Essence to Essence is the eleventh studio album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, and thirteenth album overall, from Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Donovan

Donovan

Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...

. It was released in both the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 (Epic SEPC 69050) and the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 (Epic KE 32800) in December 1973.

History

By late 1973, Donovan abandoned the style of glam rock

Glam rock

Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...

 featured on his Cosmic Wheels

Cosmic Wheels

Cosmic Wheels is the tenth studio album, and eleventh album overall, from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in both the UK and the US in March 1973.- History :...

album earlier that year. Andrew Loog Oldham

Andrew Loog Oldham

Andrew Loog Oldham is an English producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of The Rolling Stones from 1963, and was noted for his flamboyant style.-Biography:...

 was brought in (replacing Mickie Most

Mickie Most

Mickie Most was an English record producer, with a string of hit singles with acts such as The Animals, Arrows, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, Suzi Quatro and the Jeff Beck Group often issued on his own RAK Records label....

) to co-produce Donovan's next album, which would highlight the subdued style of his previous work. Many of the songs were released on Live in Japan: Spring Tour 1973

Live in Japan: Spring Tour 1973

Live in Japan – Spring Tour 1973 is the twelfth album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was only released in Japan in 1973. The album has never been released in either the United States or the United Kingdom.-History:...

, but that album was not released outside Japan.

In a clear sign of Donovan's waning popularity, Essence to Essence became the third Donovan album after H.M.S. Donovan

HMS Donovan (album)

HMS Donovan is the ninth studio album, and tenth album overall, from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It marks the second album of Donovan's children's music, after the For Little Ones portion of A Gift from a Flower to a Garden...

and earlier Fairytale

Fairytale (album)

Fairytale is the second album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was first released in the United Kingdom on October 22, 1965 through Pye Records . The U.S. version of Fairytale was released by Hickory Records in November 1965 with a slightly different set of songs...

to fail to reach the top 25 in the U.S. charts. Essence to Essence missed the UK album charts altogether and peaked at #174 in the United States.

On Essence to Essence, Donovan focuses on spirituality and meditative lyrics. The album art features Donovan clothed in white robes, kneeling as in meditation. While the album was derided as a critical failure at the time of its release, many of the songs went on to form a major part of Donovan's live repertoire throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Reissues

• On January 26, 1998, Epic/Rewind Records released Essence to Essence in the UK (Epic/Rewind 489443 2), marking the first CD
  Compact Disc
  The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
  
   release for the album.
• On February 23, 2004, Diablo Records released Cosmic Wheels/Essence to Essence (DIAB8051) in the UK on CD. This compilation includes all of Cosmic Wheels and all of Essence to Essence on one disc.

Side one

1. "Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth" – 3:28
2. "Lazy Daze" – 4:43
3. "Life Goes On" – 2:37
4. "There is an Ocean" – 4:49
5. "Dignity of Man" – 5:19

Side two

1. "Yellow Star" – 3:07
2. "Divine Daze of Deathless Delight" – 4:00
3. "Boy for Every Girl" – 4:15
4. "Saint Valentine's Angel" – 3:57
5. "Life is a Merry-Go-Round" – 3:13
6. "Sailing Homeward" – 2:56

External links

• Essence To Essence - Donovan Unofficial Site