Fact #62109
When:
Short story:
Donovan records Sunshine Superman and Sunny South Kensington, in EMI's Abbey Road studios, London, England, UK, Europe, with Mickie Most as producer. John Paul Jones, later a founder member of Led Zeppelin, plays bass on the track.
Full article:
Donovan : Sunshine Superman is now considered my psychedelic album. It was experimental. The 'psychedelic sound' is considered to be mostly an 'electric' sound, yet on my Sunshine Superman album I used jazz, classical, ethnic, troubadour and rock sounds in a fusion.
In late '65, I'd been forming the ideas that would become this album and, when you look through it, the folk element is definitely still there with Guinevere, very strongly, but then I'm listening to The Byrds all the way through '65, and I was very influenced by using the drums.
Donovan : Mickie Most, the producer, John Cameron, the arranger, and I became a trio and away we went. They would listen to what I had in mind and sounds that came to me. I heard the sounds in my head and Cameron would write them down. That lasted all the way through '66 for the Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow albums. It was a tremendously powerful departure.
Mickie Most (producer) : The first time I recorded Donovan was at Abbey Road in studio 3. I remember it very well, a wet and windy Sunday afternoon, not the nicest time to record, but the tune was Sunshine Superman and we had put together a lovely bunch of musicians, so it was a pleasure making the record.
When Don first played me the tune, it was less aggressive than it is on the record, and I think what I was saying to Don was let's try and do it with a bit more electric vibe about it. John Paul Jones, who later went to Led Zeppelin, was on bass, and we had the wonderful John Cameron working on the arrangement and playing electric harpsichord.
Once I got Donovan happy with the new approach, less flowery and more ballsy, I got him to play it that way and then I miked him and made him the engine room that all the
other musicians played around, which is why it flows so nicely.
We went into the studio at two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon, and by five o'clock it was finished.
I was happy with it because it sounded different, and it sounded as though Donovan had got his own sound, which I was pleased about, because it was away from his acoustic folk guitar sound - a mysterious electronic sound, which wasn't just electronic rock 'n' roll, and Sunshine Superman was the start of that mysterious sound.
I continued recording Donovan that way for five years, so that he was always the feel, he was the engine.
(Source : not known)
Donovan : It’s very easy to maybe not know what I was up to all those years ago and making new experimental music. I don’t think many people could put their finger on what I was up to. Only now, young journalists and history look back and see that in actual fact when you look at the calendar, that the ‘Sunshine Superman’ album was, my goodness, a herald of things to come. A year before ‘ Sgt. Pepper,’ a year before ‘Surrealistic Pillow.’
Gypsy Dave (his long-time partner in crime) and I, we knew this was groundbreaking stuff. But you know, it was just sort of personal to me. And over the years people have said to me, “my goodness that was a first and there was a door you opened there.” So now it is quite clear that’s what happened.
(Source : Interview by Dave Swanson in Classic Rock magazine, May 2012)
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In late '65, I'd been forming the ideas that would become this album and, when you look through it, the folk element is definitely still there with Guinevere, very strongly, but then I'm listening to The Byrds all the way through '65, and I was very influenced by using the drums.
Donovan : Mickie Most, the producer, John Cameron, the arranger, and I became a trio and away we went. They would listen to what I had in mind and sounds that came to me. I heard the sounds in my head and Cameron would write them down. That lasted all the way through '66 for the Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow albums. It was a tremendously powerful departure.
Mickie Most (producer) : The first time I recorded Donovan was at Abbey Road in studio 3. I remember it very well, a wet and windy Sunday afternoon, not the nicest time to record, but the tune was Sunshine Superman and we had put together a lovely bunch of musicians, so it was a pleasure making the record.
When Don first played me the tune, it was less aggressive than it is on the record, and I think what I was saying to Don was let's try and do it with a bit more electric vibe about it. John Paul Jones, who later went to Led Zeppelin, was on bass, and we had the wonderful John Cameron working on the arrangement and playing electric harpsichord.
Once I got Donovan happy with the new approach, less flowery and more ballsy, I got him to play it that way and then I miked him and made him the engine room that all the
other musicians played around, which is why it flows so nicely.
We went into the studio at two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon, and by five o'clock it was finished.
I was happy with it because it sounded different, and it sounded as though Donovan had got his own sound, which I was pleased about, because it was away from his acoustic folk guitar sound - a mysterious electronic sound, which wasn't just electronic rock 'n' roll, and Sunshine Superman was the start of that mysterious sound.
I continued recording Donovan that way for five years, so that he was always the feel, he was the engine.
(Source : not known)
Donovan : It’s very easy to maybe not know what I was up to all those years ago and making new experimental music. I don’t think many people could put their finger on what I was up to. Only now, young journalists and history look back and see that in actual fact when you look at the calendar, that the ‘Sunshine Superman’ album was, my goodness, a herald of things to come. A year before ‘ Sgt. Pepper,’ a year before ‘Surrealistic Pillow.’
Gypsy Dave (his long-time partner in crime) and I, we knew this was groundbreaking stuff. But you know, it was just sort of personal to me. And over the years people have said to me, “my goodness that was a first and there was a door you opened there.” So now it is quite clear that’s what happened.
(Source : Interview by Dave Swanson in Classic Rock magazine, May 2012)