History
Donovan's Greatest Hits is a distinct entry in Donovan's discography for several reasons. First, it collects three singles that were previously unreleased on any album ("Epistle to Dippy", "There Is a Mountain", "Laléna"). It also presents the unedited "Sunshine Superman" (one minute, fifteen seconds longer than the original 1966 single and album release), and most of the songs appear for the first time in stereo. Lastly, Donovan's Greatest Hits contains re-recordings of "Catch the Wind" and "Colours". Epic Records could not obtain the right to release the original recordings of these two songs, so Donovan rerecorded them in May 1968 with a full backing band and Mickie Most's lavish production.
Donovan's Greatest Hits marked the high point of Donovan's popularity in both the United States and United Kingdom. It also most likely had the effect of keeping many of Donovan's recordings on the shelf to avoid oversaturating the market. Nearly all of Donovan's next studio album was already recorded by the time of this release but remained unreleased until August 1969.
The 1999 version of Donovan's Greatest Hits has the same cover but some different songs and a different track order. In this release, the rerecorded versions of "Catch the Wind" and "Colours" are replaced by the original 1965 versions. There are also four additional songs that were hits after the original version of Donovan's Greatest Hits was released: "Atlantis", "To Susan on the West Coast Waiting", and "Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)" from Barabajagal (1969), and "Riki Tiki Tavi" from Open Road (1970).
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