Anyone around in the early 70's when this album came out will remember sitting around puzzling over the meaning of his lyrics, remeniscent of Dylan a few years earlier. PhD's have been written about his main hit "American Pie" and I advise you to look on the web for explanations of it's meaning. For me he was able to conjure up our disappointment and disillusion over the deaths of our heros and how we were left with people like Nixon or maybe the Rolling Stones, survivors, not dreamers or leaders. Billy Joel also attempted a similar and more hopeful tribute in "We Didn't Light the Fire." But my favorite track is "Vincent", because I know and love Van Gogh's art, but also because the story of his gift and death resonates with one of the sad truths about life, that beauty and truth are mostly ignored or outshouted.
10/10