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The Return of Donovan, a Musical Icon

A young Donovan, on the cover of his <i>Catch the Wind</i> album.
A young Donovan, on the cover of his Catch the Wind album.

Singer Donovan Leitch is known best by his first name alone. He has a new box set, Try for the Sun: The Journey of Donovan It's a remastered CD/DVD set which covers his work from 1964 to 2004.

It includes 60 tracks, 15 of them previously unreleased. Donovan's best known for his hits of the psychedelic era, such as "Mellow Yellow," "Sunshine Superman" and "Catch the Wind."

Donovan, 58, grew up in Glasgow, Scotlan, before moving to the United States, where he became part of the groovy San Francisco scene in the late 1960s.

Despite dropping out of the music business for most of the 1990s, Donovan recorded an album in 1994 with producer Rick Rubin. Donovan has been attributed with coining the phrase "Flower Power" -- but he says he owes it all to beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Last year when Terry talked to him, Donovan's released his first album in 8 years, Beat Cafe.

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Combine an intelligent interviewer with a roster of guests that, according to the Chicago Tribune, would be prized by any talk-show host, and you're bound to get an interesting conversation. Fresh Air interviews, though, are in a category by themselves, distinguished by the unique approach of host and executive producer Terry Gross. "A remarkable blend of empathy and warmth, genuine curiosity and sharp intelligence," says the San Francisco Chronicle.