Neutronica is the fifteenth studio album (seventeenth overall) by Scottish singer/songwriter Donovan. It was released in West Germany (RCA PL 28429) in August 1980 and France (Barclay Records BA 253 200149) in 1980.
Background
After Donovan failed to chart in both the UK and US, Donovan once again left his long-time producer Mickie Most. He travelled throughout mainland Europe, bringing attention to world hunger and protesting against nuclear proliferation and weapons development. RCA signed him for a European record distribution deal, beginning with Neutronica, released in 1980. The album did not receive distribution in the US or UK.
Many of the songs Donovan wrote for Neutronica are directly related to his political views. At the time, he was campaigning against what he viewed as disproportionate military spending while famine existed across much of the world. Donovan also recorded "Mee Mee I Love You", a song co-written by his daughter Astrella Leitch, and two war-themed songs, the traditional Crimean War tune "Heights of Alma" and Eric Bogle's World War Iballad "No Man's Land". The arrangements on Neutronica range from synthesizer-based rock songs to acoustic folk songs. Donovan's vocals similarly range from the harder singing style prevalent on Donovan on the rockers, and softer singing on the acoustic numbers.
Reissues
On 28 August 2001, Pilot Records released Neutronica (Pilot 89) in the UK for the first time on CD with seven bonus tracks. The first two bonus cuts are concert recordings of "The Heights of Alma" and Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier". The next two bonus tracks, "Only to Be Expected" and "Split Wood Not Atoms", were acoustic demo recordings for Neutronica. The fifth and sixth bonus tracks are alternate versions of "Shipwreck" and "Madrigalinda" respectively. The last bonus track, "Fair Ye Well", is an a cappella song.
