Mellow Yellow (album)

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Mellow Yellow
Donovan-Mellow Yellow.jpg
Studio album by
Donovan
Released10 February 1967
RecordedSeptember - October 1966
Studio Abbey Road Studio, London
Landsowne Studios, London
Genre
Length34:13
Label Epic LN 24239
Producer Mickie Most
Donovan chronology
Sunshine Superman
(1966)		Mellow Yellow
(1967)		 A Gift from a Flower to a Garden
(1967)
Singles from Mellow Yellow
  1. "Mellow Yellow" b/w "Sunny South Kensington"
    Released: February 1966 (US)
  2. "Mellow Yellow" b/w "Preachin' Love"
    Released: October 1966 (UK)

Mellow Yellow is the fourth album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in the US in February 1967 (Epic Records LN 24239 (monaural) / BN 26239 (rechanneled stereo), [3] but not released in the UK because of a continuing contractual dispute that also prevented Sunshine Superman from a UK release. In June 1967, a cross-section of both albums was released as Sunshine Superman (Pye Records NPL 18181) in the UK. "Mellow Yellow" was the name of Donovan's hit single released the previous November.

Contents

History

The songs on Mellow Yellow represent a transition in Donovan's writing. Donovan's songs had previously illustrated his infatuation with an ability to define the mid-sixties pop music scene. On Mellow Yellow this is still evident in "Sunny South Kensington", "Museum" (originally recorded for the Sunshine Superman album and rerecorded for Mellow Yellow) and the title track, but is also tempered with world-weary observations of that scene ("Young Girl Blues"). The contractual problems that prevented the release of Donovan's music in the UK led him to write such songs as the resigned "Writer in the Sun", where he contemplates the possibility of his own forced retirement from the music industry at the age of 20. [4]

Mickie Most's production and the arrangements of John Paul Jones accommodate these two divergent traits of Donovan's songwriting throughout Mellow Yellow. The peppier songs feature a diverse selection of instruments similar to Sunshine Superman and helped make a top 10 hit out of the title track on both sides of the Atlantic. The introspective ruminations feature sparse instrumentation that highlights Donovan's guitar playing, singing, and lyrics.

On Mellow Yellow, Donovan gave a nod to his friend Bert Jansch on "House of Jansch", marking the third Donovan album in a row that paid tribute to the British folk personage.

John Cameron played blues piano, harpsichord, and undertook arrangements.

Paul McCartney provided background vocals on at least one of the tracks. [5] He is uncredited for his work.

Odell Brown and the Organizers covered "Mellow Yellow" in 1967 on their album by the same title. [6]

Legacy

According to a recent biography ("Darker Than The Deepest Sea: The Search For Nick Drake"), the album was a significant influence on Nick Drake.

The track "Hampstead Incident" was first recorded by Marianne Faithfull as "In The Night Time" on her U.S. album Faithfull Forever released in August 1966.

The track "Museum" was covered by Herman's Hermits on their 1967 album release Blaze .

Reissues

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg Original
AllMusicStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg Bonus tracks
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]

Track listing

All tracks by Donovan Leitch. Songs marked with a ‘+’ have been remixed into stereo.

Original album

Side one

  1. "Mellow Yellow" – 3:47
  2. "Writer in the Sun" – 4:33 +
  3. "Sand and Foam" – 3:19
  4. "The Observation" – 2:23
  5. "Bleak City Woman" – 2:24

Side two

  1. "House of Jansch" – 2:43
  2. "Young Girl Blues" – 3:45
  3. "Museum" – 2:54
  4. "Hampstead Incident" – 4:41 +
  5. "Sunny South Kensington" – 3:48 +

2005 EMI CD version

The ten tracks as on the original release plus the following bonus tracks:

  2. "Epistle to Dippy" – 3:11
  3. "Preachin' Love" – 2:40
  4. "Good Time" – 1:54
  5. "There is a Mountain" – 2:36 +
  6. "Superlungs" (second version) – 3:17
  7. "Epistle to Dippy" (alternative arrangement) – 3:13 +
  8. "Sidewalk (The Observation)" (demo) – 2:29
  9. "Writer in the Sun" (demo) – 3:30
  10. "Hampstead Incident" (demo) – 3:52
  11. "Museum" (demo) – 3:49

Personnel

Musicians

Additional musicians

Technical

Charts

Album

YearTitleU.S. Billboard 200 [9] Label
1967Mellow Yellow14Epic Records BN 26239

Singles

YearTitlesChart positions
Billboard [10] Cashbox [11] AU [12]
1967"Mellow Yellow"
b/w "Sunny South Kensington" (US)
b/w "Preachin' Love" (UK)		237

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donovan</span> Scottish musician (born 1946)

Donovan Phillips Leitch, known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world music. He has lived in Scotland, Hertfordshire (England), London, California, and—since at least 2008—in County Cork, Ireland, with his family. Emerging from the British folk scene, Donovan reached fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with live performances on the pop TV series Ready Steady Go!.

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<i>Sunshine Superman</i> (album) 1966 studio album by Donovan

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mellow Yellow</span> 1966 single by Donovan

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Barabajagal is the seventh studio album and eighth album overall from British singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released by Epic Records in the United States on 11 August 1969, but was not released in the United Kingdom because of a continuing contractual dispute that also prevented Sunshine Superman, Mellow Yellow, and The Hurdy Gurdy Man from being released in the UK.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Segretto, Mike (2022). "1967". 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute - A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, 1955–1999. Backbeat. p. 139. ISBN   9781493064601. ...the songwriter's most graceful selection of baroque folk and rainy jazz...a handsome, sometimes gritty snapshot of pop's most mythical era.
  2. 1 2 Lord, Richard. "Remembering Donovan's Mellow Yellow - singer-songwriter's coming of age". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  3. ↑ John McIver. "Donovan Discography". Sabotage.demon.co.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "Allmusic Mellow Yellow". AllMusic . Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "Allmusic Mellow Yellow credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  6. ↑ "Odell Brown and the Organ-izers - Mellow Yellow". Discogs .
  7. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
  8. ↑ The Paul McCartney World Tour (booklet). 1989.
  9. ↑ "Top 200 Albums | Billboard 200 chart". Billboard.com.
  10. ↑ "Donovan – Chart history | Billboard". Billboard.com.
  11. ↑ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending DECEMBER 17, 1966". Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Cash Box magazine.
  12. ↑ "Go Set Top 40 01-25-1967" . Retrieved 13 March 2017.
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