In the past year I’ve started buying MOJO on a regular basis. I used to read it, then got out of the habit, and then I’d pick up an issue here and there. But about a year ago, I began to pick it up regularly; if not every month, then certainly three out of four.
On the one hand, it’s top-notch music coverage that puts Rolling Stone to shame. On the other hand, it comes with a music CD. On the gripping hand, I enjoy reading it. In the past year, MOJO has had the Beatles, The Who, and Nick Drake on the cover. Like this isn’t going to appeal to me. 😉
This month’s issue has the Beatles on the cover, with articles on The Beatles: Rock Band, the remastered CDs, and the making of Abbey Road. And the music CD is another in their series that covers the entirety of a Beatles album — Abbey Road Now! it’s called.
To be honest, I’ve been iffy on their previous Beatles cover CDs. But Abbey Road Now! is a keeper, at least for me. The reason? The Leisure Society covers “Something.”
I discovered the Leisure Society quite by accident at the end of March. One of their songs, “The Last of the Melting Snow,” was up for an Ivor Novello Award, though it lost to Elbow’s “One Day Like This.” I had their their debut album, The Sleeper, imported from the UK, and I’ve listened to it a fair few times in the past six months.
It’s just one of those albums. You hear it. You don’t want to forget it. It’s magic.
And now, with their cover of George Harrison’s “Something,” I have a new Leisure Society recording to listen to. There’s a ukulele. There are strings. There’s a trilling flute. There are sounds I can’t even begin to identify. I don’t think I’d want to. It sounds fantastic.
The little things. They make me happy. 🙂
Also on the disc, Broken Records, a band MOJO called a “Scottish Arcade Fire” a few months ago, covers “Oh! Darling” as a dark, dirge-like thing. They do a very good job with it.
This month’s MOJO.