American Pie

American Pie was a Christmas present in 1971 from my brother. That was a vinyl album and long ago was well worn out. Now it's replaced by the MP3 album and I have it again. Nice and clear, no scratches or pops.My favorite songs are the most popular two: American Pie and Vincent. But I like them all. Like so much music I enjoyed during my formative years in the late 60's and early 70's listening to Don McLean brings out much of the memories and feelings of those times. All the world seemed full of possibility and American Pie was an important part of my soundtrack.If there is a list of must hear albums from the 60s and 70s I am sure American Pie is on it and rightly so in my opinion.I can't help but give American Pie 5 stars. I hope this helps someone!

I had to have the whole album, this version, but.. if you want to go cheap, all but one of these songs is on the British version "very best of" that has 20 songs, and also has a stunning "Castles in the air".. great sound throughout.. in other words, you can pay $4 for 8 of the songs here, and more, that also sound great.. or you can pay $100 plus for this cd, and get one more song that was originally from this album.

The center spindle hole was too small. I couldn't even gently work it on. I had to either return it or fix it. I used a 9/32" drill bit and carefully hand-worked it to work.Now it's a nice album.

This was the only album I owned as a college student in the 70’s so when my son bought a record player I had to get him this album. Still great.

For years, the character actor Bud Cort hated the movie "Harold and Maude." His bravo performance in that film overshadows every other thing he's ever done. So it is with Don McLean and "American Pie." I can understand McLean's ambivalence; even so, "American Pie" is still the greatest song of all time.That nine-minute wonder captures the essence of the 1960s -- Buddy Holly, of course, but also gymnasium proms, the "God is dead" controversy, Lenny Bruce, the Vietnam War and the protests, the threat of nuclear annihilation, the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, Charles Manson, the Beatles and "Sergeant Pepper," Janis Joplin, even the Rolling Stones' tragic performance at Altamont Speedway. Despite McLean's protestations, the references are much too spot-on to be accidental."American Pie" is simply a work of genius.

Soeur Souris posted that this cannot be ripped "for fair use". Not so, at least with the disk I received. I made a great backup with Exact Audio Copy (Windows OS), converted the .wav files to .flac, and they play just fine anywhere I can play .flac files. I also burned the ripped .wav files to a cd (using EAC with a .cue sheet), getting a copy that is an exact duplicate of the original. It plays flawlessly on every cd player I have (in a car, three computers, home stereo and a Sony Discman). I doubt one needs EAC to accomplish this - EAC isn't designed to get around Sony's scheme; I used it solely because I am familiar with it, and it is great for making lossless (and lossy) compressed audio files. I suspect rather that Soeur had a hardware/software issue that has nothing to do with this disc.My advice: don't give credence to his statement, at least for the product shipping nowadays, though he certainly has my sympathy.

I was fortunate enough to see a very young and nervous Don McLean perform alone at a high school "performing artist" assembly on a wintry March afternoon in 1970, right after his debut environmentally conscious "Tapestry" album had been released, but before "American Pie" was released the next year. Anyone who saw him knew he would be a superstar if that's what he wanted. Sure enough, with the release of "American Pie" he got fame with spades, and promptly retreated from that kind of public attention ever since. he has had a number of excellent albums; but has never recaptured the sort of outrageous success he achieved with this one; indeed, he seems to be singularly uninterested in anything to do with it. Instead, he has spent the last 30 years following the whimsy of his own heart and artistic sensibilities.Yet all the brilliant talent and ability is here, folks, from the legendary title cut to "Vincent", an esoteric paean to Vincent Van Gogh, "Winterwood", a lovely love song, "Empty Chairs" and a number of others, all of which should still get FM air time but never have. By the way, I have had to chuckle over the years at all the questioning and active efforts at second-hand interpretation that has gone on regarding what the title cut is really all about. Such wondering and endless intellectual speculation really misses the point that McLean the incredibly gifted artist so singularly makes in the song itself; the music is the thing. It's the music that makes us smile. As did Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, so to with Don McLean. Listen to what he has to say, and how artfully and wonderfully he phrases it. This is a timeless work that will always be around. Enjoy!

Glad this came in vinyl...I have the CD but the vinyl for me is better!

I have almost worn out the grooves on my old vynal copy so thought £5.49 a great price to replace it on CD format.. The quality is naturally so much better than my old LP bringing out the subtlety of Don McLean's voice.The first track , tribute to the late great Buddy Holly , American Pie is simply amazing. Play the game of working out the hidden references or give up and Google it before you go crazy. When McLean was asked what the song meant he simply replied " it means I don't need to work no more". Yes it will be played forever. There is also his other big hit Vincent a truly beautiful, tender song. In addition there are several other subtle numbers like Winter Wood , Empty Chairs to name but two, but really there are no make weight songs on this album they are all good and all worth a listen . May I suggest that you get a copy and enjoy one of the all time great albums from a master singer, song writer, performer.

This album is perfect. Watching a recent documentary about it, I learned that the song Killing Me Softly was written by Lori Lieberman after she saw a young and not-yet famous Don McLean playing a live gig. She felt like all of the emotions in his songs were so reminiscent of exactly how she was feeling following a difficult break up, that she felt he was singing just for her. Beautiful.

The LP is not New. The spindle hole is pushed out and deformed. Light scratches across the vinyl on both sides. Not too noticable. The plastic cover is opened with a scuff across the front. I have a feeling this was returned. Very disappointed, hard to find this remaster in the States so I will keep it. Sound quality is not stellar but OK on a high end system. A bit bass heavy I would like to compare an original. I would rate higher if the vinyl was mint. A classic.

To my shame I have only just purchaced this albus over 40 years after its release. Put simply, it is the work of a songwriting genius. Every track stirs emotions of some sort. Try not to guess at what the meaning of the title track lyrics are, just enjoy it. In my opinion, the gem on this album is Vincent. Vincent van Gough obviously meant quite a bit to Don Mclean to write such a beautiful song. The words sum up the life of the artist perfectly.This is a brilliant album written by one of (if not the best) wordsmiths in the last 40 to 50 years. Having listened to this (at last!) I will be buying all of don's albums.

You have to own this if you are a fan of music from this period. Full of great songs and beautifully sung.A warning! Many of the songs are real "earworms" and you will find that you can'y get them out of your head for days.