Don McLean - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: Sounds for Saturday, London, Britain, 7-29-1972

A few weeks ago (writing this in June 2025), I posted a different "Volume 2" for Don McLean's BBC sessions, which was a concert from 1975. I have since found two more BBC concerts he did. So here's a brand new "Volume 2," a concert from 1972. I'll be posting another concert from 1973 as "Volume 3," and renaming that 1975 concert as "Volume 4." Sorry about the numbering confusion, but the bottom line is there's more good music to hear from Don McLean.

These newly discovered concerts are thanks to a Don McLean super fan who contacted me with the missing material I was looking for. That person also came up with a couple of extra songs I'd missed for "Volume 1," as well as three songs I'd missed for the 1975 concert that now makes up "Volume 4." I also removed a couple of songs from "Volume 1" because those exact versions are now on one of these extra full concerts I'm posting. So if you're a fan, I strongly suggest re-downloading those. Here are the links to the updated versions.

Volume 1: 

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2025/05/don-mclean-bbc-sessions-volume-1-1972.html

Volume 4: 

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2025/06/don-mclean-bbc-sessions-volume-2-in.html

"Volume 3" will be posted soon. Then there are two more volumes coming after that. So there's a bumper crop of Don McLean music on the way.

Okay, with all that explained, let me focus on this album. In 1972, McLean was probably at the peak of his popularity, thanks to the huge success of the hits "American Pie" and "Vincent." So we have this BBC concert, done in a solo acoustic format. It includes those two songs, plus other classics like "Empty Chairs" and "Castles in the Air." I don't know the name of song I've called "Turkey in the Straw Medley." I only know "Turkey in the Straw" is part of it. If anyone knows the other parts of the medley, please let me know. 

All the songs are unreleased except for "Everyday." That comes from the archival album "Favorites and Rarities." It turns out there's a 50-minute version of this concert as well. In fact, one can find the audio of it on YouTube (though it's poorly labeled). But there's a flaw with the sound all the way through that makes that version unusable for me. However, from that version I was able to find out that "Everyday" was the last song performed, so I was able to put it in its proper place. If anyone has the longer version with good sound quality, please let me know. 

This album is 38 minutes long. 

01 Magdalene Lane (Don McLean)
02 Empty Chairs (Don McLean)
03 And Her Mother Came Too (Don McLean)
04 She Was Poor but She Was Honest (Don McLean)
05 talk (Don McLean)
06 Turkey in the Straw Medley [Instrumental] (Don McLean)
07 Castles in the Air (Don McLean)
08 talk (Don McLean)
09 Where Were You, Baby (Don McLean)
10 American Pie (Don McLean)
11 Vincent (Don McLean)
12 Everyday (Don McLean)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/z8Sgzaov

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Ws2YqaNxaCiFd3Y/file

The cover image is from this exact concert.