Paul McCartney complains about “McCartney” ads with mentions of ABKCO

March and April 1970 were difficult months for Paul McCartney in his relationship with the other three Beatles and their manager, Allen Klein. First came a major dispute over the release date of Paul’s debut solo album, “McCartney,“ followed by disagreements about the release of the “Let It Be” film and soundtrack album.

Adding to Paul’s frustration was the appearance of the first U.S. advertisements for “McCartney,” (in Billboard, Cashbox and Rolling Stone) which carried the Apple logo alongside the line “An ABKCO Managed Company.” ABKCO was Allen Klein’s firm, and since Paul wished to avoid any association with Klein, he insisted that the reference be removed from subsequent advertisements.

Is it true that neither Allen Klein nor ABKCO have been nor will be in any way involved with the production, manufacturing, distribution or promotion of this new album?

Not if I can help it.

Paul McCartney – From “McCartney” press kit, April 1970

[…] all those little things kept happening, such trivia compared to what has happened, but the kind of things that… well, for example, my record McCartney came out. Linda and I did it totally — the record, the cover, the ads — everything presented to the record company. Then there started to appear these little advertisements. On the bottom was ‘On Apple Records,’ which was okay. But somebody had also come along and slapped on ‘An Abkco-managed company.’ Now that is Klein’s company and has nothing to do with my record. It’s like Klein taking part of the credit for my record.

Paul McCartney – Interview Life Magazine, April 16, 1971

Paul said later that although you and the other three had nothing whatever to do with his solo album for Apple, you put your company’s label on the cover.

Look, Abkco is a public company. I didn’t want the stockholders to think that we weren’t managing Apple anymore. I had to put that on there. He was making all kinds of confusing statements. You gotta protect yourself.

Allen Klein – Interview in Playboy, November 1971 

Going further

The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1: 1969 – 73

In this first of a groundbreaking multivolume set, THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1: 1969-73 captures the life of Paul McCartney in the years immediately following the dissolution of the Beatles, a period in which McCartney recreated himself as both a man and a musician. Informed by hundreds of interviews, extensive ground up research, and thousands of never-before-seen documents THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1 is an in depth, revealing exploration of McCartney’s creative and personal lives beyond the Beatles.

Buy on Amazon

The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years

With greatly expanded text, this is the most revealing and frank personal 30-year chronicle of the group ever written. Insider Barry Miles covers the Beatles story from childhood to the break-up of the group.

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The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001

An updated edition of the best-seller. The story of what happened to the band members, their families and friends after the 1970 break-up is brought right up to date. A fascinating and meticulous piece of Beatles scholarship.

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Maccazine - Volume 40, Issue 3 - RAM Part 1 - Timeline

This very special RAM special is the first in a series. This is a Timeline for 1970 – 1971 when McCartney started writing and planning RAM in the summer of 1970 and ending with the release of the first Wings album WILD LIFE in December 1971. [...] One thing I noted when exploring the material inside the deluxe RAM remaster is that the book contains many mistakes. A couple of dates are completely inaccurate and the story is far from complete. For this reason, I started to compile a Timeline for the 1970/1971 period filling the gaps and correcting the mistakes. The result is this Maccazine special. As the Timeline was way too long for one special, we decided to do a double issue (issue 3, 2012 and issue 1, 2013).