The Cure

In 1988 the band history Ten Imaginary Years was released, and Lol Tolhurst, though he had not yet left the band, was replaced by Roger O'Donnell. Featuring a cover painting by Donovan himself, it is notable for its long running time, its mellow jazzy feel and its excellent sound, with Donovan again leading the pack by being one of the first major pop artists of his era to release a live LP. In 1987 The Cure released the double album Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, and embarked on the "Kissing Tour.". In July 1968 Epic released Donovan In Concert, the recording of his Anaheim concert in September 1967. Throughout 1986 Lol Tolhurst's alcohol consumption was interfering with his ability to perform, and Roger O'Donnell was frequently called upon to stand in for him. The two tracks cut with the Beck Group -- ('Barabajagal' and the single's eventual B-side 'Trudi') -- plus three others, 'Happiness Runs, Superlungs (My Supergirl) and Where Is She?, were shelved for almost a year. The album's title was taken from a line in the song "Killing an Arab." This release was accompanied by a video version called Staring at the Sea and by another tour, as well as a live concert film called The Cure In Orange. However it was some time before these recordings saw the light of day.

Following this release and another world tour, the band released Standing on a Beach, a collection featuring all The Cure's singles and B-sides. Not coincidentally, they were also under contract to Most at the time and it was Most's idea to team them with Donovan, another attempt to bring a heavier sound to Donovan's work, whlie also introducing a more lyrical edge to Beck's. In 1985 the new lineup released The Head on the Door which reached #7 in the UK and #59 on the American charts. This time he was backed by the original incarnation of The Jeff Beck Group, featuring Beck on lead guitar, Ron Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano and Micky Waller on drums. Robert Smith later expressed his satisfaction with the reunited Cure, saying "we're a band again.". The same month, he recorded an even rockier single, the snarling, funky, freakbeat classic 'Goo Goo Barabajagal', a song which gained him an avid following on the rave scene decades later. At the end of the tour, however, Anderson was fired and replaced by Boris Williams, and Thornalley was replaced by returnee Simon Gallup. Most's commercial instincts were spot-on, and the song became one of Donovan's biggest hits, going Top 5 in both the UK and the USA and Top 10 in Australia.

The Cure then embarked on their "Top Tour" with Thompson, Anderson, and bassist Phil Thornalley on board. The heavier sound of 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' was a deliberate attempt by Most and Donovan to try and reach a wider audience in the United States, where the new hard rock sounds of groups like Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience were having a major impact. In 1984 The Cure released The Top, an album on which Smith played all the instruments except the drums (played by Andy Anderson) and the saxophone (played by returnee Porl Thompson). If so, this would make it the first recorded performance featuring the three future members of Led Zeppelin. Both Jones and Page have stated that the idea of Led Zeppelin was formed during the Hurdy Gurdy Man sessions. Reduced to the duo of Smith and Tolhurst, the Cure released four studio singles and their B-sides as the album Japanese Whispers. The singles from this period were uncharacteristically upbeat and accessible, though Smith would soon return to writing more melancholy (if not as somber) material. Jimmy Page also played on the session, and it is believed that John Paul Jones may have played bass with (possibly) John Bonham on drums. The same year, Smith also recorded and toured with Siouxsie and the Banshees, contributing his writing and playing skills on their Hyaena and Nocturne albums, as well as recording the Blue Sunshine album as The Glove (see above). In his place they brought in a brilliant young British guitarist, Allan Holdsworth.

In 1983 The Cure released two more singles, "The Walk" (UK #12) and "The Lovecats," which became the band's first UK top 10 single at #7. Donovan tried to get Hendrix to play on the recording, but he was on tour and unavailable for the session. Smith says that he "doesn't even remember making a lot of Pornography" (2). Donovan had also considered giving it to Jimi Hendrix, but when Mickie Most heard it, he convinced Donovan that the song was a sure-fire single and that he should record it himself. After an altercation in a club between Smith and Simon Gallup, Gallup left the group and started another one called Fools Dance. Released in May 1968, his next single was the swirling psychedelic nugget 'The Hurdy Gurdy Man', a song he originally intended for his old friend and guitar mentor Mac MacLeod who had a heavy rock band called Hurdy Gurdy. The release was followed by the "Fourteen Explicit Moments" tour, and by increasing problems among the members. Lennon went on to use the technique on songs including Julia and Dear Prudence.

Perhaps because of the rumours, Pornography became the band's first UK Top 10 album, hitting the charts at #9. In was during this time that Donovan taught John Lennon the finger picking styles like the claw hammer which Donovan had himself learned from his St Albans buddy Mac MacLeod. In 1982 The Cure recorded Pornography, a bleak, nihilist offering that led to more rumours that Smith was suicidal. The visit gained worldwide media attention thanks to the presence of (for a time) all four Beatles as well as Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love, actress Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence (who inspired John Lennon to write 'Dear Prudence'). The band members' lives began to be marked by increasing drug use. Like The Beatles, Donovan's developed a strong interest in eastern mysticism, and in late 1967 he travelled to India, where he spent several months at the ashram of the Maharishi in Rishikesh. Smith's increasing depression was embodied in the album, Faith, released in 1981. It was another Top 40 hit in the USA.

In the next two years, I genuinely felt that I wasn't going to be alive for much longer, and I tried pretty hard to make this feeling come true" (1). The title track (Originally called 'Poor Love') was released as the B-side of his next single, 'Jennifer Juniper', a song inspired by Jenny Boyd, sister of George Harrison's girlfriend, Patti Boyd. Now 21, Smith "didn't see that there was much point in continuing with life. In late 1967 Donovan contributed a several songs to the soundtrack of the Ken Loach film Poor Cow. Carnage Visors was used as a "tour support" film for their "Picture Tour". His early public disavowal of drugs was no doubt motivated in part by his drug bust, but he was and remains strongly opposed to hard drugs -- a belief that was no doubt reinforced by the rapid physical and mental decline of his friend Brian Jones. In 1981 came the album Faith, which hit #14 on the UK charts, as well as an instrumental soundtrack for the film Carnage Visors (these were packaged together as a long-play cassette called Faith/Carnage Visors). But surprisingly, the liner notes included an appeal from Donovan for young people to give up the use of all drugs -- a decidedly un-hip stance for a rock musician at the height of the Summer Of Love.

The Cure set out on their first world tour, at the end of which Matthieu Hartley left the band. The psychedelic and mystical overtones of the work were unmistakable -- the front cover featured a heavily solarized photograph of Donovan dressed in a robe and holding flowers and peacock feathers, while the back cover photo showed him holding hands with Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. "A Forest" became the band's first UK hit single. in early 1970. In 1980 the 4-piece Cure released "Seventeen Seconds" which reached #20 on the UK charts. Worried that it might be a poor seller, Epic boss Clive Davis insisted that the albums be split and sold separately in the U.S., but his fears were unfounded -- although it took some time, the boxed set sold steadily, peaking at #19 on the US charts and achieving gold record status in the U.S. Member Michael Dempsey left the band, and Simon Gallup (bass) and Matthieu Hartley (keyboards) joined. The first record, subtitled "Wear Your Love Like Heaven", was written for the people of his generation that would one day be parents; the second, subtitled "For Little Ones", was a collection of songs Donovan had written especially for the coming children.

The next single "Boys Don't Cry" was a minor hit in the US, and Three Imaginary Boys was repackaged for sale there as Boys Don't Cry. It was split thematically into two halves. In 1979, The Cure released the album Three Imaginary Boys and embarked on an extensive period of touring, during which they performed with various other iconic bands such as Joy Division and Siouxsie & the Banshees, leading eventually to a collaboration between Smith and Banshees member Steven Severin, released under the name The Glove. Later in July 1967 Epic released Donovan's fourth album, an ambitious 2-disc set entitled A Gift From A Flower To A Garden, one of the first rock music boxed sets and only the third pop-rock double-album ever released. The Cure released their first single "Killing an Arab" to both acclaim and controversy; while the single's provocative title led to accusations of racism, the song is actually based on French existentialist Albert Camus' story The Stranger. The single was packaged with a sticker label that denied the racist connotations. Donovan's concert at the Anaheim Convention Centre on 23 September was recorded and released as a live LP the following year. The B-Side to the single "Boys Don't Cry", "Do the Hansa" was The Cure's way of getting back at Hansa Records for not signing them. A similarly ecstatic performance at the Hollywood Bowl was followed by a notable landmark; Donovan's interview with writer John Carpenter became the first ever Rolling Stone interview in the magazine's debut issue, published on 9 November 1967.

A year later, following disagreements about the direction the group should take, the newly named The Cure were signed as a trio (minus Porl Thompson) by former Polydor records scout Chris Parry's new Fiction label (distributed by Polydor). His performance was rapturously received and immortalised by Lillian Roxon in her Rock Encylopedia. In 1977, The Easy Cure auditioned for Hansa Records and received a recording contract worth £1000. Dressed in a flowing white robe, the stage decked with feathers, flowers and incense, Donovan played to a packed house at the Phliharmonic Hall in New York. They began writing their own songs almost immediately, and quickly amassed both an impressive repertoire of original material and a growing following. This time he was backed by a small jazz group and accompanied by his father, who introduced the show. Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School in Crawley, Sussex. In September he undertook a new tour of the United States.

In 1976 Robert Smith, a 17-year-old student, formed The Easy Cure with classmates Michael Dempsey (bass), Lol Tolhurst (drums) and Porl Thompson (guitar) from St. and was later covered by The Allman Brothers. The band is often considered as being part of the Gothic genre, possibly because of lead singer Robert Smith's image, but Smith rejects this, saying that he considers the band to be mainstream. In July Epic released the single 'There Is A Mountain', which went Top Ten in the U.S. The Cure is a British rock band widely seen as one of the leading pioneers of the British alternative rock and post-punk scenes of the 1980s. Although Donovan's bust was nowhere near as sensational as the later arrests of Jagger and Richards, it had one especially unfortunate outcome -- because of the charges, he was refused entry to the United States until late in 1967, and so was unable to give his scheduled performance at the epoch-making Monterey International Pop Festival in June of that year. Jason Cooper (percussion; member 1995-present). In the late 1990s, an article published in The Guardian revealed that it was News Of The World reporters who had tipped off the police about the party at Keith Richard's house, 'Redlands', which was famously raided in the early hours of 12 February 1967, just after George Harrison and his girlfriend had left.

Perry Bamonte (keyboards, guitars; member 1990-present). It emerged later that Murdoch's reporters were using their access to pop stars to gather information and then pass it on to the police. Roger O'Donnell (keyboards; member 1987-1990 & 1995-present). Among the supposed revelations were claims that Donovan and other leading pop stars including members of The Who, Cream, The Rolling Stones and The Moody Blues regularly smoked marijuana, used other illicit drugs, and held parties where the recently banned hallucinogen LSD was used, specifically naming The Who's Pete Townshend and Cream's Ginger Baker as LSD users. Boris Williams (percussion; member 1984-1994). Only after publication was it discovered that the reporter had actually mistaken Brian Jones for Jagger (who promptly sued the paper). Andy Anderson (percussion; member 1983-1984). The most notorious instance was that of the Murdoch reporter who claimed to have spent an entire evening with Mick Jagger, who (he claimed) openly discussed his drug use and offered drugs to his companions.

Phil Thornalley (bass guitar; member 1983-1984). Although some claims were probably true, others were completely false. Matthieu Hartley (keyboards; member 1979-1980). The subsequent bust gained a great deal of publicity and in early 1967, Donovan was the subject of an expose by the British tabloid News Of The World (owned by Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch); it was the first instalment of a controversial three-part series "Drugs & Pop Stars - Facts That Will Shock You". Simon Gallup (bass guitar; member 1979-1982 & 1985-present). Attention was first drawn to his marijuana use by a 1966 TV documentary, which showed the singer and some friends sharing a joint. Michael Dempsey (bass guitar; member 1976-1979). In Donovan's case, his drug use was evidently moderate, and seems to have been mostly restricted to pot smoking -- certainly he was not indulging on the Herculean scale of friends like John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and Brian Jones.

Lol Tolhurst (percussion, keyboards; member 1976-1989). Donovan became the first high-profile British pop star to be arrested for possession of marijuana, which evidently occurred some time in late 1966. Porl Thompson (guitars; member 1977-1978 & 1984-1992). On 9 February 1967 Donovan was one of the guests invited by The Beatles to join them at Abbey Road Studios for the final orchestral overdub session for the brilliant Lennon-McCartney collaboration 'A Day In The Life', the grand finale to their new opus Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Robert Smith (vocals, guitar, keyboards; member 1976-present). According to Brian Hogg, who wrote the liner notes for the Donovan boxed set Troubadour, Dippy heard the song, contacted Donovan and left the army as a result. Trilogy. Written in the form of an open letter to an old school friend, the song had a strong pacifist subtext, in spite of its florid psychedelic imagery -- the real 'Dippy' was at the time serving in the British Army in Malaysia.

Greatest Hits. Later that month Epic released a new LP, Mellow Yellow, which reached #14 in the album charts, and a new non-album single, 'Epistle To Dippy', a Top 20 hit in the USA. Galore. On 14 January New Musical Express reported that he was to write incidental music for a National Theatre production of 'As You Like It', but nothing came of the proposal. The Cure Play Out. In January he gave a major concert at the Royal Albert Hall accompanied by a ballerina, who danced during a twelve-minute performance of the song 'Golden Apples'. Picture Show. During the first half of 1967 Donovan worked on an ambitious new studio project.

The Cure in Orange. Nevertheless, it became Donovan's signature tune and was a huge commercial success -- it reached #2 in Billboard, #3 in Cash Box and earned a gold record award for sales of more than one million copies in the U.S. Standing on a Beach. Although it was rumoured at the time that the phrase "electrical banana" referred to the practice of smoking banana peels to get high, it appears that it was actually a coded reference to a vibrator -- the earlier line "I'm just mad about Fourteen" leaves little room for doubt that the primary theme of the song was sexual. "I want to be old" - demo from '77/'78. On 24 October 1966 Epic released the rollicking, brass-laden single 'Mellow Yellow', arranged by John Paul Jones and featuring Paul McCartney on uncredited backing vocals. "Need Myself" - demo from '77/'78. Because of the contractual problems, the album was not released in the UK for another nine months, and then in an altered form -- it had a different track order and omitted three important tracks, 'The Fat Angel', 'The Trip' and 'Ferris Wheel', replacing them with ' Hampstead Incident', 'Young Girl Blues', 'Writer In The Sun' and 'Sand And Foam'.

"Listen" - demo from '77/'78. The song was covered by Brian Auger on his first LP in 1967 and the Donovan version was used to great effect, years later, in the memorable closing sequence of the Gus Van Zant film To Die For, starring Nicole Kidman. "Meathook" - demo from '77/'78. club, it featured Donovan's first recorded performance on electric rhythm guitar. "See the children" - demo from '77/'78. Recorded with a pick-up band he had met in an L.A. Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years) (2004) #106 US. The third 'heavy' song, destined to became one of his most enduring recordings, was a brooding, portentous number called 'Season Of The Witch'.

Greatest Hits (2001, compilation of singles 1978-2001/two new tracks) #33 UK, #58 US. club of the same name) features sitar by American folk singer Shawn Phillips, and was loaded with references to Donovan's sojourn on the West Coast, namechecking both Dylan and Baez. Galore (1997, compilation of singles 1987-1997) #37 UK, #32 US. The driving, jazzy 'The Trip' (titled after the L.A. Show (1993, live) #29 UK, #42 US. In contrast to the pastoral tone of the rest of the album, several songs, including the title track, had a decidedly harder edge. Paris (1993, live) #118 US. Other standout tracks include 'Bert's Blues', (a tribute to British folk legend Bert Jansch), the stately 'Guinevere' and 'Legend Of A Girl Child Linda' which ran for almost seven minutes.

Mixed Up (1990, remixes) #8 UK, #14 US. The song is also notable for namechecking cult San Francisco acid-rock band Jefferson Airplane, well before they became known internationally. Integration (boxed set). Highlights include the swinging 'The Fat Angel', written for 'Mama' Cass Elliott of The Mamas And The Papas. Entreat (1991) (songs from Distintegration live) #10 UK. It boasts superb songs throughout, with restrained but imaginative chamber-style arrangements featuring an eclectic range of instruments including acoustic bass, sitar, saxophone, tablas and congas, harpsichord, strings and oboe. Standing on a Beach (1986, singles compilation) #4 UK, #48 US. version of the Sunshine Superman LP is probably the best, most consistent and most durable of Donovan's albums, it remains one of the keynote records of the psychedelic era.

Available only on cassette. The U.S. Concert and Curiosity (1984), The Concert album with unreleased tracks on the b-side. The LP followed in August, preceded by advance orders of 250,000 copies, and it reached #11 on the US album charts. Concert (1984, live) #26 UK. It was a huge success, providing Donovan with the crucial American chart breakthrough, selling 800,000 copies in just six weeks and eventually reaching #1. Happily Ever After (Seventeen Seconds and Faith together U.S.-only release). The LP sessions were completed in May and Sunshine Superman was released in the USA as a single in June.

Faith/Carnage Visors (1981), a special long-play cassette. Although folk elements were still prominent, the album showed the increasing influence of jazz, American west coast psychedelia and folk-rock, especially The Byrds, whose records Donovan had been listening to constantly through 1965. Three Imaginary Boys (2CD Deluxe edition)(2004). Donovan and Most then headed to CBS Studios in Los Angeles where they recorded the tracks for a new LP, much of which had been formulated and written over the preceding year. The Cure (2004) #8 UK, #7 US