Last week at Joe's Pub in New York City, Donovan Leitch premiered his new album beat cafe for a fortunate group of devoted fans. I was lucky enough to have been in the Big Apple that week, and reviewed the Tuesday night show in these pages. (The West Coast shows were in San Francisco as Donovan sought to pay tribute to the two cities who had been cultural oases during the beat era!)
I mentioned in my review of the concert that Donovan's new material was some of his strongest in many years. I have been living with beat cafe since I got home, and the songs are just as good on the disc as they were live!
The album begins with Donovan's soft lilting voice, almost chanting "secobacatucopacateck." This sets up a rhythm which leads into the lyrics, and keyboard accompaniment, Donovan sings "if I was your lover I'd take you to the sky . . ." then the drums of Jim Keltner adds a beat, and the stand-up bass of Danny Thompson. It's a rhythmic and haunting song. Donovan's guitar is lost in the mix, but was more present on stage. "Love floats in space / that space between us . . ." snap your fingers, dig the groove.
That's the tone of the whole album. It's a concept man. On "poorman's sunshine" Thompson sets the groove, and Keltner riffs, John Chelew (the producer) draws an organ sound from the keyboards. There are echoes of "Sunshine Superman" here . . . no longer a Superman he is now a poor man . . . still in the sunshine though! Cool. This jazzy composition is followed by the theme song "beat cafe" which shuffles along driven by Keltner's brushes and Donovan's whispery voice. "Can a cat think -- I think so / she asked me - do I wanna go / to a beatnik cafe where the lights are low / the music is cool and the chicks are slow . . ." And here I thought we wanted the chicks to be fast! Nevertheless, it's all happenin' here in the "beat cafe," right down to the popping bass solo and Keltner's skins. Donovan provides a bluesy guitar solo in the fade out.
"Yin my yang" is next. "You yin my yang / I'll yang your yin . . ." well, you get the idea. Chelew provides a keyboard intro, but it's all down to Keltner's drums and some breathy Donovan vocals. Of the twelve songs that make up the beat cafe, ten are originals by Mr. Leitch. The other two are poems set to Donovan's music. The public domain classic "The Cuckoo" is set to an almost bluegrass accompaniment, "Well the cuckoo is a pretty bird and she warble as she fly . . ." and it works, with Donovan's snappy fingerpicking and the rhythm section's steady work. Dylan Thomas's "do not go gentle (into that good night)" is a recitation which seeks to revisit the poetry readings of the beat clubs Donovan is describing with this concept album. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light . . ." his Scottish burr suits the language and tone of the poem, and I cannot say enough about the support provided by Thompson and Keltner! What a band these two are!
The other songs are the same sort of mystical lyric set to folk-jazz backings that long time Donovan fans have been digging for years, man. If there's a single it has to be the bluesy and raw "lord of the universe." Live, at Joe's Pub, this was a highlight, and placed in the middle of all this quiet jazz it stands out on the CD too! Funky keyboards from producer Chelew, and Don's guitar is at the forefront!
It's all up to you now. Visit Donovan's Web site or check out the Appleseed site to try a sample, and then order a copy of beat cafe for yourself, slip into a black turtleneck, pull your beret down, and snap your fingers cats and kittens! The beat generation will never die!
