Search - Donovan :: A Gift from a Flower to a Garden

Redefines "superlative"

Bertrand Stclair | new york, new york United States | 02/13/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"No need to address the specific content or the hippie-days nostalgia, this has been done well and amply by previous reviewers. I'd merely like to say that, beyond those considerations, musically this is an album that is timeless. Melodic inventiveness at its peak, simplicity of chord progressions hiding small harmonic complexities, done with restraint and elegance, and great attention to the sound. Never has an acoustic guitar sounded quite like this, seldom has Donovan sung with such modesty, without falsetto pyrotechnics overstating the fact that he had one of the better voices of the era. He had already made it clear earlier that the comparisons with Dylan were ridiculous, although the media, always starved for a jingoistic concept, would cling to this notion against all evidence pretty much for the rest of his career (including today, when the distinction between the two is as obvious as it could ever be). With this album, Donovan cemented his independence, his enormous and original creativity, and his place in the Pantheon of superlative composers. It doesn't matter if you're bored with the whole atmosphere and really prefer to listen to Nine Inch Nails, if you're even just moderately aware of the qualities required to put music together that might pass universally for "good music," you will acknowledge the presence of such qualities here, whether you continue listening or chuck the CD in the trash later."