Collaboration With Mickie Most
In late 1965, Donovan split with his original management and signed with Ashley Kozak, who was working for Brian Epstein's NEMS Enterprises. Kozak introduced Donovan to American impresario Allen Klein (who would later take over management of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles). Klein in turn introduced Donovan to producer Mickie Most, who was riding high on the success of his chart-topping productions with The Animals, Lulu, and Herman's Hermits.
Mickie Most was the nominal producer of all Donovan's recordings in this period, although Donovan asserts in his autobiography that some of the recordings were self-produced, with little or no input from Most. Their collaboration produced a string of successful singles and albums, recorded with leading London session players including Big Jim Sullivan, Jack Bruce, Danny Thompson and future Led Zeppelin members John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page.
Many of Donovan's late Sixties recordings featured a core group of musicians who regularly recorded and/or toured with him, including his key musical collaborator John Cameron on piano, Danny Thompson (from Pentangle) or Spike Heatley on upright bass, Tony Carr on drums and congas and Harold McNair on saxophone and flute. Carr's conga style and McNair's distinctive flute playing are an intrinsic feature of many of these recordings. Cameron, McNair and Carr also accompanied Donovan on several major concert tours and can be heard on his 1968 live album Donovan In Concert.
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