[2] For the first two months of 1970, Donovan booked time at London's newly renovated Morgan Studios and began recording and producing the tracks that would form his next album.
[2] The band met up on the Mediterranean isle of Crete to prepare the ship, rehearse material, and document their time there for the film There is an Ocean, which went unreleased until 2005 when it surfaced as a DVD in the box set Try for the Sun: The Journey of Donovan.
Subsequently, Thomson and Carr continued to perform as Open Road, bringing in former Dada Lives bandmate Barry Husband on guitar and vocals, and church organist Simon Lanzon on keyboards.
The lyrics printed on the inner gatefold sleeve include some not sung on the actual record, like the first verse of "Celtic Rock": Ye sons of Britain Who once were free Ye now are slaves to factory Those who walk the path of mole Expect in time to kill thy soul While “Celtic Rock” was released as an album single in Japan, its B-side, "Riki Tiki Tavi", appeared as the A-side of Open Road’s sole single in all other markets.
Backed with "Roots of Oak," (also on the album), the song uses the mongoose from Rudyard Kipling's story in The Jungle Book as a metaphor for how people wait for institutions ("i.e.: the church, i.e.: the government, i.e.: school") to exterminate social ills.
An earlier version of the song also preached abstinence from psychedelic drugs, stating, "Laboratory synthetic stimuli, only goes to fog up your third eye.
"New Year's Resovolution" was inspired by Paul McCartney who, fresh from his break with The Beatles, was recording his first solo album in the studio below Donovan, as the two musicians saw themselves transitioning out of the 1960s and heading into new directions with their music.
Brazilian guitarist Antonio Carlos Jobim inspired the title of "Joe Bean's Theme", which alternates between a bossa nova rhythm and psychedelic pop melodies.
[9] Open Road was released on vinyl LP in North America on Epic in July 1970, and then in the UK on Dawn Records in September.