55 YEARS ON DONOVAN’S OPEN ROAD

A musical walk up to the great unknown, from July 1970

The turbulent ride of the 1960s wound down as everyone took measure of it in the noise of 1970. On the upside, the 1960s was a decade of terrific discoveries in technology. The civil rights movement had made headway, and the naïve earnest of hippies argued for making the world a better place. Unfortunately, progress was subsumed by the clamor of global wars, multiple famines, widespread pollution, growing cynicism, and civic unrest. The popular music world mirrored this mood of the world. Psychedelic rock had become too aloof, so music acts stripped-down for earthier stylings. The elemental singer-songwriters grounded people to see “fire and rain and sunny days” and less purple haze, and Donovan was a prime role model with both hands on the transition.

A year earlier, Donovan appeared in the film “If It’s Tuesday It Must Be Belgium,” a silly cameo-laden romantic comedy set on a European tour bus adventure. The subplot contrasts youthful counterculture with adult behavior. The film cuts between a nightclub in Rome, where the adults get drunk, loud, and crazy while, across town in a coffee house, Donovan quietly performs “Lord of the Reedy River” to an audience of young people so attentive you could hear a pin drop. Introspection and meaning were a balm for this troubled era.

Pop culture had been getting an overhaul since the early 1960s as folk musicians took up the thread of Woody Guthrie’s bare-knuckled activism. Then The Beatles burst out of England to revolutionize fashion, media, and the music world. They led The British Invasion of music acts devoted to reinventing pop music as cogent messages that became more honest and complex. Donovan rose up as a Scottish folk singing/harmonica-slinging reply to Bob Dylan and the American wave of neo-folkies emerging from Greenwich Village and Laurel Canyon, led by innovative and influential acts like The Byrds and The Lovin’ Spoonful. Dylan said the answer was “blowing in the wind” while Donovan aimed to “catch the wind.” He also came flavored by a Celtic and folk heritage of his native island, and he is a brilliant master of fingerstyle guitar modeled after British legend Bert Jansch (Donovan tributed him in the song “House of Jansch”

Donovan entered the professional and personal fold of The Beatles, then bloomed into a pop superstar and trailblazer who fused calpyso, jazz, psychedelic rock, and world music. He set the bar for future fusionaries such as Bruce Cockburn, Joni Mitchell, and Cat Stevens. Donovan looms large in the cloud of my formative childhood musical inspirations, and I’ve performed and recorded his songs several times.

From 1966 to 1969, Donovan had one hit after another: From the funky beatnik vibe of “Sunshine Superman” to the future-primitive anthem “Hurdy Gurdy Man” to the flower-powered mythologies of “Wear Your Love Like Heaven” and “Atlantis,” he brought art, humor, spirit, and storytelling to the airwaves.

He teamed with producer Mickie Most, who’d crafted successful records for The Animals, Herman’s Hermits, Lulu, and other British Invasion acts. By teaming with Donovan, Most had the opportunity to bring out the best in A-list musicians: Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce, Nicky Hopkins, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Danny Thompson of Pentangle, and heroic studio legends Clem Cattini and Big Jim Sullivan. This formidable talent pool gave Donovan’s recordings a powerful sonority.

Then in 1970, like a cold awakening from a 60s dream, The Beatles broke up. Concurrently, while recording in Los Angeles, Donovan’s hit-making partnership with Most fell apart, and Donovan returned to England, later saying, “I was exhausted and looking for roots and new directions. I checked into Morgan Studios in London and stayed a long while creating OPEN ROAD and HMS DONOVAN sessions. Downstairs was (Paul) McCartney, doing his solo album. I had left Mickie after great years together. The new decade dawned, and I had accomplished everything any young singer-songwriter could achieve. What else was there to do but to experiment beyond the fame and into the new life, regardless of the result?”

Ironically, as The Beatles split into solo factions and McCartney issued his minimalist debut LP, Donovan sought fellowship in a new band, Open Road. It was formed around the solid rhythm section of bassist/guitarist Mike Thomson and drummer “Candy” John Carr, already a regular in Donovan’s camp, Interestingly, Carr was ex-member of the avant-garde multi-media band Hapshash & The Coloured Coat with Mickey Finn, later to join Marc Bolan/T. Rex, obvious disciples of Donovan’s cosmic regalia. In another twist, Donovan played more electric guitar than ever before, and the band was augmented by keyboardist Mike O’Neill, session player for The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and other luminaries.

Behind the console was Mike Bobak, who’d mixed recordings for Blue Mink, The Kinks, and Cat Stevens.

Donovan’s goal was to record songs that would be easy to replicate live, which meant avoiding lavish production. The resulting sound was dubbed “Celtic Rock” and out came the album OPEN ROAD (released July 1970).

That was the era when albums were signifiers, and OPEN ROAD was a lodestone of songs about the downside of materialism while yearning for simpler times. Some of Donovan’s lyrics were politically charged, and he withdrew some barbs in the final takes, but his overall tone forecasted a sober and edifying future.

The album opens with the vigorous power pop of “Changes.”

The lyrics cite challenges and changes that bring a man down, but by faith and discernment we rise above, brave through, and learn and grow from it (some think the stuttering hook in the chorus informed David Bowie’s “Changes”, which came just months later).

That was followed by “Song For John,” an encouragement to his friend John Sebastian, who’d left The Lovin’ Spoonful to risk going solo as a singer-songwriter (Donovan was a faithful song chronicler of his friends, from Jenny Boyd to Brian Jones). The moody, bluesy “Curry Land” segues into the upbeat, jasmine-fueled bossa nova of “Joe Bean’s Theme” with a clear influence from Antonio Carlos Jobim. The next two tracks are fan favorites:

The sentimental country rock lilt of “People Used To” sets up the aptly named “Celtic Rock.”

Released as a single in Japan, “Celtic Rock” is planted in classic folklore and references the fantasy fiction of JRR Tolkien. Donovan continued this theme with “Roots of Oak” and “Seasons of Farewell.”

Side 2 contains the novelty “Clara Claravoyant,” the sharp-tongued “Poke At The Pope,” and “Riki Tiki Tavi,” the reggae-infused single that recasts the mongoose in Rudyard Kipling’s JUNGLE BOOK.

The mongoose becomes a metaphor for not waiting for institutions to remove society’s ills. It’s a fun song to cover, and in 1975 I played in a garage band that extended it into comical jams. Donovan’s earlier set of lyrics preached abstinence from drugs: “Laboratory synthetic stimuli, only goes to fog up your third eye.” The OPEN ROAD album closes with “New Years Resovolution,” "said to be inspired by Paul McCartney (who loaned Donovan a guitar for the sessions) as he and Donovan were taking their music into unknown space.

Considering the album’s modest production and spotty distribution, OPEN ROAD did well, making the Top 40 charts in 4 countries (#17 in the US). As for the band Open Road, Donovan's intention was for them to tour indefinitely, primarily by sea on his yacht. The band convened on the island of Crete to prepare the ship, rehearse, and document their time for a film THERE IS AN OCEAN (unreleased until 2005, when it was issued on DVD).

Instead, the group ended up flying from Greece to France, to the Soviet Union and Japan, then Italy to do a concert that was broadcast on Italian TV. However, they never fully embarked on their ambitious sea voyage. Donovan cut the tour short, returning to the UK to focus on his family and his next album, HMS DONOVAN, on which Carr and Thomson appeared. The last Donovan/Open Road gig was at the third annual Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970. Donovan returned to a solo career. Carr and Thomson kept the band name and morphed into a quartet that made an album called WINDY DAZE, produced by Tony Reeves (Colosseum, Greenslade). After a few more recordings, Open Road disbanded in 1972.

Thomson dropped off the grid while Carr went on to drum for Shawn Phillips, another Donovan disciple and occasional sideman.

Donovan’s decision to walk away from superstardom was permanent, and he never regained his commercial status despite best efforts and a string of quality albums—including COSMIC WHEELS, his well-made 1973 reunion with Mickie Most, timed with the 70s glam rock cosmology of Marc Bolan and David Bowie.

Donovan kept touring (appropriately with Yes in the late 70s) and his recordings continue to appear in film soundtracks as he continues to create new music. His bearing as a singer-songwriter and innovator has outlasted critics and trends, and his songs are still covered by new artists. If you poll his remarkably loyal fans, the OPEN ROAD album endures as a testimony of its time as well as a timeless invitation: To be curious, to dare to step into new horizons, and to let your spirit follow wherever the road takes you.

POSTSCRIPT: In 1990 I met Donovan after a gig in San Francisco, and he autographed my LP of OPEN ROAD. Here’s my amped up cover of “Changes,” which I entitled “Don’t Let Them Changes” to distinguish it from similarly titled songs by David Bowie and Buddy Miles.

I recorded it at the legendary Tom Mallon’s studio in San Francisco with drummer Jason Souza (of the metal band Soldier).

This article © 2025 by Johnny J. Blair. If you quote this article please cite me as a source. Please do not replicate or reproduce without permission. Thank you.

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