I've often thought it to be psychedelic folk rock ....because stylistically if you've noticed....it has that British 70's Rock feel. In some sense...I can hear Ray Davies singing "Sunshine Superman" and "Hurdy Gurdy Man" is reminiscent of The Beatles approach on Magical Mystery Tour. I personally can hear Ringo's snare drum effect on "Hurdy Gurdy". The effect that can be duplicated by placing a bath towel on the snare.and hitting it with a stick..which creates the snare drum sound on "Strawberry Fields" or "Helter Skelter".  Donovan has the 60's British Psychedelic Pop sound and so maybe just elements within his songs cross paths with Prog. Not structure though. Only choice of sounds and oddball ideas. It's been too long since I've heard Atlantis and I can't comment. Many of the ideas in 60's British Psychedelic Pop filter through in Prog, but we could always point that detail out in many of the British artists of that decade and not just the usual suspects.

Edited by TODDLER - October 02 2014 at 20:40

^Good question. Very rudimentary. Not even proto as, you stated yourself, there is no clear form. Perhaps just avant or just oddball like the 2 minute speach that opens Atlantis to be followed by only a cascading repeating chorus.

Btw, the drummer on Hurdy Gurdy Man was John Bonham before he joined you know who. Just kidding, but it's a great imitation.



Edited by SteveG - October 03 2014 at 15:22

I don't really see him as early prog, mind you he did support Yes on a tour once.

But of course Steve Hillage covered "Hurdy Gurdy Man" on "L" and a more spaced out Prog version of the song is featured on "Live Herald". Progressive rockers have a track record of re-doing old Psychedelic Pop songs. Has anyone ever noticed that? Maybe this is an insignificant point, but then what lies within the interest to do that?

Edited by TODDLER - October 09 2014 at 09:02

Not prog at all. I can't think of a proggy Donovan song. Repeating a chorus for several minutes on Atlantis does not prog make.

psych pop IMO, very very good psych pop

Edited by kenethlevine - October 14 2014 at 07:52

Some good points already raised.  Some of his songs, especially Guinevere, could be considered prog folk.

I have Open Road. That was good. "Rikki Tiki Tavi" was an obvious high point, but "Changes", "Curry Land", "Joe Bean's Theme", "Celtic Rock", "Roots Of Oak", and "New Years Resovolution" were good. A nice change of direction. I don't understand how that wasn't commercially successful. 

A Gift from a Flower is a good record, but you must take the concept in full in order to enjoy the record.  It was an attempt by Donovan to get back to the acoustic folk of his earliest records, and it was also his first real concept record.  The gift is the songs, the flower is the mother/father and the garden the son/daughter - Donovan basically wrote an album of songs for parents and their kids (something he's done on several occasions, including with HMS Donovan, For the Little Ones and the Pied Piper albums).  It's a double album with the first record having a more "rock" feel, but still very mellow; the second record was largely acoustic and included themes of growth, love, teaching, morality, etc.  I personally love the album but don't put it on as much as Sunshine, Hurdy, Mellow and the late 60s/early 70s albums.  It's just not as dynamic, spacy or groove-oriented as the others.