History
By 1983, Donovan's albums were receiving little distribution in the UK and none in the US. His popularity had steadily decreased throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, and mainstream record companies were not convinced that Donovan's albums could generate enough record sales to warrant release. Donovan decided that to win over the record companies and reach his American and British fans, he would record new versions of both "Sunshine Superman" and "Season of the Witch" for inclusion on his next album. Both songs were released on the Sunshine Superman album in 1966 and Donovan's Greatest Hits in 1969. The name recognition of these two songs would give the record companies marketing leverage and guarantee release.
In addition to "Sunshine Superman" and "Season of the Witch", Donovan updated three other songs from his canon. Two of these songs, "Lady of the Stars" (written for Donovan's wife Linda Lawrence) and "Local Boy Chops Wood" (written about Brian Jones) were originally released on Donovan in 1977. The other song, "Boy for Every Girl" was released on his 1973 album Essence to Essence. Donovan also included five new songs and titled the album Lady of the Stars for his wife Linda.
Although Lady of the Stars was released directly through RCA in the UK, the company did not distribute the album in the US. Allegiance Records did pick up the album, however, and it became the first Donovan album to receive a US release since Donovan in 1977.
Guest appearances on this album include Graham Nash, Pete Carr, Jim Horn, Bonnie Bramlett, Wilton Felder, and Dave Mason.
Read more about this topic: Lady Of The Stars
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