Happiness Runs

Time was when this 20-track 67-minute British compilation had it all over any U.S. best-of on Donovan. Not only did it offer sound superior to that on any Donovan release from America during the 1980s, but it included the extended 4:31 version of "Sunshine Superman" and it embraced such late-'60s hits as "Atlantis" and "Barabajagal," plus the single "To Susan on the West Coast Waiting," and a trio of songs -- "Preachin' Love," "Teen Angel," and "Aye My Love" -- that had never surfaced on an American CD release. Since then, the Epic Records' domestic Donovan's Greatest Hits has been upgraded in sound and expanded to encompass the three later hits, as well as the long version of "Sunshine Superman," and the double-CD Troubadour: The Definitive Collection 1964-1976, has filled in a lot of gaps in his catalog on this side of the Atlantic. The sound of Greatest Hits and More is superior to the original U.S. compact disc Donovan's Greatest Hits, but not nearly as impressive as the sound quality on the 1999 remastered edition of the Epic CD. The notes include commentary (some of it surprisingly tart) by a pair of writers, and an overview of the artist's career, which contains nothing new. Still, despite all of the efforts by Sony Music in America, this remains a somewhat worthwhile collection, not only for fans who want a slightly different and broader cross-section of Donovan's music than the American Epic disc, but for serious completists, who will certainly luxuriate in the jazzy sensibilities of "Preachin' Love." And for anyone who wants them, as of 2002, this CD was the only extant release of those rather lugubrious 1969 vintage re-recordings of "Catch the Wind" and "Colours." ~ Bruce Eder