A1 	Words And Music 	3:06
A2 	Crying 	3:50
A3 	It's Just The Sun 	2:30
A4 	Lotta Lovin' 	2:07
A5 	Chain Lightning 	7:48
B1 	Your Cheating Heart 	3:04
B2 	Wonderful Night 	3:01
B3 	It Doesn't Matter Anymore 	3:02
B4 	Since I Don't Have You 	2:31
B5 	Genesis (In The Beginning) 	5:05
B6 	It's A Beautiful Life 	2:11
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C1	American Pie (New 1992 Version)		8:58
C2	Vincent (New 1992 Version)	5:18
C3	And I Love You So (New 1992 Version)	4:46

Acoustic Guitar – Don McLean, James D. Capps, Ray Edenton
Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – The Jordanaires
Bass – Bob "The King" Moore
Drums – Eddy Anderson, Joseph E. Chrisman
Drums, Percussion – Jerry K. Carrigan
Electric Guitar – Billy R. Sanford
Electric Piano – Bobby R. Woods
Guitar [Tic Tac] – Tommy D. Allsup
Pedal Steel Guitar – Pete Drake
Piano – Chuck Cochran, Hargus "Pig" Robbins
Strings – The Nashville Strings 

These 12 tracks were cut in 1978 and finally released three years later, scoring a Top 30 listing on the album charts and two hit singles, covers of Roy Orbison's "Crying" and the Skyliners' "Since I Don't Have You." Utilizing top Nashville pickers all the way through and Elvis' backup group, the Jordanaires, on several tracks, Don McLean's versions of Buddy Holly's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," Gene Vincent's "Lotta Lovin," Hank Williams' "Your Cheatin' Heart," and Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" (included here as a bonus track) show that he's a fine interpreter of other writers' material as well. McLean's originals on this album include "Words and Music," "It's Just the Sun," "It's a Beautiful Life," "Genesis (In the Beginning)," "Wonderful Night" and the title track, all of which blend quite well with the chosen covers. If "American Pie" is mostly all you've ever heard by this artist, here's another side of the coin well worth investigating. ---Cub Koda, allmusic.com

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1 American Pie 8:32
2 Castles in the Air (1981 Version) 3:41
3 Dreidel 3:46
4 Winterwood 3:11
5 Everyday 2:26
6 Sister Fatima 2:33
7 Empty Chairs 3:26
8 Birthday Song 2:37
9 Wonderful Baby 2:04
10 La La I Love You 3:46
11 Vincent 4:01
12 Crossroads 3:39
13 And I Love You So 4:16
14 Fool's Paradise 4:05
15 If We Try 3:34
16 Mountains of Mourne 4:29
17 Grave 3:12
18 Respectable 2:28
19 Going for the Gold 2:43
20 Crying 3:40

There are lot of Don McLean compilations out there, as you can see on McLean's artist page here on rym. It's hard to be sure which one is the best, since most of them don't currently have track listings... But this is the one I have, and I find it hard to believe there could be a better one. It's certainly better than the other comp that has the same title, which contains only 10 tracks. Don't confuse them! This is the one you want.

'American Pie' is pretty remarkable, of course. It's got serious staying power. Epic song. Enough said. The songs I want to highlight on the album, though, are the quiet ones that completely surprise you with their emotional power.

'And I Love You So' reliably brings a lump to my throat. It helps that I can relate to its lyric. But there are other songs here that I can't personally relate to in any conscious way, but which have the same effect. I can really see why someone was inspired to write 'Killing Me Softly With His Song' about McLean. He's a remarkable lyricist, composer and guitar player too. His delivery makes you hear the words as if they were yours, even if they're foreign to your experience or outlook. So, for example, the protagonist of 'Empty Chairs' frankly seems like a bit of jerk. The chorus goes, "And I wonder if you know / That I never understood / That although you said you'd go / Until you did I never thought you would". Somebody just wasn't listening, right? But the song is beautiful and it makes me feel sorry for the guy despite the fact that it seems like he might've had it coming. Ditto for 'Castles in the Air': the protagonist is quite definitely a jerk (he can't face up to his girlfriend himself, so he asks a buddy to tell her on his behalf that he's leaving her; oh, and it's because "I need a country woman for my wife" -- what the hell kind of excuse is that?) but again, the song itself is so gorgeously sung by McLean that I can't resist it. He makes you feel like you could feel that way yourself.

The well-known 'Vincent' falls into the same category. I was made to sing this song a lot when I was in a choir at primary school, well before I could properly appreciate it. (Sidenote: why the f*** would they have a bunch of 10-year-olds singing a song about a tortured painter who offed himself? Something odd there. I've remarked elsewhere that 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' seems like a poor choice in retrospect too. Oh well, back to the Don McLean compilation...) Happily, that repeated exposure to 'Vincent' hasn't killed the song for me, and again, its emotional power reliably sneaks up on me nowadays. "Frameless heads on nameless walls...".

'The Grave' is a Vietnam protest song which builds to a shattering crescendo two-thirds of the way through, where the soldier protagonist, crouching terrified in his trench under intense enemy fire, attempts to bury himself in the earth for protection -- and thus quite literally digs his own grave.

McLean often ends his songs in a way you don't see coming. 'Sister Fatima', 'Crossroads', and 'The Grave' all have this feature. They all end in a chord that is unexpected and even (at least in the case of 'Crossroads') notably dissonant. 'The Birthday Song' does something sort of similar, but in a more upbeat way, and McLean's lyric also joins in the fun, comically noting that he learned this birthday song from the person he's addressing even though she "can't even sing"!

McLean is just as skilled when he's interpreting the songs of others. 'Mountains of Mourne' is my favorite. A gentle song with touches of humor (and even mild sarcasm), in the form of a letter to his love from an Irishman who has gone to London for work.

I should mention 'Going for the Gold', which is the only time the compilation steps seriously outside the boundaries of folk rock. It's a straight-ahead rocker, complete with some nifty electric slide guitar. Apparently this great track is hard to find. The liner notes say it was on a 1989 compilation that was released only in Europe. Another reason to choose this compilation!

In short, this is a brilliant showcase for a superb singer-songwriter. It's criminal that most people know McLean just for 'American Pie'. This compilation is very much worth your money if you can find it. ---craggyair, rateyourmusic.com

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1 	Castles In The Air 	3:42
2 	Isn't It Strange 	4:18
3 	Left For Dead On The Road Of Love 	2:57
4 	Believers 	6:15
5 	Sea Man 	4:11
6 	I Tune The World Out 	3:33
7 	Love Hurts 	3:08
8 	Jerusalem 	4:44
9 	Love Letters 	3:59
10 	Crazy Eyes 	2:58
11 	Sea Cruise 	3:03
12 	Dream Lover 	3:47

Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires
Bass – Bob Moore
Bass [Six Strings] – Leon Rhodes
Drums – Gene Chrisman, Jerry Carrigan
Guitar – Billy Sanford, Don McLean, Jerry Shook, James Capps, Ray Edenton, Steve Chapman
Percussion – Ronald Vaughn
Piano – David Briggs, Hargus "Pig" Robbins
Producer – Larry Butler
Saxophone – Dennis Solee
Strings – Sheldon Kurland Strings

Who would have expected that Believers -- part of the second phase of Don McLean's career -- would not only be one of his strongest albums of his whole career, but a solidly competitive singer/songwriter effort, even as late as 1981? Or that it holds up on CD in the 21st century? It would be easy to say that Believers is worth picking up just for McLean's re-recording of "Castles in the Air" -- ten years after he first wrote and recorded it, McLean gave the song more warmth and feeling than the earlier rendition and, in doing so, proved just how special the song was to him. But the remainder of the album is every bit as strong, if not as familiar as "Castles in the Air" (which became a worldwide hit in this version): the slightly bluesy "Isn't It Strange," an irony-laced lament about love that is wryly clever in its bittersweet exploration of men's and women's foibles; "Left for Dead on the Road of Love," a punchy roots rock-style number that recalls John Fogerty; and the very bluesy "Believers," with what sounds like a National Steel guitar, mixing '30s and '80s sounds in a very neat, tight, and catchy package, which pretty well sums up this album. Believers did fairly well at the time of its release, owing to the presence of "Castles in the Air," and the Hip-O Records CD reissue is about as essential listening as any of his best United Artists albums. ---Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review

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