MOJO November 2021

John Harris John has been writing for MOJO for 20 years, as well as covering politics at The Guardian. He’s just had the fascinating experience of editing down hours of conversation caught during The Beatles’ early 1969 sessions for the thumping official book that accompanies the new Get Back films. Read his findings from page 68. Lenny Kaye Lenny is an American guitarist, composer, record producer, writer, founding member of Patti Smith And Her Band, and the compiler of Nuggets, arguably the most influential compilation album ever. His new book, Lightning Striking, tracing the key flashpoints in rock’n’roll history, is extracted from page 52. Janelle Barone An illustrator based in Melbourne, Janelle Barone loves to tell visual stories and make everyday things more intriguing. She illustrates this month’s Lead Album…

1 The Black Keys She Said, She Said (Vinyl Version) Alongside choice R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Muddy Waters tunes, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney also burned through this Revolver classic on their 2002 debut, The Big Come Up. Shorn of psychedelic trim and kicked up a gear, She Said, She Said emerges as a raw and punchy garage rocker. Written by Lennon & McCartney. Published by Sony/ATV Tunes LLC. From The Big Come Up (℗&©2002 Alive Naturalsound Records); www.alive-records.com 2 Richard Thompson It Won’t Be Long When Thompson began his 1,000 Years Of Popular Music project, it was inevitable – that early snobbery notwithstanding – that The Beatles would be included, next to ancient folk songs and work by, Gilbert & Sullivan, Purcell, Hoagy Carmichael and Britney Spears. His…

Snail Mail THE BALLAD OF LINDSEY JORDAN What music are you currently grooving to? I’ve been listening to Alycia Bella, who I recently became familiar with, and I’ve become a really big fan. Black Metal 2 by Dean Blunt, and Gal Costa too, that’s my recent rotation. What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album? It’s so hard to choose. I really connect with Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens, I think that’s the golden example for sad songwriting. I can listen to it start to finish. I would play it and my roommates would say, “I can’t believe you’re listening to this again,” because it sets the tone for the night. What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it? It…

MARCH 1969, AND THE TANGLED PATHS of The Beatles and the Stones converged on Olympic Studios in south-west London. Here, Glyn Johns worked on the mixes for Let It Be – even though his unadorned versions would only see the light of day now, in autumn 2021. Here too, The Rolling Stones were beginning the sessions for Let It Bleed. A year later, The Beatles were no more, but the Stones have continued to defy most logic ever since. In the ensuing 50-odd years, their union has redefined what it means to grow older. A young person’s game has been reconfigured as a lifelong pursuit, an infinite career made to seem plausible. They have seemed, improbably, indestructible. But as we were putting the finishing touches to this edition of MOJO,…

THE HOT NEWS AND BIZARRE STORIES FROM PLANET MOJO “CHARLIE SWINGS VERY nicely,” wrote 19-year-old Keith Richards in a 1963 diary entry of his band’s new and very expensive hiring on drums, “but can’t rock. Fabulous guy, thougk.” In the month since the sudden, shocking news of Charlie Watts’s death at the age of 80, the outpouring of grieving tributes, anecdotes and impressions all attest to how Keith’s third assessment was absolutely correct. As to the first, no arguments there either. But it’s the second that now – and even then or only very shortly thereafter – seems so very wide of the mark. So why did Keith – and Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, the core Stones trio dwelling in squalid circumstances in Chelsea’s Edith Grove – reduce themselves…

THE SLENDER, SILVER-HAIRED man who answered MOJO’s knock on his hotel-room door wore loungepyjamas, monogrammed slippers and an inscrutable look on his face. In a room as neat as its occupant, the one personal item on display was a zip-up case containing 150 of his favourite CDs: “Classical, jazz, mostly things I had on vinyl when I was 16. I’m not,” Charlie Watts said, “what you imagine I’m like.” It was July 2002 and The Rolling Stones were in Toronto rehearsing for their 40 Licks tour. Each rented their own separate residence. Mick’s looked like a wannabe Palace of Versailles. Charlie snorted. “What am I going to do in a bloody great big house? It’s easier to live in a hotel. Mick would prefer to rent a house, but he…