Search - Don Mclean :: Best of

Great introduction to Don's music

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 01/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Don McLean was a singer-songwriter in the folk-pop tradition who first achieved fame in 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) and 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 and included here are Winterwood and If we try, both covered by Olivia Newton-John in her early recording career.



Don was also a fine interpreter of other people's songs. His second and last British number one hit was with a revival of Roy Orbison's Crying, a song that was only a minor British hit for Roy in 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 One in 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."