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elcome to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blog. The aim of this blog is to introduce the readers to music that is out of print, commercially unavailable, released under a creative commons license, or with approval by the featured artist. The majority of the music posted here would be considered underground. Don't let that fool you into thinking that the music featured here might be any less enjoyable than that of the mainstream artists you hear on the radio, as this couldn't be further from the truth. Please keep in mind that the majority of the artists that appear on this blog, along with their respective record labels, are not wealthy and need your support. If you enjoy the material that you find here, please support the artists/labels by purchasing their material afterwards. If you are an artist/label that would prefer to have your material removed from this blog, simply leave me a comment, and I would be more than happy to promptly remove the offending post. In addition to running this blog, I also work on a few other projects during my spare time. You can find links to those, as well as a few other important links associated with Digital Meltd0wn in the menu bar above.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Donovan - Like it Is, Was, & Evermore Shall Be


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.

Year of Release: 1968
Label: Hickory Records LPS143
Genre: Alt-folk

Tracklist:
Side 1-
Summer Day Reflection Song
Do You Hear Me Now? (Bert Jansch)
Colours
Universal Soldier (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
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" (Mick Softly)
Sunny Goodge Street

Download: Donovan - Like it Is, Was, & Evermore Shall Be
Download Size: 70.3MB (ripped from 40 yr. old vinyl at 320Kpbs)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice site - looks good, great taste in eclectic musics.

I have this lp - hope your rip sounds better than my scratchy old album

thanks again'

Jeff McKee

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this share. I never heard this one before.

DonHo57 said...

Haven't visited your spot for awhile. You can never have too much Donovan music to listen to...thanks for this one!

said...

To anon 1 - I don't think it's too scratchy.

To anon 2 - Having never heard this before, I think you are in for a pleasant trip.

To DonHo57 - How're the tiny bubbles. Are you smoking that electric-a banana? Thanks for the kind words. Keep checking back.

Telegram Sam said...

Never seen this comp before. Thanks for putting it up. Been slowly collecting Donovan vinyl over the years, now I have another to look for and I know it's a winner.

Franco58 said...

thanks for this share !!

Likedeeler said...

Thanks! Didn't know this one.

And thanks for sharing your military story. With cliffhanger, too!

All the best from Berlin

Richard Bock said...

Excellent website and this is a great compilation album for Donovan. I'm having no problems with your old album. Donovan's beautiful voice coming in clearly through the decades. Timeless music. Thank you.

Zer0_II said...

Thanks for sharing this Nathan. I don't comment enough on your posts as I should. I love Donovan's music, but amazingly enough I haven't had the opportunity to listen to this album yet. I'll be enjoying this tonight for sure.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this dude. First time visiting your site :-D