Donovan - Gaelia
Gepubliceerd door Redactie in Album van de week · maandag 11 dec 2023
Rock, folk, singer-songwriter. Een bijzonder album.
Donovan Dives Into the Ancient Roots of His New Album, ‘Gaelia,’ and Why He Still Believes Music Can Save the World
Among the many pleasures of Donovan’s new album, “Gaelia,” which is released today on various platforms as well as the singer’s own webstore, is “Lover O Lover,” the second of two new collaborations with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. (The first is the album’s first single, “Rock Me.”)
First of all, it’s a great entry point for any conversation about the septuagenarian poet/bard/former pop star and his unique body of work. There’s a timeless, ethereal quality about the track, which nicely matches Donovan’s best ‘60s-era fusions of passionate folk ballads and sensual, melodic hard-rock instrumentations. In the case of “Lover,” “timeless” is shorthand for “great make-out record,” a category that Donovan minted just in time for the “free love” explosion of boomer libidos back When We Were Fab and a genre that one assumes, hopes, for the sake of human existence, never goes out of style.
Secondly, it represents the overall mood of most of the album’s many first-rate tracks, most of which might best be described as having a mighty “What Godblessed era am in?” vibe about them.
First of all, it’s a great entry point for any conversation about the septuagenarian poet/bard/former pop star and his unique body of work. There’s a timeless, ethereal quality about the track, which nicely matches Donovan’s best ‘60s-era fusions of passionate folk ballads and sensual, melodic hard-rock instrumentations. In the case of “Lover,” “timeless” is shorthand for “great make-out record,” a category that Donovan minted just in time for the “free love” explosion of boomer libidos back When We Were Fab and a genre that one assumes, hopes, for the sake of human existence, never goes out of style.
Secondly, it represents the overall mood of most of the album’s many first-rate tracks, most of which might best be described as having a mighty “What Godblessed era am in?” vibe about them.
“Gaelia” is an exciting new collection of songs from a guy whose lifelong devotion to peace, love and understanding might be funny to some, but it’s a welcome tonic for those thirsting for folk grooves packed with Donovan’s unique heart and soul, quite intact and — might I add? — quite rightly.
Since I mentioned Marty Robbins, I must explain it’s the most Donovan thing now to get a text explaining something discussed that seemed wonderfully obscure, or perhaps only obscure to someone foolish enough to think they know music the way Donovan knows music.
In the course of explaining the connections between the music of European synagogues and the music traditions of Ireland and Scotland, Donovan notes in passing that many of Robbins’ songs and so-called “Western” ballads such as “Streets of Laredo” can be traced back to Irish folk songs.
