10 Almost Perfect Folk Rock Albums With One Bad Song

Don McLean's legacy has never escaped his early hit American Pie. But if you're going to release one of the most memorial tracks of the last 60 years, then that's to be expected. However, American Pie (the album) has so much more to it than the title track alone.

McLean's eight and a half minute magnum opus is followed up by Till Tomorrow; a track that barely breaches the 2 minute mark. It's a far slower and less energetic number. But it does serve as a soothing palate cleanser, before rolling perfectly into Vincent - McLeans Ode to painter Vincent van Gogh. It's equally as powerful as American Pie, with spares guitar parts, and the faintest hint of strings towards the second half. McLean wrote the number in an attempt to repair the image of van Gogh - as man suffering with depression and mental illness, rather than someone who was merely considered crazy. As a side note, Vincent was a favourite of Tupac Shakur.

The album continues with a plethora of folky guitar ballads; which are so soothing, you're likely to drift off into blissful content. That is until the final track Babylon; a strange banjo led dirge, which barely last a minute and a half. With all the layered vocals, and Biblical song references, it starts feeling like a strange take on christian folk-rock, leaving you with a sense of bemusement and dissatisfaction.