H.M.S. Donovan
by Donovan
eBay
Condition: Used
eBay
Condition: Used
Donovan bestography
H.M.S. Donovan is ranked 11th best out of 39 albums by Donovan on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Donovan is Sunshine Superman which is ranked number 1441 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,167.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Upcoming concerts
Listen to H.M.S. Donovan on YouTube
H.M.S. Donovan track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
H.M.S. Donovan rankings
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bobbyb5H.M.S. Donovan collection
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H.M.S. Donovan ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 39 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01/09/2026 08:59 | Exist-en-ciel | 7,645 | 70/100 | |
| 07/10/2025 03:23 | lanadeleswift | 3,562 | 86/100 | |
| 05/21/2025 04:41 |  Norman Bates | 10,023 | 75/100 | |
| 03/08/2025 22:52 | stevengnz | 2,606 | 73/100 | |
| 04/11/2023 12:38 | replacementlevel | 7,724 | 70/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album has a Bayesian average rating of 66.6/100, a mean average of 65.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 65.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 20.6.
H.M.S. Donovan favourites
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H.M.S. Donovan comments
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HMS Donovan is in many ways a quite different Donovan album. Some of the songs can be described as children's songs and could probably be compared to a parts of "A Gift from a Garden to a Flower". Unusual too, is it that many of the song lyrics are not written by Donovan himself. Donovan has written music to rhymes and verses written by authors like Lewis Carroll, Thora Stowell and WB Yeats.
Many of the songs are accompanied only by acoustic Donovan's guitar, but his Open Road friends do back-up up on some tracks. Only few of the songs are known from the otherwise numerous collection albums that have been released in Donovan's name - in fact it is probably only "Celia of the Seals" that can be called well-known - the song was also the album's only (minor) hit.
Some reviewers have expressed that the original double album could have been much stronger if the best songs had been collected on a single album only. Though the album works quite well as a whole, I am inclined to agree with this point of view.
The opening number, which is almost more of a listening play than a song I could easily do without along with some of the less significant acoustic songs. "Celia of the Seals" is the highlight of the album, but also the two songs "The Voyage of the Moon" and "Lord of the Reedy River" which were also recorded by Mary Hopkin are among the most memorable tracks. "Coulter's Candy" which has a charming, simple melody, interestingly enough, it was a big hit in Denmark with a completely different text dealing with the young hippies who had the habit of concentrating on "Stork Fountain" in Copenhagen in the middle of 1960's.
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