Sold Date: September 18, 2014
Start Date: September 11, 2014
Final Price: £38.00 (GBP)
Bid Count: 1
Seller Feedback: 3781
Buyer Feedback: 130

This item is not for sale. Gripsweat is an archive of past sales and auctions, none of the items are available for purchase.

"TURQUOISE" (Donovan, 1965)

Your smile beams like sunlight on a gull's wing,
And the leaves dance and play after you.
Take my hand and hold it as you would a flower, Take care with my heart, oh, darling, she's made of glass.

Your eyes feel like silence resting on me,
And the birds cease to sing when you rise.
Ride easy, your fairy stallion you have mounted,
Take care how you fly, my precious, you might fall down.

In the pastel skies, a sunset I have wandered,
With my eyes and ears and heart strained to the full.
I know I tasted the essence in the few days,
Take care who you love, my precious, he might not know.
  DONOVAN: "Turquoise" / "Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)" MONO 45 RPM, RARE UK PYE DEMO, SEPTEMBER,1965.
THE PRODUCTION SINGLES WERE RELEASED ON THE 30th OCTOBER,1965, IN THE UK ONLY.


PYE: 7N 15984

MAITRIX:  7N  1598(5)4   A  1  ∆ H /  7N  1598(5)4   B  1  ∆ H
Like so many very first pressings, and Demo's predated standard records, errors and corrections have not been replaced by the
intended indexing.   Both sides were initially machine stamped with the prefix; '7N  15985', a digit too high, '5' was crudely
crossed out by hand and '4' was hand scribed directly underneath.  Once again, you re seeing how the Test Pressings were first
seen, then came this Demo before the main manufacturing pressing began, with printed pink Pye labels applied.


DEMO ONLY WHITE PYE LABEL, WITH A LARGE BLACK  'A' ON THE  A-SIDE, THE SOLID CENTRE OF THE 'A' IS
WHERE THE CENTRE HOLE WAS CUT OUT.   WITH THIS TEXT PRINTED ON BOTH SIDE'S LABELS .
  "Advance Promotion Copy - Not For Sale,"

USUALLY THERE ARE NO CLUES TO WHERE THE FEW DEMO'S WERE SENT TO, BRITAIN ONLY HAD ONE OFFICIAL
  RADIO STATION IN 1965.  THIS TIME IT DOES HAVE THE RECIPIENT'S LOGO HAND STAMPED ON THE  B-SIDE
"Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)"LABEL CENTRE, A COMMERCIAL TV COMPANY, "ATV" ADDED;

"ATV MUSIC LIBRARY''  
ORIGINAL 1965 PYE SLEEVE, UNSPLIT,UNFADED, WITH ONLY A FEW RECORD IMPRESSION RELATED LIGHT CREASES
AND LIGHT AGEING OF IT'S 49 YEARS OF AGE.  IN EXCELLENT+++ / NEAR MINT CONDITION.

THIS DEMO WAS ONLY PLAYED ONCE ON A PROFESSIONAL RECORD PLAYER, SURPRISINGLY THAT WAS THE B-SIDE!
You would think a large black block 'A' would be enough to pick the A-side,but then it was sent to a TV station and I do remember
the film with Donovan on the beach with his friend Gypsy Dave. So perhaps the title  "Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)" caught the
eye of the TV presenter, only radio DJ's actually played records on turntables, TV record libraries were for mostly background
music.  So the A-side is unplayed, a beautiful deeply glossy record, the only reason for a minus suffix is a tiny, hard to see,
feather light, inaudible  handling trace, which for a rare Demo, that  amounts to next to nothing.
THE RECORD IS IN MINT- CONDITION.


Donovan was in love with Joan Baez in 1965, the above lyrics to the deeply beautiful, haunting melody of "Turquoise" was inspired
by his emotions.  Sheer poetry and such intensity was never going to be commercially successful and the sales reflected that in
the UK.  It stalled at No.30 and that was enough for Donovan's American record company, Hickory Records, to deccide against  the
single being released in the USA, Donovan himself preferred not to perform "Turquoise" live in concert, not that low sales had a
bearing on that, it was a very personal song.   "Turquoise" became the B-side on the USA single, "To Try For The Sun," the fact
it was never included on the albums released at the time has created something of a rarity today, I do know how abused that is
on ebay so I searched for a copy.   Not one "Turquoise" is available  in any condition, which makes this partially unplayed Demo
extremely rare and so I decided to take just the one play through, for an acoustic pair of tracks fast approaching 50 years of
age, I felt justified playing both sides.  My excuse, I have been a Donovan fan since hearing "Catch The Wind"and I knew Pye's
pressings were always immaculate, folk or not!  "Turquoise" features Donovan's vocal, acoustic guitar and a harmonica, there
you have a recipe for mood destroying, horrific crackles and clicks , not how I would ever listen to Donovan and would not want
anyone else to.   From silent run-in grooves the entire track played without any surface sound and even any static was not heard,
I was astonished by that because the A-side was being played for the very first time.  Such powerful mono sound, yet his voice and
  acoustic guitar were crystal clear, when he blew his harmonica gently, the notes impacted but had perfect pitch without a hint of
distortion.  My respect for 60's singles has been long established, but to hear a 1965 very first pressing playing cleaner than a
compilation CD I have of Donovan's Pye recording's!   "Turquoise" is surely one of his most intensive songs and performances and
what incredible sound quality, the same ws true for "Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)".  Not quite 'slowness' though, the B-side is
fast flowing, rhythmic acoustic blues, the same instruments and his genius for generating such infectious sounds was never best
heard than "Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)."  Like most blues, the song has it's origins in other sources, I could make a comparison
to Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" and the Rolling Stones version, but this goes much, much further back to American classic blues.
The ideal contrast to the wistful beauty and poetic prose of "Turquoise", the sound wa once again really powerful but the clarity
was nothing less than sensational.   A few years ago A TV program examined John Lennon's original 1965 juke box, John really
got into inserting his choice of records and he even hand wrote the titles on the little cards, I noticed he had this single among
40 or so singles, being dyslexic, he mispelled Donovan's name on the card like this; "Turquoise Donavon."  Had I described both
  tracks with the record playing, I doubt if I would have included all these details and in my own way, I did describe how both of
the mono only tracks performed....as perfectly as Donovan in 1965!   I will conclude with a reminder neither side of this single
was included on "What's Bin Did And What's Bin Hid" or Donovan's other 1965 UK Pye album,"Fairytale."
  {Roy}
  R & M RECORDS.

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