|
|
US Mall 1 - Sunshine Superman - The Journey Of Donovan
|
List Price: $24.97
Our Price: $15.89
Your Save: $ 9.08 ( 36% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: SPV Recordings
Starring: Donovan
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0693723000237
Format: Color
Label: SPV Recordings
Manufacturer: SPV Recordings
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: SPV Recordings
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-10-07
Running Time: 315
Studio: SPV Recordings
Theatrical Release Date: 2008-10-07
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Well, it certainly provides maximum Donovan..
Comment: Ok, this is a conditional rating.
If you are a Donovan fanatic, and I do mean a fanatic, consider this a 4-star film. If you own every album..on vinyl, have a Peace sign-shaped air freshner dangling gaily from your Prius, and can watch Billy Jack Goes To Washington without collapsing into apoplectic laughter, than you can probably listen, with rapt awe at three, very long hours of Donovan's love letter to himself, otherwise known as "Sunshine Superman: The Journey of Donovan", but anyone else is probably going to start questioning the existence of God about 20 minutes in.
It is truly rare in this world to witness anyone this hilariously narcissistic, and there can be some fleeting entertainment value in that. But three hours? Do you have any conception how long three hours can be listening to the vapid, self-important musings of a long-forgotten 60's folkie? Buy this bloody thing and you will find out.
This is not a documentary in any normal sense of the word. Oh no. This is essentially a three-hour interview with Donovan. Well, actually..since there is no on-camera interviewer, it is really Donovan interviewing Donovan asking Donovan things Donovan would like to tell you. Like how he taught John Lennon how to fingerpick. Or how scores of modern day pop stars are influenced by him. There are lots of nicely framed split-screened shots of Donovan in 1965 playing on a beach next-to a 60 year-old Donovan playing on a beach. If you like Donovan, this is your Donovan Schmorgasboard. There is barely a foot of film or a 20 second space of time that Donovan is not talking...about Donovan. Well, actually, about 2 hours and 20 minutes in, you hear Donovan's wife tell you more than even a Bonaroo security staff guy would want to know about astrology and "becoming one with the rock you're sitting on", but it is a nice breather from the ever present voice of, dare I say...Donovan.
Now you are probably wondering to yourself, between angry, indignant breaths, why someone who is evidently not a fan of Donovan, would be watching this in the first place. Well, granting you the point that I am not a Donovan fan, my response is that it has nothing to do with how awful this psuedo-documentary is. I am a musician, and a documentary fan. I watch and read scores of rock bios by all kinds of artists regardless of whether-or-not I like their music, simply because you don't have to be a fan of a bands music in order to enjoy a good story. The recent Peter Bogdonovich film about Tom Petty was one of the most interesting and rewarding 3 1/2 hours I ever spent in front of the boob tube, and I don't like Tom Petty's music either. But I did find, after a watching a well-made and down-to earth film, that I liked Tom Petty, and enjoyed hearing the story of how his band got together, fermented their influences into a style, lived with each other, made their albums, etc.
There is virtually none of this in Sunshine Superman. It is really an extended vanity piece in which Donovan waxes rhapsodically about everything under the sun, without the slightest hint of humor or self-depreciation..for three, solid hours. Now I understand that all entertainers, to a point, do what they do, because they think they can do something you will want to see, or hear. A small degree of self-involvement is practically a requirement. But in the history of documentaries I never seen an ego trip quite as egregious as this thing.
Part of the problem may not be The big D's fault however. Someone, possibly the director, had the bright idea of having Donovan host what is essentially his own tribute. It is much easier, not to mention much less irritating, to have various talking heads, critics, and musicians sing your praises for you. But when you are not only the story, but the story teller, everything takes on the almost wince-inducing feel of self flattery. And Donovan's utter lack of humor about himself only adds to the uneasy format. Something tells me that the only reaction you would get from telling Donovan a good, dirty joke would be a vacant stare, not entirely unlike that of a goat staring at a particularly complicated insurance form.
In three hours I learned suprisingly little about Donovan's recording process, or how his albums were made, or what other people thought of them, or which ones sold better than others, or about almost anyone in his vicinity. But I did learn an awful lot about cosmic conciousness, that he knew lots of famous people and that they admired him, that Sunshine Superman (the LP) was a masterpiece and that he didn't copy Bob Dylan.
Toward the end of this endurance test, there is footage of him playing on a rock by The Joshua Tree and going into great detail about it's spiritual significance while his wife talks very earnestly about mushrooms and Tarot Card reading. If there was ever a candidate for the hippie Spinal Tap, this is basically it. If you are a very earnest hippie, I assume this will not in any way dissuade you from buying this, and you may even find three hours of this inane drivel interesting, but even then, you still won't learn anything about Donovan that he didn't want you to know. Now even for the most ardent flower child...where's the fun in that?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Donovan fan
Comment: I've been a big Donovan fan for years and have always wanted to get a visual on his early years.I read his autobiography Hurdy Grudy Man first and I finally got to know who this singer song writer is.This DVD is the visual to me of his book and nararated by Donovan himself which made it even better.You get to see him interacting in relationships with Gypsy Dave,his wife Linda and so many other people in his life that we know of during his carrer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: sunshine Superman DVD great but....
Comment: while I agee that for a Donovan Fan this set is Fantastic,If Don comes
off with a ego ,let him be ,He never gets the respect a artist of his talent should.
As for this set,Sure its great,sure its long,but the one
thing that seems to happen with most of these things is the clips aren't allowed to play through,they are mostly edited .Yes a few are on the
nice extra dvd.But far too many aren't ,Wheres the rest of the BBC
in Concert(which looks like a Dub here)
But clips most cost a lot of money,so maybe thats what happened
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sunshine Superdoc
Comment: For any Donovan fan or person interested in the reality of a rock stars life this beautifully produced DVD is the real thing. It is the classic rags to riches story with meteoric success followed by doubt and disillusion but redeemed by the love and spiritual guidance of his wife Linda.More even than the documentary of a life of pop stardom this is an historical archive which does much to redress the balance of current views of the Sixties and the importance of that time in establishing things such as Green issues that we now take for granted. Whether you are seeking the wonderful music, Sixties reverie or just a great story it is all here and much much more.
Customer Rating:
Summary: absolutely essential for Donovan fans!!!
Comment: First off ...let me say that unlike the loads of "Unauthorized" documentaries on rock artists appearing on DVD by the truckload....this IS not such...its a legit life story with brilliant interviews and lots and lots of footage! I can't say enough about the absolute wonder that this is...the feature on disc one is 3 hours long! And the second disc has at least a couple hours more! If you are a fan you will be delighted..buy with absolute confidence that this is a legitimate history of Donovan supported by the man himself and he is the central character interviewed throughout!
I need to add I've finally made it through this huge wonder of goodies...wow..music videos, rare performances, recent unreleased video performances of new songs....its as though he took his entire store room of video and history of his life and crammed all the good bits onto these two DVDs..seriously hours of fun...loads of info...and a real interesting look inside the life and career of someone...who is interesting enough to warrant it!
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Well, it certainly provides maximum Donovan..
Comment: Ok, this is a conditional rating.
If you are a Donovan fanatic, and I do mean a fanatic, consider this a 4-star film. If you own every album..on vinyl, have a Peace sign-shaped air freshner dangling gaily from your Prius, and can watch Billy Jack Goes To Washington without collapsing into apoplectic laughter, than you can probably listen, with rapt awe at three, very long hours of Donovan's love letter to himself, otherwise known as "Sunshine Superman: The Journey of Donovan", but anyone else is probably going to start questioning the existence of God about 20 minutes in.
It is truly rare in this world to witness anyone this hilariously narcissistic, and there can be some fleeting entertainment value in that. But three hours? Do you have any conception how long three hours can be listening to the vapid, self-important musings of a long-forgotten 60's folkie? Buy this bloody thing and you will find out.
This is not a documentary in any normal sense of the word. Oh no. This is essentially a three-hour interview with Donovan. Well, actually..since there is no on-camera interviewer, it is really Donovan interviewing Donovan asking Donovan things Donovan would like to tell you. Like how he taught John Lennon how to fingerpick. Or how scores of modern day pop stars are influenced by him. There are lots of nicely framed split-screened shots of Donovan in 1965 playing on a beach next-to a 60 year-old Donovan playing on a beach. If you like Donovan, this is your Donovan Schmorgasboard. There is barely a foot of film or a 20 second space of time that Donovan is not talking...about Donovan. Well, actually, about 2 hours and 20 minutes in, you hear Donovan's wife tell you more than even a Bonaroo security staff guy would want to know about astrology and "becoming one with the rock you're sitting on", but it is a nice breather from the ever present voice of, dare I say...Donovan.
Now you are probably wondering to yourself, between angry, indignant breaths, why someone who is evidently not a fan of Donovan, would be watching this in the first place. Well, granting you the point that I am not a Donovan fan, my response is that it has nothing to do with how awful this psuedo-documentary is. I am a musician, and a documentary fan. I watch and read scores of rock bios by all kinds of artists regardless of whether-or-not I like their music, simply because you don't have to be a fan of a bands music in order to enjoy a good story. The recent Peter Bogdonovich film about Tom Petty was one of the most interesting and rewarding 3 1/2 hours I ever spent in front of the boob tube, and I don't like Tom Petty's music either. But I did find, after a watching a well-made and down-to earth film, that I liked Tom Petty, and enjoyed hearing the story of how his band got together, fermented their influences into a style, lived with each other, made their albums, etc.
There is virtually none of this in Sunshine Superman. It is really an extended vanity piece in which Donovan waxes rhapsodically about everything under the sun, without the slightest hint of humor or self-depreciation..for three, solid hours. Now I understand that all entertainers, to a point, do what they do, because they think they can do something you will want to see, or hear. A small degree of self-involvement is practically a requirement. But in the history of documentaries I never seen an ego trip quite as egregious as this thing.
Part of the problem may not be The big D's fault however. Someone, possibly the director, had the bright idea of having Donovan host what is essentially his own tribute. It is much easier, not to mention much less irritating, to have various talking heads, critics, and musicians sing your praises for you. But when you are not only the story, but the story teller, everything takes on the almost wince-inducing feel of self flattery. And Donovan's utter lack of humor about himself only adds to the uneasy format. Something tells me that the only reaction you would get from telling Donovan a good, dirty joke would be a vacant stare, not entirely unlike that of a goat staring at a particularly complicated insurance form.
In three hours I learned suprisingly little about Donovan's recording process, or how his albums were made, or what other people thought of them, or which ones sold better than others, or about almost anyone in his vicinity. But I did learn an awful lot about cosmic conciousness, that he knew lots of famous people and that they admired him, that Sunshine Superman (the LP) was a masterpiece and that he didn't copy Bob Dylan.
Toward the end of this endurance test, there is footage of him playing on a rock by The Joshua Tree and going into great detail about it's spiritual significance while his wife talks very earnestly about mushrooms and Tarot Card reading. If there was ever a candidate for the hippie Spinal Tap, this is basically it. If you are a very earnest hippie, I assume this will not in any way dissuade you from buying this, and you may even find three hours of this inane drivel interesting, but even then, you still won't learn anything about Donovan that he didn't want you to know. Now even for the most ardent flower child...where's the fun in that?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Donovan fan
Comment: I've been a big Donovan fan for years and have always wanted to get a visual on his early years.I read his autobiography Hurdy Grudy Man first and I finally got to know who this singer song writer is.This DVD is the visual to me of his book and nararated by Donovan himself which made it even better.You get to see him interacting in relationships with Gypsy Dave,his wife Linda and so many other people in his life that we know of during his carrer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: sunshine Superman DVD great but....
Comment: while I agee that for a Donovan Fan this set is Fantastic,If Don comes
off with a ego ,let him be ,He never gets the respect a artist of his talent should.
As for this set,Sure its great,sure its long,but the one
thing that seems to happen with most of these things is the clips aren't allowed to play through,they are mostly edited .Yes a few are on the
nice extra dvd.But far too many aren't ,Wheres the rest of the BBC
in Concert(which looks like a Dub here)
But clips most cost a lot of money,so maybe thats what happened
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sunshine Superdoc
Comment: For any Donovan fan or person interested in the reality of a rock stars life this beautifully produced DVD is the real thing. It is the classic rags to riches story with meteoric success followed by doubt and disillusion but redeemed by the love and spiritual guidance of his wife Linda.More even than the documentary of a life of pop stardom this is an historical archive which does much to redress the balance of current views of the Sixties and the importance of that time in establishing things such as Green issues that we now take for granted. Whether you are seeking the wonderful music, Sixties reverie or just a great story it is all here and much much more.
Customer Rating:
Summary: absolutely essential for Donovan fans!!!
Comment: First off ...let me say that unlike the loads of "Unauthorized" documentaries on rock artists appearing on DVD by the truckload....this IS not such...its a legit life story with brilliant interviews and lots and lots of footage! I can't say enough about the absolute wonder that this is...the feature on disc one is 3 hours long! And the second disc has at least a couple hours more! If you are a fan you will be delighted..buy with absolute confidence that this is a legitimate history of Donovan supported by the man himself and he is the central character interviewed throughout!
I need to add I've finally made it through this huge wonder of goodies...wow..music videos, rare performances, recent unreleased video performances of new songs....its as though he took his entire store room of video and history of his life and crammed all the good bits onto these two DVDs..seriously hours of fun...loads of info...and a real interesting look inside the life and career of someone...who is interesting enough to warrant it!
Array
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
