Mojo - The Music Magazine

THIS MONTH'S MOJO magazine features an exclusive interview with Sir Paul McCartney, celebrating the 40th Anniversary of The Beatles' swansong Abbey Road album.

"Let It Be had been a wearing experience," The Beatle bassist reveals. "It was nice to return home, to something we knew and understood: George Martin, Abbey Road studios, songs done quite quickly... not too much heavy breathing."

There were challenges, all the same. Yoko Ono, convalescing from a car crash, recuperated in a bed in Studio 2 ("we had to work around her," shrugs Macca, "we had to walk around her"), while the personal and financial issues that had eased the Beatles apart since 1968 had not gone away.

"Business was getting very heavy," McCartney tells MOJO's John Harris. "We could have lost everything we'd worked for. Think of the horror story, if we'd not just lost the Beatles but the money as well."

In an in-depth feature that canvases Abbey Road engineers Alan Parsons and John Kurlander, Harris explores the processes that brought forth the astonishing Because and groundbreaking Side 2 "Medley". But did The Beatles know it would be their last album?

"We kind of knew," says McCartney. "There was a feeling around that time that we'd come full circle."

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MOJO's Abbey Road cover story is enhanced by a free CD: Abbey Road Now! It's the whole Abbey Road album covered from start to finish by some of MOJO's favourite contemporary acts, including Cornershop, Gomez, Glenn Tilbrook, Noah & The Whale, Jeffrey Lewis, The Low Anthem, Robyn Hitchcock and Mercury Prize nominees The Invisible. There's some beautiful versions and some startling surprises.

1 The Invisible - Come Together LISTEN TO A CLIP HERE!
2 The Leisure Society - Something LISTEN TO A CLIP HERE!
3 Let's Wrestle - Maxwell's Silver Hammer
4 Broken Records - Oh! Darling
5 Jeffrey Lewis - Octopus's Garden LISTEN TO A CLIP HERE!
6 Robyn Hitchcock - I Want You (She's So Heavy)
7 Charlie Dore - Here Comes the Sun
8 Martin John Henry (De Rosa) - Because
9 Glenn Tilbrook - You Never Give Me Your Money
10 Gomez - Sun King LISTEN TO A CLIP HERE!
11 Cornershop - Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam
12 Karima Francis - She Came in Through the Bathroom Window
13 Blue Roses - Golden Slumbers
14 Noah And The Whale - Carry That Weight
15 Loose Salute - The End
16 The Low Anthem - Her Majesty

Just look at what else is in the latest issue of MOJO magazine!