Tapestry

My 14 year old daughter requested this for Christmas. Through record snow falls and most of the country frozen over, it arrived right on time in perfect condition. Thanks for bringing the music this year.

I know this was early work for him but the quality of the songs is just not there.

This album is absolutely incredible! Many people will say that the songs on it are boring but in reality, only the true fans of Don Mclean or even folk music will appreciate it. You have to listen to the songs a few times for the feelings to settle in but buying Mr. Mclean's first album is no regret of mine. His beautiful lyrics and unique musical style continue to amaze me.

This debut album by Don Mclean contains several spectacular tracks. Don displays his incredible voice, his fantastic finger picking skills, his ability to write melodies and his poetic lyrics. The Highlights of the album rophetic, reference-laden Magdalene Lane,the biting Respectable, and the haunting General Store.The only issue with this album is that a few of the songs (most notably Tapestry, and The Orphans of Wealth) can at times become preachy. Yet, still they are good songs with poetic lyrics. The song Castles in the Airs is overly orchestrated and a few of the songs (Three Flights Up, Bad Girl) can at times feel disconnected. But, over all this is a great underrated album from one of the greatest singer-songwriters alive. From the melancholy ache of The Circus Song to the Country tinged swing of No Reason For Your Dreams this albums flows with golden, well written, well performed songs.

When it was originally released on vinyl, this album contained a beautiful, simple version of "Castles In the Air" to open the program. Somewhere along the way, Don decided to re-record that song, and supposedly likes the newer version better; and in truth it's not bad, though it is slower, in a darker key and engineered with more instruments than the song needs, to my ear completely changing the character of the song. That version, which runs almost a full minute longer, appears on most of the subsequent compilations instead of the original. When I saw this album at a decent price and also saw that the timing of "Castles" was the shorter of the two, I jumped at the chance and ordered it, especially because it's on the Beat Goes On imprint, a label known for quality work. I expected to receive a disc containing the actual album as it was originally released on vinyl in 1970.Did I get what I wanted? Sort of, but not really. The basic track is the same; however, somewhere along the way, some highly-paid engineer must have felt the song was just not good enough the way it was, that people today prefer their music over-engineered, and decided to ruin it by overdubbing unnecessary strings and other instruments, as well as a heavy drumbeat to replace the light and airy one on the original version. I have no idea why anyone would think it a good idea to degrade a perfectly good song this way; but that's what happened. While it's not the later, totally re-recorded version, it's also not the same track that opened the original release, a version that is fine just the way it is and does not need "improvement". This "modified" version of the song certainly does not capture the mood of the song as well as the unmodified version. Fortunately, I can't detect any noticeable changes to the rest of the album, which contains much wonderful music; but hearing this song first detracts from the total experience.This kind of treatment is not unique to this song. Overengineering is done often and is commonplace, and seems to be totally acceptable to most listeners. I think of the original "Cold Spring Harbor" album by Billy Joel. It's now commonly known that it was mastered too slowly so that when it was transferred to vinyl the sound was just a bit too fast, especially noticeable in Joel's voice. When the album was transferred to CD the speed was corrected; however, the engineers also overdubbed more instruments which were not necessary and the album did not sound the same. Perhaps a lot of people like over-engineered music; it seems the rule rather than the exception on popular music today. I'm not one of those people. Music should be made by musicians and singers, not created by engineers after it's played.As I mentioned before, Beat Goes On ("BGO records") is a reputable reissue label which is known for putting out excellent re-releases of many, many albums by well-known artists, and I am surprised that this happened on one of this company's products. I wouldn't be surprised if BGO simply didn't know about this issue; after all, the company itself was likely not even a thought when the original record came out. As usual for BGO, the sound quality of this disc is quite good. But it doesn't change the fact that what is on this disc is not 100% what the album contained back when it was released.I believe there is a compilation by Don McLean called "Favorites & Rarities" which contains both the original and re-recorded versions of "Castles", and the one which opens the disc may well be the true original version without overdubs.Addendum to review 2 days later: When I first listened to this album there was a gap in the music approx. 2/3 the way through "Magdalene Lane". I assumed it was due to dirt or a tiny bit of damage to the surface (this was purchased used) so I didn't think anything of it. At a later time, when I was about to use my disc resurfacer, I examined the disc closely and found absolutely no dirt or scratches/chips, the disc is in truly pristine condition. I played it on another machine and the same defect was there. At that point I contacted BGO Records and received a reply saying the disc, which was issued in 1994, was taken from original master tapes acquired from EMI. Apparently there was a defect somewhere in the chain, and BGO did not find out about it until many years later; apparently there were no complaints in the interim. The dropout was repaired in 2015, according to the rep from BGO; however, they no longer have the rights to the music and cannot press any more copies from the repaired master. The company, therefore, cannot replace the disc but did offer me a refund if I send it back to them. If anyone else orders this CD from any Amazon seller, beware of this problem. It won't be the seller's fault, but there is a chance the disc will have the same defect.

Don McLean's /Tapestry/ is clearly a concept album and in the breadth and detail of the album, you can see how the same man wrote "American Pie." However the songs vary so widely in quality that I don't feel like I can review the album as an entity. I don't regret buying the album a bit, there are some truly excellent songs that I still feel rank above some of his hits. If you're already a McLean fan, you simply must own his debut album. But if your only exposure to McLean is through "American Pie" (the song or the album), I'd listen to the songs a couple of times first.My favorite track is "Respectable," a protest song that puts Bob Dylan to shame. "No Reason For Your Dreams," and "General Store" are also excellent. "Bad Girl" is a brilliant song--or three songs in one, that feels somehow unfinished, yet of all the songs in his catalog, this is the one I would most love to see redone by McLean, or at least covered. The orange (American) edition has the original version of "Castles in the Air," as well as another McLean classic "And I Love You So."There's only two tracks on this album I flat out dislike "Three Flights Up" is tedious, though I feel it could be better. The title "Tapestry" track is simply bad. The music is boring, the lyrics are self-indulgent, and with too many words per line it sounds like he's constantly gasping for breath.As for the remaining songs, they all sound strikingly similar, and strikingly like elevator music. I usually skip over "Orphans of Wealth" (the lyrics feel forced) and "Circus Song" (which feels like filler). And then there's "Magdalene Lane"--the song is enjoyable, full of allusions to pop-culture phenomenon and the golden age of the entertainment industry. It almost feels like he might be onto something here...

If you're looking in to buying this album chances are you already know how great don McLean is.You can hear heavier folk influences on this album then American pie, and some of the lyricism on it is just beautiful.If you want a meaningful introspective album that is still easy on your ear, I would definitely suggest this one.

Great value

Have been meaning to buy this album for a number of years and with the man appearing in Birmingham in May, decided that now was the time!Particularly like 'Magdalene Lane' and 'Circus Song'. Don McLean goes places that no other song writer has been. An early indication of even greater things to come. The words are poetry, even if they were not sung.

A great album by the extremely talented Don McLean. Some beautifully crafted songs here, just buy and listen to a master at work. (Slight caveat - there still seems to be a problem as others have reported with some copies having a glitch but just return and replace if that should happen)

A fairly good first album - you can see the song writing genius about to blossom. Vincent and American Pie were to follow shortly.

This proves that Don Mclean was writing excellent songs before the world went crazy over American Pie

A good LP makes one feel warm and takes one back to another time