RECORD REVIEWS

'REARVIEW MIRROR'
Don McLean (Hyena)
Grade: B
Don McLean in the country column? The writer of "American Pie" has always had an interest in the music -- think back to 1972's "Bronco Bill's Lament" and much of 1973's "Playin' Favorites." This odds-and-ends retrospective contains superior McLean takes on three country tunes -- Jimmie Rodgers' "TB Blues," Roy Rogers' "My Saddle Pals and I" (both previously unissued), and Marty Robbins' "El Paso" (from an album of Robbins songs he cut a few years back).
Though "Rearview Mirror" contains the original, full-length studio version of "Pie," the 18-song collection should appeal mostly to longtime fans, as it plays to McLean's strengths as an interpreter and live performer. The second disc is a DVD dominated by footage of the singer rehearsing with the Jordanaires for a 1984 Christmas concert at Carnegie Hall.
--Nick Christiano, Philadelphia Inquirer
'THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE'
Chick Corea (Stretch)
Grade: B
Pianist Chick Corea, the jazz world's most prominent Scientologist, uses this set to profess his continuing devotion to the sci-fi writings of L. Ron Hubbard. This instrumental CD serves as a tone poem on the Hubbard novel of the same name.
If you can stomach those associations, the music isn't half bad. Corea gets help from old collaborators -- drummer Steve Gadd, flutist Hubert Laws, and percussionist Airto Moreira -- along with his current band, Touchstone, including guitarist Frank Gambale, reed and flute man Jorge Pardo and drummer Tom Brechtlein.
The set shows a dynamic world flair, incorporating North African, Spanish and Middle Eastern elements into Corea's still-pervasive fusion concept. The session is full of percussionists, yet its rhythms are subtly sculpted. It represents an amalgam of world groove that borrows vibes around the Mediterranean, but sounds like nowhere in particular.
Corea is very mathematical at times. "Three Ghouls" opens with a severe-sounding structure, yet the following improvisation isn't without charm. "City of Brass" features Corea working out neatly with Egyptian tabla player Hossam Ramzy.
--Karl Stark, Philadelphia Inquirer
'THE HIDDEN LAND'
Bela Fleck & amp; the Flecktones
(Columbia); Grade: B
Much tighter and more focused than their last effort (the overstuffed 3-disc "Little Worlds"), "The Hidden Land" gets off to a rambunctious start as virtuoso banjo player Bela Fleck and his equally talented pals tear through a thoroughly jazzed up version of a fugue by Bach.
Fleck, saxophonist and flutist Jeff Coffin, bassist Vic Wooten and percussionist Future Man sound particularly reinvigorated throughout, perhaps because they took some time off last year from their relentless recording and touring schedule.
Fleck also reinstated an old rule of his, which is to record everything in a way that can be reproduced in concert, with no overdubbing. The result is an uncluttered sound that allows the stunning musicianship of the band to shine on this set of 12 originals plus the Bach cover.
The band has gone back to its roots and gotten its groove back.
--Martin Bandyke, Detroit Free Press