While this album is not to be confused with
Donovan's debut album (which was released under two different titles, Catch the Wind and
What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid), this particular collection is devoted to material from the same period in the singer/songwriter's career, his early years recording for Pye Records when his work was most strongly influenced by
Bob Dylan's days as the king of poetic protest music. The tracks on Catch the Wind are a good bit different than the sunny pop-psychedelic sides
Donovan would make his trademark a few years down the line, but one can hear glimmers of this style in the playful "Sunny Goodge Street" and the possible double meanings of "Candy Man." Otherwise, this is a solid (if not quite definitive) study of
Donovan the Folkie, and if this work is less resonant than his subsequent pop recordings, it shows he was already a fine vocalist and a promising songwriter, as well as a keen judge of the work of others (his cover of
Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier" was a well-deserved hit).
Catch the Wind [Castle 2003 Collection] overlaps with a number of other collections of
Donovan's early sides, but the track selection and audio are good enough that it would be a fine purchase for fans who are lacking the artist's formative works. ~ Mark Deming