Mellow Yellow

Originally released in 1967, MELLOW YELLOW is a US-only mishmash of singles, outtakes, and old album tracks featuring Donovan at his hippie-era peak. It blends fanciful psychedelia, like the title track--one of his finest singles--with earthier material like "House of Jansch" (a tribute to the Pentangle's Bert Jansch, a longtime friend), the witty Swinging London tribute "Sunny South Kensington," and the downright bleak "Writer in the Sun." This is one of Donovan's most consistently entertaining albums, with very few weak songs and some excellent psych-pop arrangements by a pre-Led Zeppelin John Paul Jones.