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MORE THAN A FEELING
1976
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"…I Was Coming Back Anyway!"
After
five studio albums covering the varying styles of Folk, Rock, Country,
Dixieland and even Old Timey Music Hall - it was time for Don McLean to strip
away all the studio gadgets - get back to basics and literally go 'Solo' on
stage. Originally released in late 1976 as a vinyl double-album -
"Solo" does what it says on the tin - it's just Don McLean and his
guitar or his banjo or his voice ("Geordie Has Lost His Penker" is
Acapella). With songs covering love, heartbreak, painters, hobos, poverty and
lots of laughter and Americana inbetween - the crowd is swept along with his
sincerity, his warmth and crafted performance skills.
So
back in 1994 - Britain's Beat Goes On remastered much of his United Artists
album catalogue from the Seventies - and this 2CD offering is one of those
hidden nuggets. Here are the details...
Originally
released November 1994 (reissued in December 2008) – "Solo (Live)" by DON
McLEAN on Beat Goes On BGOCD 300 (Barcode 5017261203007) is a straightforward
2CD transfer of the vinyl double-album "Solo" originally released
September 1976 in the USA on United Artists UA-LA652-H2 and in the UK on United
Artists UAD 60139. It breaks down as follows...
Disc
1 (53:50 minutes):
1.
Magdalene Lane
2.
Masters Of War
3.
Wonderful Baby
4.
Where Were You Baby
5.
Empty Chairs
6.
Geordie's Lost His Penker
7.
Babylon
8.
And I Love You So [Side 2]
9.
Mactavish Is Dead
10.
Cripple Creek/Muleskinner Blues
11.
Great Big man
12.
Bronco Bill's Lament
13.
Happy Trails
14.
Circus Song
15.
Birthday Song
16.
On The Amazon
Disc
2 (50:48 minutes):
1.
American Pie [Side 3]
2.
Over The Waterfall/Arkansas Traveller
3.
Homeless Brother
4.
Castles In The Air/Three Flights Up
5.
Lovesick Blues [Side 4]
6.
Winter Has Me In Its Grip
7.
The Legend Of Andrew McCrew
8.
Dreidel
9.
Vincent
10.
Till Tomorrow
The
12-page booklet has typically excellent liner notes by JOHN TOBLER (dated 1994)
with gatefold artwork on the inner pages. Tobler details much of McLean's
career up to 1976 (Perry Como and Presley covering the gorgeous "And I
Love You So" - the story of the black cripple and pauper Andrew McCrew
finally getting a headstone because of McLean's song - and so on). The remaster
was done at Sound Mastering (then in Cambridge) and is clean with only minor
hiss issues on the very quietest of songs (doesn't say who did what). But it
should be added that as this is a live set clearly from different audiences -
the audio ping-pongs about a bit - but mostly it's a top-notch transfer and
hugely evocative. Mostly you're too immersed in the storytelling to notice...
Amongst
my favourites is "Winter Has Me In Its Grip" - originally on 1974's
"Homeless Brother" - a typically simple song that slays you. The
audience almost sings along to "And I Love You So" while the trio of
"American Pie", "Vincent" and the lovely "Till
Tomorrow" elicit just that - crowd sing-alongs ("Empty Chairs"
is fabulous too). But the album belongs to "Babylon" where he splits
the audience up into groups and has them singing various parts - each
harmonising - it's frankly magical. McLean has always been a great songwriter -
but this lovely BGO 2CD reissue shows what an amazing performer he is too into
the bargain.
As
he comes back out on stage to perform "Till Tomorrow" as an encore (ending
Side 4) - he jokes - "I was coming back anyway!" I suspect that after
you succumb to this reissue’s many charms - you'll find yourself doing exactly that...
