Customer Reviews
I hate, hate, hate, hate Don Mclean - By: Mr. M. Stewart, 08 Sep 2008 
Van Gogh's paintings are absolutely awe inspiring, frightening, wonderful, fevered... So why is Vincent, one of the track on this album, such an awful misguided piece of saccharine music.
I've always absolutely loathed the false sentimentin that song & its utter reliance on the cliché of the artist genius on the edge of madness.
When I hear it I want to go & commit mass murder, I really do. He has absolutely no insight here into Van Gogh's inner life, none of us do. It is possible that Van Gogh was an ego driven monster. He was certainly capable of being deeply unpleasant & I just hate the way that Mclean here is reducing him to a one dimensional cliché. The artist suffering for his art... Arrggghh!
It's vile & I hate it, really. In the end Mclean's song is just bad art. The music is so counter to Van Gogh's febrile imagination, that it makes me wonder if he's ever actually really looked at one of his paintings.
Mclean is responsible for some of the worst crimesin music of all time & they are all here: American Pie, Vincent, Love Hurts, Crying... I could go on. Really, he's no better than the Carpenters (don't tell me you like them?!). Completely unable to look at the world & see it for what it is. Ultimately I find his vision pedestrian, & his arrangements conventional, predictable & anodyne.
I hope whoever buys this album & enjoys the music therein never comes anywhere near me. But some praise should go to this collection for helping me fully understand just what it is I dislike so much about Mclean's music & indeed Mclean the man.
Who ate all the pies? - By: John Ault, 26 Mar 2006 
American Pie is a well known & loved clasic. What we do not have here is a collection of similar tracks. Indeed, from the evidence here, you'd have to assume that American Pie was some sort of aberation.
This is not to say that the other tracks are not good, they are just more soulful & spiritual than you might expect.
My very favourite is Castlesin the Air, which for me is a more satisfying song than American Pie.
So, why not buy it for what it is - a collection of soulful light rock with american pie too. But don't buy it for what it isn't.
Great introduction to Don's music - By: Peter Durward Harris, 20 Jan 2005 
Don McLean was a singer-songwriterin the folk-pop tradition who first achieved famein the early seventies, scoring an American number one hit with American pie (a song later covered superbly by Madonna, for whom it became a British number one), a British number one with Vincent (the song about the painter Van Gogh that begins Starry starry night) & an Irish number one with Mountains of Mourne, though that song is not included here. Perry Como had a huge hit with a cover of And I love you so, another classic song that Don wrote. Among the other notable but less well-known songs written by Don & included here are Winterwood & If we try, both covered by Olivia Newton-Johnin her early recording career.
Don was also a fine interpreter of other people's songs. His second & last British number one hit was with a revival of Roy Orbison's Crying, a song that was only a minor British hit for Royin the sixties but which, helped by Don's cover, is now regarded as one of Roy's classic hits. This collection also includes Don's cover of Onein a row, an obscure Willie Nelson Song that Trisha Yearwood has also recorded.
There are several compilations of Don's music on the market but this is as good as any.
American Pie Tastes Better Than Ever - By: conor_moran@hotmail.com, 11 Mar 2002 Even if you only buy it for "that song" it is a great choice. Accidently skip past it one day & you'll find a wealth of great tunes!!
