Sunshine Superman - The Journey Of
Donovan (SPV DVD Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: C+
Main Program: B
There has
been a slow resurgence long overdue of interest and rediscovery of the work of
the singer/songwriter/musician Donovan, from the use of his music in TV ads to
some very important motion pictures.
Hannes Rossacher’s new documentary Sunshine
Superman - The Journey Of Donovan does an exceptional job of covering the
man’s career from the beginning to his current triumphs and does this through
the man’s own words.
As he has
for decades in song, Donovan narrates and discusses his thoughts, feelings and
ideas on life while adding tons of historical context, stories and other
situations in the mix throughout this deepest look at his career to date. Besides how well so many of his songs have
appreciated, it turned out (as many suspected) he was ahead of his time in
philosophy and world view, one that more people than ever are ready to
embrace. As part of Rock Music, its
peak, the counterculture and music history, he was there, he was a serious
participant and his legacy is one of the most underrated of the artists of the
1960s. This program culls together many
great historical clips, plenty of recent footage and performances from all eras
into one of the most competent coverage of a major music artist you will see
anywhere.
And yet,
I wanted Donovan and Rossacher to go even more bonkers, but this is one journey
worth taking as Donovan’s resurgence is only just beginning.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is of the documentary variety, with a mix of footage of
varying qualities, including film and videotape, old and new, well edited and
smoother than usual. The best feature
and one we hope more programs will use and that is pillarboxing 1.33 X 1 images
with patterned sample repeat images on the extra spaces on each side in a way
that does not distract from the actual footage.
Hope we see this more often.
Sadly, the sound on the menus and the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (with
some Mono) throughout is unacceptably harsh in every single section of both
discs. It is hard to tell what went
wrong, but someone mismastered all this sound, including al the music, badly in
audio that serious audiophiles will despise more than I do. Hopefully, later DVDs and the inevitable
Blu-ray will correct this issue.
Extras
include several subsections including seven extended versions of moments from
the documentary, 3 TV appearances, six clips dubbed Music Videos, four
unreleased songs, seven clips from three concerts and the five-part “The
Private Donovan” section.
For more
on Donovan, try this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6260/The+Donovan+Concert+–+Live
- Nicholas Sheffo
