- RRP £180
- Limited edition numbered, handmade vinyl box sets individually hand-signed by Donovan
- Only 50 copies available for distribution out of 500 in total
- Donovan’s music, his poetry - including two mono LPs, one for parents or grandparents and one for the children, with beautiful art illustrated lyrics, all approved by Donovan, with exclusive liner notes by Will Hodgkinson, chief rock and pop critic for The Times
- UK & Ireland only
The Team That Made The Box
With authenticity core to the project, The state51 Conspiracy followed the original Designer Sydney Randolph Maurer in all aspects, by engaging one of the UK’s leading experts in box set design, Daniel Mason at Something Else, to painstakingly recreate the box, records and accompanying ephemera - all originally commissioned by the legendary Clive Davis at Epic Records/CBS. The first challenge was to find the deep blue leatherette paper the original box set was covered in; a problem since it was no longer in production. “I knew people who had stacks of it, gathering dust on top shelves, so I bought it up wherever I could find it,” says Mason. Then came the reproduction of 12 loose leaf lyric sheets on fine art watercolour paper, each of them featuring a watermark and a fairytale-like illustration by Donovan’s artist friends Sheena McCall and Mick Taylor. Where, though, to find the same paper stock? “I found out that it was made at a paper mill in North Wales called Abbey Mills. Unfortunately the mill dissolved in the early 70s and very little of the paper remained. However enough paper remained to allow us to produce the numbered certificate also signed by Donovan that sits within the box.”
Then to the iconic cover image. Donovan and Jimi Hendrix’s personal photographer Karl Ferris, used infra-red film to achieve the psychedelic effect on the cover, but the original negatives couldn’t be found. Mason then used digital technology to ramp up the colour levels on a reproduction from an original copy of the album while allowing it to remain a little bit faded, as it would be after half a century. The same labour of love and care has gone into producing all elements of the box; from the rebuilding of the famous front cover font to the hand-numbered and signed certificate; letterpress printed on the original paper stock of the 1968 UK release lyric sheets.
To cap it all off the original mono master tapes were waiting safely in the EMI Donovan Archive and transferred from tape to digital by Abbey Road Studios where new lacquers were cut, ensuring Donovan's favoured mono version of the album would be presented both physically (and digitally for the very first time) in striking audiophile quality. The final touch to a five-year labour of love.
Production Notes
- Overall there was no original mechanical artwork to be found. The artwork was rebuilt by Daniel Mason at Something Else from 1967 release copies, miscellaneous scans and conversations with Donovan
- Overall the packaging and paper parts are manufactured using production methods and equipment from the time; some of which include making by hand
- The presentation box is handmade and covered in a batch of original paper from the 1960s. The facsimile appears slightly deeper in shade to original copies. However the paper supplier was known to have supplied this stock in non-consistent shades. Plus one has to factor for the material fading over time. The base board is lighter in weight and adheres to the original box. The printed panels are hand applied. The box is lift off lid in construction as per the Pye original
- The lyric sheet inserts are offset printed on a laid paper. None of the original paper exists as the paper mill had closed some time ago. At least 50 shades of paper were reviewed before a final selection was made. The new paper has been specially manufactured with lighter laid and chain lines from an English paper mill. The shades are not exact to the original and are slightly brighter in colour but still echo this mix of colours from the original
- The lyric sheet folder is a close match to the original folder. In this instance the burnt orange colour has not been printed and a rust coloured board has been used in its stead. The original construction has been retained
- A hand numbered and signed certificate by Donovan has been letterpress printed on the original Abbey Mills Glastonbury and Greenfield laid paper. Having consulted with a number of paper historians around the world this batch was found down the road from the now derelict site of Abbey Mills. By accident and following a conversation with a local museum who had some in their archive
- The liner notes are offset printed on a 100% Hemp paper
- Boxed vinyl was the preserve of classical music, jazz and ethnographic recordings. Gift plays to the characteristics of these versions but replaces the libretto with poetry. It is very clever in so much that it sails close to the wind of this boxed set format but sprinkles it with dust from the ascendent Aquarian age. To this end it is very much a subversive execution and an outlier to how recorded music is packaged
LP1 - Wear Your Love Like Heaven
Side 1
Wear Your Love Like Heaven
Mad John's Escape
Skip-a-Long Sam
Sun
There Was a Time
Side 2
Oh Gosh
Little Boy in Corduroy
Under the Greenwood Tree" (Words by William Shakespeare, music by Leitch)
The Land of Doesn't Have to Be
Someone Singing
LP2 - For Little Ones
Side 1
Song of the Naturalist's Wife
The Enchanted Gypsy" – 3:19
Voyage into the Golden Screen" – 3:12
Isle of Islay" – 2:20
The Mandolin Man and His Secret" – 3:32
Lay of the Last Tinker" – 1:47
Side 2
The Tinker and the Crab" – 2:52
Widow with a Shawl (A Portrait)" – 2:58
The Lullaby of Spring" – 3:25
The Magpie" – 1:27
Starfish-on-the-Toast" – 2:39
Epistle to Derroll" – 5:45