Mojo - The Music Magazine

Inspired by Mark Paytress's Apple feature in the latest MOJO and the forthcoming reissue of a slew of original Apple albums, MOJO4music is pleased to present an Apple playlist, our version of the best of the Beatles' boutique label 1968-1974.

The Apple enterprise - not just a label but a film company, fashion outlet and electronics R&D house - is rarely referred to without the word "folly" in close attendance. The Beatles certainly proved whimsical label bosses, much more likely to indulge George Harrison's Moog noodlings (Electronic Sound, 1969) or a blatant no-hoper like Ringo "find" Chris Hodge rather than nurture a genuine career for their better non-Beatle acts - at least one of whom, Badfinger, had everything (looks excepted) going for them. Yet closer investigation reveals a wealth of great music, some of it long-overlooked. From the gritty soul of Doris Troy to the heavy organ-rock sound of Trash, there's plenty to dig into and enjoy. History has certainly witnessed worse rock star vanity labels, as Beatle fans Noel Gallagher (Sour Mash) and Paul Weller (Respond) might sheepishly concede.

MOJO's Apple playlist eschews Beatles and solo Beatle records, although Beatle songs and wives are tolerated. Check it out and feel free to argue the toss on behalf of anything we've cruelly missed, even if it's Mary Hopkin.

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1. Badfinger - No Matter What

A perfect, bright'n'breezy opener to any mixtape. Tragic Pete Ham and co invent power pop, Big Star and many other good things. ________________________________________________________________________

2. Jackie Lomax - Sour Milk Sea

Wallasey bard and former Undertaker (not undertaker), the lantern-jawed Lomax lends a committed yawp to a typical George Harrison mither ("stop moaning" is the jist - a bit rich, no?). Meanwhile the Apple all-stars (Harrison, Clapton, McCartney, Ringo, Nicky Hopkins) rave up like crazy. ________________________________________________________________________

3. Trash - Road To Nowhere

Organ-bonkers, maximalist assault on Carole King tune by ill-starred Scottish rockers. Shoulda signed to Harvest, guys! ________________________________________________________________________

4. Bill Elliot & The Elastic Oz Band - God Save Us

This Oz trial fundraiser remains tribute to Lennon's cultural antennae and his ability to mobilise dissident statements at a lick (when not gouching out, of course). But whatever happened to South Shields-born Mal Evans protégé Elliot? ________________________________________________________________________

5. David Peel & The Lower East Side - Hippie From New York City

Here's an ensemble version (with John and Yoko, plus Elephant's Memory) on the David Frost show of the doped-up yippie skit from nasal Noo Yoik yuckster Peel's sole Apple album. ________________________________________________________________________

6. Radha Krishna Temple - Govinda

Groovy, subcontinental-flavoured pop by George Harrison protégés. Inadvertently responsible for Kula Shaker. ________________________________________________________________________

7. Modern Jazz Quartet - Visitor From Mars

Exactly how John Lewis, Milt Jackson and co pitched up on Apple for two albums is still something of a conundrum, but their sub-zero, contrapuntal jazz sound implied business as usual. Here's an aptly spacey Lewis composition from their second album for the Beatles' label. ________________________________________________________________________

8. Billy Preston - My Sweet Lord

Harrison's Chiffons nick was always a gospel tune, and that's how Preston (and later, Nina Simone) treated it. When asked "Who's your favourite Beatle?" Primal Scream smart-aleck Bobby Gillespie used to always answer "Billy Preston". Here's why that's not as wanky as it sounds. ________________________________________________________________________

9. Doris Troy - Give Me Back My Dynamite

Third track on her Apple debut album, Doris Troy, with dream team of Clapton, Stills, Harrison, Preston, Voorman and Starr delivering saturnine blues nastiness. Actually sounds like Troy's dynamite is entirely under her own control. ________________________________________________________________________

10. Yoko Ono - Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)

Critics of Yoko's Marmite shrieking need to get a load of this blues exorcism, full of Ono's anguish over her estranged daughter Kyoko, but so apocalyptic it prompts reflections of Hiroshima/Nagasaki. In perfect congruence, Clapton, Ringo, Voormann and Starr conjure a brutally primitive blues-rock miasma. The message? "No, do worry..." ________________________________________________________________________

11. James Taylor - Something In The Way She Moves

While your host can't say he likes the oleaginous Taylor one bit, this is probably the standout track on his one Apple album - his debut. Inspired the opening line of George Harrison's Abbey Road corker, Something. ________________________________________________________________________

12. Badfinger - Day After Day

Pete Ham always seemed too sensitive to be a rock star. Here's more heart-rending evidence as he tells a tale of his loved-one's faithlessness. "Looking out of my lonely gloom / Day after day". Gulp!

Compiled and annotated by Danny Eccleston