Crying
Much to McLean’s surprise, representatives of
EMI in Holland called in April, 1980, to say
that the song “Crying” had spontaneously picked
up continuous airplay on Dutch radio stations.
He was urged to fly to Holland immediately and
appear on several important musical variety
shows to plug the song. To coincide with his
visit, EMI released “Crying” as a single, and it
shot to No.1 after these appearances. It was
unexpected, but welcome, news. EMI executives
from Holland flew to England and persuaded their
British counterparts to repeat the promotion in
England. The song quickly became a hit there
too, reaching No.1 on the singles chart on June
21st, 1980. The same thing happened in
Australia.
McLean
did not follow his success in the UK with a
concert tour right away, except for one
appearance at the Cambridge Folk Festival in
August. He fulfilled his obligatory appearance
on Top of the Pops with a promotional video (one
of the first.)
Following his No.1 single, EMI was keen to
promote McLean’s music and released a 15-track
compilation called the Very Best of Don McLean.
It reached No.3 on the UK chart and became a
worldwide hit. The record was not released in
North America. In the UK interest in Don McLean
was so high that the Chain Lightning album,
released nearly two years earlier, entered the
charts and made the Top 20.
Then in September he returned and completed a
full tour of the UK, traveling in two buses
around the English and Scottish countryside. It
was a significant tour. Every show sold out.
This time he was not appearing solo. He was
accompanied by a rock ‘n’ roll orchestra
especially created for the concert series. Bob
Henrit (who later played for the Kinks) played
drums, Bob Metzger electric guitar, Jimmie
Horowitz piano, David Wintour bass guitar, and
Fred Snel double bass. Don thought that Bob
Henrit was one of the best drummers he had ever
heard and on a personal level thought Henrit was
open to every kind of music and a hell of a lot
of fun to be with. Robin Williams conducted the
string section and played violin. The full
orchestra sound allowed McLean to sing songs
like “Crying” and “Vincent” as they had been
recorded, with strings — live. With rock ‘n’
roll sidemen he could rock on songs like “Left
for Dead,” “Prime Time,” and “American Pie.”
Bob Henrit, Bob Metzger and Don at the bar,
Sahara Tahoe Casino, 1981
The tour concluded on October 1st at the Royal
Festival Hall in London. The demand for tickets
was so great that an extra show was organized
with only three days notice and took place at
the Dominion Theatre in London, on Saturday,
October 4th. This last, sell-out show was
recorded, live, for the 1983 album called
Dominion. This album was later issued in the US
as Don McLean’s Greatest Hits Live. Before the
Dominion show, Paul Gambaccini, a well known
disc jockey on British radio and a successful
music journalist, interviewed McLean in his
dressing room. That interview and the concert
performance became the video release entitled
The Music of Don McLean.
Don McLean had survived the roughest two or
three years of his career. He had re-established
himself in almost every major record-buying
market in the world. His second career comeback
had begun. All he needed to do now was
re-conquer his home country.
After two years living abroad, news of Don’s
No.1 successes in Europe and Australia reached
home, and US record companies began to take
notice. McLean signed a deal with Millennium
Records in December, 1980, and they released
“Crying” that month. In January, 1981,
Millennium Records issued Chain Lightning, two
and a half years after it had been recorded in
Nashville, and two years after its release in
Europe. It charted on February 14th, 1981, and
reached No.28.
Don's band members, 1982
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