Favorites & Rarities

Favorites & Rarities Artist: Don McLean
Label: Capitol
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 2


UPC: 077779860326
EAN: 0077779860326
ASIN: B00000DRDN


Release Date: 1992-08-25

Favorites & Rarities


Related Categories:

General General
Categories | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
Singer-Songwriters Singer-Songwriters
Categories | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
General General
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music
Singer-Songwriters Singer-Songwriters
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music
Soft Rock Soft Rock
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music
Pop Rock Pop Rock
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music
General General
Categories | Rock | Styles | Music

Tracks:

  1. Castles In The Air
  2. And I Love You So
  3. American Pie
  4. Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)
  5. Babylon
  6. Empty Chairs
  7. Dreidel
  8. If We Try
  9. Fool's Paradise (Single Version)
  10. Sitting On Top Of The World
  11. La La Love You
  12. Wonderful Baby
  13. Crying In The Chapel
  14. Magdalene Lane
  15. Crying
  16. Since I Don't Have You
  17. Castles In The Air (Millenium Version)
  18. He's Got You
  19. Superman's Ghost
  20. You Can't Blame The Train

Tracks:

  1. Good Old Wagon
  2. Milkman's Matinee
  3. Aftermath
  4. Mother Nature
  5. Every Day (BBC Version)
  6. That's All Right
  7. Profiteering Blues
  8. Hit Parade Of Love
  9. The Carnival Is Ended
  10. I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome (I'm Blue And Lonesome Too)
  11. Nature Boy
  12. Black Sheep Boy
  13. Mountains Of Mourne
  14. And Her Mother Came Too
  15. Yonkers Girl
  16. Turkey In The Straw
  17. Dubuque
  18. Medley: Sally Ann/Muleskinner Blues/Old Joe Clark
  19. If We Try
  20. Perfect Love
  21. Little Child
  22. Gotta Make You Mine

Similar Items:

  1. Rearview Mirror: An American Musical Journey

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars A Must!.......2003-09-01

I have been a Don McLean fan since 1971, and had the honor to see him live in concert. If you are a fan of American Pie, which is great, but not the only thing the man has done, this is the CD to start out with. The first CD contains all of his hits, but the second one explores the true talent of this under rated atist. Mother Nature is worth the price of the CD alone, but there are many other great rarities on the second CD. Buy this CD and enjoy the great talent of Mr. McLean!

5 out of 5 stars A most beautiful voice partnered with songwriting mastery........2000-04-27

"American Pie" is Don McLean's most famous song, a misunderstood classic that because of its lyrical crypticism, bouncy imagery and classic-rock arrangement draws polarized responses. Supporters call it a classic; detractors call it a novelty. I fall firmly into the former category. "American Pie" is catchy, smart, and dares to be its own entity. Was there ever a song written quite like it? It was on a level all its own lyrically, as well, carving out one of popular music's most enjoyable and multilayered mysteries.

The one thing "American Pie" doesn't showcase as much is that Don McLean is one fine singer. With superhumanly accurate pitch, rich and narrative while evoking a romantic power, McLean's voice is a marvel, one of those classic voices that cross the generations. The first time I heard it was on the animated film The Flight of Dragons (McLean performed the beautiful title song, which I've been hunting for on CD for years) at the age of eight and I fell in love with that voice. And then there's his guitar playing -- in the words of Eric Clapton as quoted in the liner notes to Favorites & Rarities, "McLean's picking, like his singing, is par excellence".

So what we have here is a collection of beautiful songs (mostly written by McLean) performed immaculately. The pastoral, acoustic guitar-based "Castles in the Air", McLean's superlative cover of Roy Orbison's heartbreak classic "Crying", the romantic paean to Van Gogh "Vincent" and "American Pie" are the most well known songs here, but you'll also discover the lesser-known gems like "Babylon", the haunting traditional ballad that ended the American Pie album; "If We Try", one of the loveliest and most understated songs about romantic yearning I've ever heard, with an enchanting lyric; a newer, slower version of "Castles in the Air" that takes away some of the exuberance of the original but adds vocal ease and atmospheric richness; and "Empty Chairs", as usual a marvellously voiced ballad that ranks comfortably with "Crying" and "Vincent" as McLean balladeering at its best.

The second disc of "Rarities" contains songs that mostly belong in the Woody Guthrie tradition of good-humoured, earthy folk tunes. "Good Old Wagon", "Milkman's Matinee", "Yonkers Girl", "Black Sheep Boy" -- though McLean's lyrics are more celestial and ethereal than Guthrie's (or Guthrie's disciple, Bob Dylan), his vocal versatility allows him to achieve the playfulness and folk appeal that the stories behind the songs attempt to convey.

Cherish the legacy of a great American singer and songwriter, one of the strongest poets, musical and lyrical, ever to have graced popular music.

4 out of 5 stars Not what I expected in a compilation, but still very good!.......2000-02-04

All the Favorites are here, save one, and I was pleasantly surprised with "You Can't Blame The Train" since I had not heard it before. I found "Milkman's Matinee", "Mountains O' Mourne", and "And Her Mother Came Too" to be the real treats on the Rarities side. Overall, 4-1/2 stars, with a 1/2-star deduction for not finding a place to put "Chain Lightning". :^(

5 out of 5 stars Buried Treasure.......1999-10-26

There are some really good songs on this one in the Rarities section, and some of those fascinating little banjo bits that McLean likes. It's interesting to hear the tracks that didn't make it onto the original albums and it looks like it wasn't necessarily because they weren't as good as the rest. Good Old Wagon has to be my favourite. Oddly, this track is mentioned on the Tapestry Album cover but the track isn't on the album. It should've been. In the favourites section, it's pretty much what you'd expect but the sound quality is better, especially the tracks from the American Pie album. Well worth buying if you're a fan.

5 out of 5 stars

Music Album:

  1. Slamdunk ~ Henry Lee Summer
  2. BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert ~ Jethro Tull
  3. Flight of the Wounded Locust ~ The Locust
  4. Battleship Musashi ~ Loudness
  5. Amigos Em Portugal ~ The Durutti Column
  6. Blunted in the Bomb Shelter Mix ~ Madlib
  7. G4 ~ G4
  8. Writers Without Homes ~ Piano Magic
  9. Cherrystone's Rocks ~ Various Artists
  10. Shadows & Light ~ Wilson Phillips

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

The Very Best ~ Lee Morgan

Ellington Uptown ~ Duke Ellington

In the Name of the Music Revelation Ensemble ~ Music Revelation Ensemble

Together Again ~ Bob Schulz & the Riverboat Ramblers

Crossweave ~ Kim Richmond, Clay Jenkins Ensemble

The Collection, Vol. 2 ~ Shakatak

Valadis ~ Valadis

Brazil: Forro - Music for Maids and Taxi Drivers ~ Various Artists

Nostalgie ~ Jimmy's Production

Home at Last ~ Bheki Mseleku