not a very good record and that's too bad, because Donovan is a great performer. At least they didn't name this CD after a real record like "Sunshine Superman" like another record company did, still the performance isn't all that good and I'd have to recommend a pass, unless of course you already own all of the originals and want to hear later takes on them that, in my opinion, can't light a candle to the originals."