It Keeps Rainin' (The Best Of Bitty McLean) - Bitty McLean

Advantages: Just listening
Disadvantages: It ever has to end

...Everyone has heard of ‘American Pie’, (the song, not the movie). Her Madgeness even did a cover version of it. But not everybody will have heard of Don McLean, the genius behind the song. And even fewer people will have bothered to listen to any of his other songs. Nowadays, we live in a world where beauty is everything, where the better looking you are, the more attention is lavished upon you. We live in a time where trends are fleeting, and music changes so rapidly that it’s practically impossible to keep up, and when you lag behind you are pilloried as a loser. Don Mclean was not a ‘beautiful’ man. He was never going to make it onto the front covers of glossy magazines. Don McLean did not produce music for the masses, his style was simple and unaffected by the changes in the music scene going on around him in the late 1970... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: The artist at his very best
Disadvantages: For me personally...none

...Mention the name Don McLean and I bet you think “Oh yea…American Pie…great!” And it was great, of course. But there’s much, much more to McLean than this one hit. On this album there are some of his best ever songs; the haunting, melodic “Winterwood”, the mysterious “Sister Fatima”, and the thoughtful “The Grave”. Plus McLean’s version of Roy Orbison’s classic “Crying”. Also the wonderful “Castles In The Air” which was a hit for McLean in 1982.I particularly like McLean’s version of the trad Irish ballad “Mountains of Mourne”, which is sung with feeling. Also included is perhaps McLean’s second best-known song,”Vincent”, dedicated, as we all know, to the artist Vincent Van Gogh.Oh…and yes, the album does include “American Pie”. You couldn’t really have “The Best of Don McLean” without it, could you now?... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: great selection of artists and classics
Disadvantages: one track a bit samey

...'" WOW ! - what a line up. Beverley Knight, Lemur, Bitty McLean, Smokey Robinson, Katie Melua, Mick Hucknall, Robin Campbell and finally Aston 'family man' Barrett & Don Yute. '" Tracks '" Beverley Knight's clear harmony works magically around the octaves of Running Free with Ali reflecting both perfect pitch and fast rhythms. What a beautiful version of this classic. (4 mins) Ali's solo of Hold Me Tight is one of my favourites of the whole CD. For all UB40 fans this is the 'real good old stuff' that take you back to when the gang appeared on Top of the Pops. Reggae beats keeping that constant flow with interjections of Ali's powerful harmony pleadings and 'baba babas'. (4 mins) I have never really thought of Ali and Lemur singng together as a great match. How wrong I was. Their voices almost sound as one during the fabulous 'I... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful