Donovan
August 22, 1977
Cobo Arena
Detroit, MI, USA
JEMS Master

Recording Gear: Advent dynamic microphones > Sony TC-153SD cassette recorder

JEMS Transfer: master cassette > Nakamichi 670ZX (azimuth adjusted) > Wavelab 24/96 .wav capture > iZotope MBIT+ resample to 16/44 > Pro Tools (Sound boost) > Audacity > FLAC > TLH

01 Intro
02 Cosmic Wheels
03 Sunshine Superman
04 Brave New World
05 Lady of the Stars
06 The Hurdy Gurdy Man
07 Dare To Be Different
08 Local Boy Chops Wood
09 The Light
10 Mellow Yellow (cut, faded)
11 Atlantis (faded in and out)

Donovan - voice, guitar
Miller Anderson - guitar
Nick South - bass
Ronnie Leahy - keyboards
Colin Allen - drums

Anyone who loves music of this vintage knows about Donovan. And above all, any fan of Yes knows about the 1977 tour, where for about six months Donovan was the opening act.

For Yes completists who will download this no matter what the quality is just to have the opening act and main act together, in a short way: good news, this is Donovan's almost complete set during his stay at the Cobo Arena in Detroit as the opening act for Yes (you can find the Yes recording here: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=578402).

For those who are not completists, the long story:

Donovan is one of those artists who, with his music, can touch your soul and not only speaking in a metaphorical term but also in a literal term.

I, although I am not a big fan of his music (as being really into his albums), I have heard enough to know that he had (and still has) a very simplistic yet beautiful essence.

With the aforementioned, I also have to say that I really appreciate the true beauty of the acoustic artists and Donovan (at least in this particular recording) was something special.

His melodies are magic to say the least, the chords, the peace that his songs give to you is something that cannot be talked about, it is something that you must feel. While the set starts with some very strong gems like "Cosmic Wheels" and "Brave New World", it also shows us songs like "Lady of the Stars" and "The Hurdy Gurdy Man" that have their own beauty with their own simplicity.

This recording is solid, really good for the time, Donovan is one of those artists with a high regard in the quality of his performances and I assure you this recording won't disappoint you. Samples provided.

But, even if I said earlier that the recording is solid, it is not free of those little details. For example, the start of the recording (and other parts, too) had very low volume levels compared to the rest of the set, so I raised the volume of the affected parts and made everything sound on the same level. Each part was individually repaired, i did not use general normalization.

Another detail that must be said is that between "Mellow Yellow" and "Atlantis" there is a cut which, as noted in the setlist, I had to do a fade in and out.

And to increase the "mystery" of this recording, the above cut suggests three possibilities:

1) To save tape and batteries, the taper paused the recorder during the encore break

or

2) A song was lost

or

3) Jared the taper had to use the restroom

When the recording starts again after that cut you can listen to Donovan saying "Thank you, thank you,� and one can only guess if he is thanking the reception his is given after returning to the stage or if he is thanking the reaction after a song.

Given all that, this set is enjoyable to say the least. An incredible sound, a set of beautiful songs and Donovan at his best.

Frogster

Thanks to the late great Jared Houser for recording this show in the first place 40 years ago. If you�d like to learn more about Jared, spend 13 minutes watching this short video tribute to him:

https://vimeo.com/190021070/14a4b5b7ca

Also thanks to Frogster, who carried full production duties on this one and contributed very thoughtful notes.

BK for JEMS