McLemore Avenue

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McLemore Avenue is a 1970 album by Booker T. & the M.G.s, consisting entirely of mostly instrumental covers of songs from the Beatles' album Abbey Road (released only months earlier, in September 1969). The title and cover are an homage to the Beatles album, 926 East McLemore Avenue being the address of the Stax Studios in Memphis, as Abbey Road was for EMI Studios in London, which was soon renamed Abbey Road Studios.

Booker T. Jones said, "I was in California when I heard Abbey Road, and I thought it was incredibly courageous of The Beatles to drop their format and move out musically like they did. To push the limit like that and reinvent themselves when they had no need to do that. They were the top band in the world but they still reinvented themselves. The music was just incredible so I felt I needed to pay tribute to it."

Track listing

All songs written by Lennon–McCartney except "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something", by George Harrison

Side one

1. Medley: "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight", "The End" (with vocals), "Here Comes the Sun", "Come Together" (with incidental vocals)– 15:48
2. "Something" – 4:09

Side two

3. Medley: "Because", "You Never Give Me Your Money" – 7:26
4. Medley: "Sun King", "Mean Mr. Mustard", "Polythene Pam", "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" – 10:40

2011 Stax Remasters bonus tracks

5. "You Can't Do That" – 2:47
6. "Day Tripper" – 2:52
7. "Michelle" – 2:52
8. "Eleanor Rigby" – 3:41
9. "Lady Madonna" – 3:35
10. "You Can't Do That" (alternate take) – 3:08

It was also released digitally in a lossless and high quality version at 88.2 kHz and 24 bit.

Personnel

Booker T. & the M.G.s

• Booker T. Jones – organ, piano, keyboards, guitar
• Steve Cropper – guitar
• Donald "Duck" Dunn – electric bass
• Al Jackson, Jr. – drums

Production credits

• Produced and arranged by Booker T. & the M.G.'s
• Engineers – Ron Capone, Gordon Rudd, Rik Pekkonen
• Remix engineers – Steve Cropper, John Fry
• Photography – Joel Brodsky
• Art direction – The Graffiteria/David Krieger
• Art supervision – Herb Kole