The Isle of Wight Festival, created in 1968, reached its peak in 1970, when nearly 600,000 spectators gathered on this piece of land in the south of the United Kingdom. Fifty years later, Europe 1 looks back on the various concerts given for what was, one year after Woodstock, one of the last great hippie meetings. This Monday, Europe 1 takes a look at what has long been called "the English Bob Dylan": Donovan.
A concert etched in our memories
On August 30, 1970, Donovan was one of the most anticipated headliners of the Isle of Wight festival. At that time, he already had a dozen albums to his credit and songs that have toured the world. Today, very few archives of this historic service have survived. Only a few seconds of images and a pirate recording have spanned the years.
Yet during the concert, the opening track, Catch The Wind , was a resounding success. It is indeed his very first national success, in 1965. It is also after this title that he was nicknamed "the English Bob Dylan". Because Catch The Wind echoes the famous track Blowin 'in the Wind by Bob Dylan.
Donovan, the "English Bob Dylan"
Donovan has always admitted that Bob Dylan was one of his big influences. But he said he was first inspired, like Bob Dylan, by the great names of post-war American folk, like Ramblin 'Jack Elliott and Woody Guthrie. Sharing the same musical tastes, Donovan and Bob Dylan thus inevitably met.
This meeting took place after the release of Catch The Wind . It performed on May 8, 1965 during a tour of the American Bob Dylan. It was also immortalized in the film Don't Look Back by Arthur Pennebaker, a recently deceased musical documentary filmmaker.
In the images, Bob Dylan and his team are in a London hotel suite. In the background, an 18-year-old kid discreetly tunes his guitar and begins one of his compositions. At the same time, the English musical press has been multiplying for several days the articles on a possible rivalry between the two composers, who do not know each other. "Donovan? Who is this Donovan?" Dylan laughs at first, reading the headlines. And yet, Bob Dylan takes it into consideration.
Without becoming very friends, the two men will maintain very cordial relations. Bob Dylan will even introduce Donovan to the Beatles. Then their paths will separate.
The rise of Donovan
Donovan flies to the United States because of competition between record companies. He published his first albums there under the aegis of producer Mickie Most, known for his commercial success. Taking him under his wing, he will move him away from folk laments to make him a "flower power" artist, a musical movement marked by psychedelic and orientalist sounds.
Donovan then became an international star, notably thanks to two albums: Sunshine Superman in September 1966, then Mellow Yellow six months later. The latter is one of the essential titles of the Scotsman who is at that time at his peak.
Donovan is also forging an underground image. He was indeed the first known artist arrested for possession of marijuana. But at the end of a decisive trip to India, the artist will operate a profound change. There, he approaches the famous Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to deepen transcendental meditation. In the following album, a double disc, which was extremely rare at the time, he did not hesitate to appeal to the youth to abandon drugs in favor of meditation.
The album in question comes in the form of a cardboard box and contains many artistic additions, texts, drawings, photos. A concept this time again very innovative. This album, A Gift From A Flower To A Garden , opens with one of his most beautiful compositions: Wear Your Love Like Heaven . On his own in this song, Donovan embodies the hippie ideal of the late 60s.
The end of "flower power"
But this success will gradually disappear. One evening when her producer Mickie Most booked a studio in Los Angeles to work with Donovan, the star preferred to be with friends Stephen Stills and Mama Cass. Confronted with Donovan's refusal, Mickie Most slams the door.
Without his favorite producer, Donovan's records are less successful. The artist asks himself questions, founds a group, then goes into exile in Japan to escape the ruthless English tax authorities, who then recovered almost all of the musicians' rights. Then, a "light but irresistible" depression, in his words, pushes him to return to the country, even if it means losing a lot of money. He marries Linda Lawrence, who had not wanted him five years earlier. Together, they will found a community on the Isle of Skye, in the north of Scotland.
So one of the most "hippie" or "flower power" artists of his generation, Donovan suffered greatly from this image that had become outdated with the advent of the punk movement, then new wave in the 70s and 80s.
Still on stage at 74
Donovan will make his comeback in 1996 with a very good album, Sutras , produced by Rick Rubin, notably producer of Johnny Cash and incredible revealer of forgotten or on-the-go talents. Since then, Donovan has embarked on a sort of permanent tour. Alone on stage, sitting for two hours in the lotus position, on an Afghan carpet, he recounts his long career with a lot of humor and tenderness. Enough to return, even at 74, to his youthful ideals.
Find all the other episodes of our series "The Isle of Wight Festival, 50 years later":
> Episode 1: the last notes of Morrison's Doors
> Episode 2: Mighty Baby, talent without glory
> Episode 3: the unexpected concert of Brazilian exiles
> Episode 4: the Rory Gallagher revelation
> Episode 5: Tony Joe White's springboard
> Episode 6: Joni Mitchell's legendary concert
> Episode 7: the second Woodstock of Ten Years After
> Episode 8: The Who reign supreme at home
> Episode 9: the awakening of Sly and the Family Stone
> Episode 10: Free, a group touched by grace and then by misfortune