Customer Reviews

Homeless Brother

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This album, released in 1974, was not a huge commercial success for Don, but artistically it is very representative of his work. And, true to form, it is a bit quirky at times. Like "The Legend of Andrew McGrew", the story of a hobo who was killed by a train near the turn of the century, and was mummified and displayed as a carnival attraction for 50 years!

A very special tune is "Wonderful Baby". A good tune, and one that should have become a standard.

All-in-all, one of Don's better works, and a must for a serious collector.

People who dismiss Don McLean as a one-hit wonder forget that, 1) he had more than one hit ("Vincent," "Dreidel" and his cover of Roy Orbison's "Crying") and, 2) making hit records was never his be-all and end-all. The best thing "American Pie" ever did for McLean was make it possible for him to make the albums HE wanted to with little regard for the suits, and HOMELESS BROTHER is a great example of a "loose" concept album that holds together quite well.

The concept--exploring the stories of the down-and-outers of the road--could've been overly-romantic in the hands of someone else, but McLean is careful to show the dark side. "Legend of Andrew McCrew" is the best example, a macabre and apparently true story of a traveling carnival's exhibition of the mummified corpse of an anonymous hobo found dead and unclaimed by railroad tracks. McLean's retelling of this is sardonic without being too heavy-handed and the song and performance work. The title song is in the same vein as songs like "Hobo's Prayer" and "Hobo's Lullaby," and covers of George Harrison's "Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away, Raymond)" and a terrific acapella version of "Crying In The Chapel" (featuring the Persuasions on backup!) are excellent and serve this overview well.

The songs that don't fall into this concept are a mixed bag; McLean is capable of more than a little schmaltz and in a couple of songs it's a little too much, but "Wonderful Baby" is a great Thirties-style crooning tune sung for a newborn that swings and soothes.(I understand that Fred Astaire later covered this--I can believe it!) Overall, this album shows Don McLean as a troubador in fine form, which is what it ought to be all about.

I have been after this cd for a long time, it is not available in Australia. One song on this album is not on any of his other albums (The Legend of Andrew McCrew). It is excellent quality too.

I was in high school, and my friends and I all went up to the Troubadour in Los Angeles to listen to Don McLean (you know, the 'American Pie' guy) and we were hit in the face by material too strong to ignore, by performances too good to forget. By the next week we all had copies of this record (I have mine to this day) and I think we all still listen to it.

Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly Killing Me Softly is actually ABOUT hearing McLean play at that very same club. We are priveliged to swim in the waters of greatness. Today we had better stick to the record at hand.

HOMELESS BROTHER IS A MASTERPIECE. GREAT songwriting, like 'The Legend of Andrew McGrew' The story of a one legged hobo who lost his other leg hopping a freight and got mummified and sold to a carnival where he toured for the next fifty years. Here's the introduction and first verse:

There was a mummy at the fair,
All crumpled in a folding chair,
The People Passed, but didn't care,
That the mummy was a man,
So tell us, if you can,

Who are you? Who are you?
Where have you been?
Where are you going to?
Well Andrew McGrew must have lost his way,
Cause though he died long ago he was buried today.

Down on nightmare alley, where the shady people sway,
A hobo went a hiking, on a salty summer day
Well he hopped a freight in Dallas,
And he rode it out of sight,
But on a turn he slipped and he lost his grip, and he fell into the night.


It goes on. This is actually a true story, gotten very wrong. A small time crook named Elmer McCurdy was shot and killed robbing a Texas train in 1911, mummified and sold to a carnival (thence changing hands several times) and ending up in a dark ride at the Long Beach Pike where he was finally discovered and buried in the mid 1980's. Life is strange. But McLean's version is so compelling, so vivid and well imagined, that I simply cannot imagine that it isn't true.

Other wonders abound. Homeless Brother contains one of those lines that songwriters dream of writing, as follows:

The ghosts of highway royalty have vanished in the night,
The Whitman wanderer walking to a growing inner light,
The children have grown older and the cops have gripped us tight,
There's no spot round the melting pot for free men in their flight

On top of that, the music is stunningly beautiful. Don's voice is in the top of his form, his guitar is sure footed and artful. This album is a high water mark in american folk, like blood on the tracks, or moving.

And there are a couple of cover versions to really bring it home. Crying in the Chapel is covered with the amazing Persuasions Street Corner Symphony and finally a banjo version of 'Sail Away Raymond' by George Harrison.

I didn't mention so much that's on this record, and yet here it sits, almost forgotten. Laugh along, Sing along, Cry along--this is the good stuff. Take my word for it.

A tape pf this ablum somehow appeared in my car about 20 years ago. I listened to it and fell in love; you can sing along, cry along or laugh along .... and all those emotions are sure to be triggered.

Being an ICU nurse the tale of Andrew McCrew especially sticks my heart and my rather twisted sense of humor.

Thanks for more information on the album...will definately have to try to pick up a CD. Charlie Lake Elsinore

The song "American Pie" was a blessing and a curse for Don McLean. Its overwhelming popularity and unavoidable omnipresence in 1972 created a backlash. Expectations for the followup album, "Don McLean" were raised to the point of absurdity. Don admirably kept doing what he does without compromising his sound or pandering to a transient fan base that feeds on, "What hit single have you done for me lately?". In spite of the pressure, 1972's "Don McLean" was a very good followup. Don's next album of original material was 1974's "Homeless Brother", another commendable collection of songs. Unlike Don's previous albums this didn't have a big rock single, or for that matter even a big rock album cut, to support it. But the largely folk-flavored "Homeless Brother" does fine without a "Dreidel" or "American "Pie".

The core of this album is a thematic set, the three song run which originally rounded out side one: "Homeless Brother", a rustic cover of George Harrison's "Sunshine Life For Me" (first recorded the previous year by Ringo Starr on his breakthrough album "Ringo"), and "The Legend of Andrew McCrew". This set bundles touches of humor and grace and compassion for what used to be called hoboes. The title track inspired by the writings of Kerouac features Pete Seeger on backing vocals. Don's storytelling especially comes through on the six minute "Legend Of Andrew McCrew", the winding tale of an unfortunate hobo whose mummified body turns up in a travelling circus. This song compelled a radio station to raise funds to provide a headstone for McCrew.

In addition to the core songs that define the album's narrative, the folk numbers are uniformly strong - the album opener "Winter Has Me In Its Grip", the album closer "Did You Know", and "Tangled (Like A Spider In Her Hair)". Any of them would have fit in nicely on the "American Pie" album.

Those whose tastes lean toward McLean's pop side may enjoy "Wonderful Baby" which hit #1 on the US Adult Contemporary charts. It's an old-timey number that you can easily imagine someone performing in top hat and tails. "La La Love You" follows in the footsteps of McLean songs like "If We Try" and "And I Love You So" but with a flavor that's more pop than introspective. "Crying in the Chapel" is one of Don's many covers of old favorites.

1974's "Homeless Brother" is recommended for those who like Don McLean's folk style. Half of its songs also appear as live versions on 1976's "Solo", originally a two album set; "Solo" too is quite enjoyable, but is currently available only on CD, not as mp3 downloads. If you're looking to download a few highlights for compiling your own 'best of', I'd recommend the sequence "Homeless Brother"/"Sunshine Life For Me"/"Legend of Andrew McCrew" for starters.

The song Winter Has me in It's Grip is too beautiful for words.
What a spiritual album this is, on top of it being a masterpiece
of art. Every song is a winner and less is more. Did You Know
is just DM and the guitar until a gentle horn riff near the
end that drifts in and out quickly and puts an already great song over the
top.
You could almost
imagine the entire album recorded in front of someone's fireplace
with a few people sitting around listening intently. This is one of
God's favorite albums. I'm sure of it.

Hi,
I would like to share this review about the product but also about the delivery time:
- Product: excelent as expected.
- Delivery: very disapointed. I paid for a priority international delivery to Cadana, and expected to have it on Mai 28th as the latest day but the product was received on June 2nd.
Thank you for taking into account for my next order.

Best regards.

Tin N

"Homeless Brother" deserves to be held up beside America's greatest folk gems. A masterpiece.