It’s unlikely that many people have been crying out for yet another Donovan compilation but that’s what EMI released earlier this month. Breezes of Patchouli (His Studio Recordings 1966–1969) is the prime psychedelic material, and for me looks tempting since I only have one of those albums. The latest Shindig! magazine gives the collection a favourable review (unsurprisingly), and has a related article about Donovan’s elaborate double album, A Gift From a Flower to a Garden (1968), which in its original form was two vinyl albums in a box with coloured lyric-sheet inserts. The article mentions a short promo film, Wear Your Love Like Heaven, directed by photographer Karl Ferris who shot the infra-red photos used for the album covers. A quick dash to YouTube turned up Ferris’s film in which the singer rides a white horse through some woods then enters a cave whereupon the film bursts Wizard-of-Oz-like into colour. It looks to have been filmed in either Cornwall or Ireland, and features the inevitable crew of kaftaned flower children playing with musical instruments, kites and peacock feathers. Very much of the period, but worth a look if you like this sort of thing.
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• Tomorrow Never Knows
Very cool! I’m a big Donovan fan and hadn’t seen some of that footage before. Looks like the end “Wear your love like heaven” bit was filmed at the Minack cliff top amphitheatre in Cornwall. Also the new compilation is worth getting for Lord of the Reedy River and Snakeskin alone!
Yes, it’s that amphitheatre which made me guess Cornwall. The film is apparently on a DVD that was part of another recent collection.