Fairytale (album)

Fairytale finds Donovan evolving his styles further towards British folk, especially on songs such as "Summer Day Reflection Song" and "Jersey Thursday". "Sunny Goodge Street" foreshadows the jazzy feel and descriptions of life in urban London that Donovan would continue to explore over the next two years. Like his previous album What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid, Fairytale primarily features Donovan singing and playing mouth harp and acoustic guitar. Shawn Phillips is playing the extra twelve-string guitar.

For release in the US, Hickory Records added a cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier" and removed a cover of Bert Jansch's "Oh Deed I Do". Donovan's recording of "Universal Soldier" was released in the US as a single the previous September, and was achieving some chart success.

The Canadian pressing, issued on the British Pye label, omitted "Belated Forgiveness Plea" but included "Oh Deed I Do" and "Universal Soldier".

Record World said that the single "Sunny Goodge Street "has an elusive beauty" and that "the poetic images all ring true and the melody is simple."[1]

• In January 1969, Fairytale was reissued in an edited form (Marble Arch Records MAL 867) in the UK. "Colours" and "The Little Tin Soldier" were both removed from the album.
• In February 1991, Castle Records reissued the UK version of Fairytale on compact disc (Castle CLACD226) in the UK.
• In 1996, Sequel Records reissued the US version of Fairytale on compact disc (Sequel 1004-2). The CD features seven bonus tracks. The first bonus track is a cover of Bert Jansch's "Oh Deed I Do". On the original US version of Fairytale "Oh Deed I Do" was cut and a cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier" was added. The next three songs ("Do You Hear Me Now", "The War Drags On"[2] and "The Ballad of a Crystal Man") are from Donovan's 1965 EP Universal Soldier. "Turquoise" and "Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)" were originally released as Donovan's third UK single on 30 October 1965. The last bonus track is the single version of "Colours".
• On 19 February 2002, Sanctuary Records reissued the original UK version of Fairytale on compact disc. The CD features six bonus tracks. The first four bonus tracks were originally released 15 August 1965 in the UK on Donovan's Universal Soldier EP. That EP featured a different take of "The Ballad of a Crystal Man". The last two bonus tracks are both sides of Donovan's third single "Turquoise"/"Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)" released 30 October 1965 in the UK.
• On 22 February 2005, Silverline Records reissued the original UK version of Fairytale on DualDisc. The DualDisc has an identical track listing to the 2002 Sanctuary Records reissue.

• British vocalist and songwriter Marianne Faithfull was the first to cover the song "Sunny Goodge Street" on her 1966 album, North Country Maid.
• American vocalist Judy Collins covered the song "Sunny Goodge Street" on her 1966 album, In My Life.
• American musician Lindsey Buckingham covered the song "To Try For The Sun" on his 2006 album Under the Skin.
• American jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi recorded a live version of "Sunny Goodge Street" in 1967 at the Old Town Theater in Los Gatos, California, later released on the album An Afternoon with the Vince Guaraldi Quartet (2011). (The song is mistitled "Autumn Leaves" on the release.)[3]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	Original album
Allmusic	2002 reissue
Allmusic	2005 reissue
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[4]

• Donovan – banjo, guitar, harmonica, vocals
• Skip Alan (Alan Skipper) – drums
• Brian Locking – bass guitar
• Harold McNair – flute
• Shawn Phillips – guitar, twelve-string guitar
• Peter Eden – producer
• Terry Kennedy – producer
• Ren Grevatt – liner notes

• Fairytale – Donovan Unofficial Site