Yes, we're doing this! Let's talk about one of the least original music purchase choices possible this year! But hey - there was a discount! And of course I also genuinely like it!
THE BEATLES - Now And Then (CD single) (2023)
Well, I came too late to get the 7" for a not totally ridiculous price, so the most primitive package possible as a CD single had to suffice. Many claim that the cover artwork is lazy, but I think it's actually fine once you realize what this abstraction represents. And honestly: What artwork could possibly satisfy every fan anyway? The incident of the sheer existence of the music inside would always outshine the painting or photograph it is sold in.
Is anyone here actually not knowing the story of this song? I mean, half of the casual Beatles crowd out there probably thinks this isn't even a real Fab Five song, but has somehow been created by an AI, just because the press loves to tease it as such in headlines so much.
In earlier days one would have just talked about "improved audio engineering technology" or something along those lines, since the artificially intelligent part only was seperating vocals and piano on a demo recording from each other in a clean way, which made building upon this recording possible.
We're talking about a demo from John Lennon, which Yoko One passed to Paul McCartney after his death. Two of the three songs on it were completed by the rest of The Beatles in the early 1990s, and they also recorded additional tracks for "Now And Then", but it just wasn't technically possible to do it in a satisfying way, so they gave up on it.
Jump to today and enter Peter Jackson - also resposible for the 2021 documentary "Get Back!" - who makes the two last living band members aware that it's doable now... and they did it, the last Beatles song - sung by John then in the Seventies, with George's guitars from the Nineties and Paul and Ringo adding bass, more guitars, vocals and drums now. Plus George Martin's son Giles adding an orchestral arrangement.
Since they tried to squash in as many Beatles trademarks as possible into these four minutes - including the strings, the Harrison tribute slide guitars and even some sneakily recycled harmony vocals, it is of course a bit much. So it's definitely a more is more affair. But you know what? It's cool. I love that making this was possible - and despite the derivated (or call it tribute) nature of some details it is a really great song.
The only irony after all the effort to turn this unfinished imperfect demo into a listenable single is that he production actually isn't nearly as possible. Which is a matter of taste and deliberate choice, since they wanted it to be modern and not too vintage. And that decision unfortunately comes with a compressed, louder, less dynamic sound then what would have been if The Beatles had recorded it right after "Let It Be" and "Abbey Road". (And yes, of course I'm by far not the first person to think this way, as you can for example witness in this quite authentic cover video on YouTube.)
Still love the song though, did I mention that yet?
Pairing it with a new mix of "Love Me Do" seems a bit odd, since it represents such a totally different phase than the late, much more progressive and experimental studio nerds. But it's probably meant as doubling down on the then part in the title. So why not?
Despite it not being as perfect as it could have been, this still is an astonishing achievement and without a doubt more relevant than tenmore new Stones albums. *duckscoversandsneaksaway*
Is anyone here actually not knowing the story of this song? I mean, half of the casual Beatles crowd out there probably thinks this isn't even a real Fab Five song, but has somehow been created by an AI, just because the press loves to tease it as such in headlines so much.
In earlier days one would have just talked about "improved audio engineering technology" or something along those lines, since the artificially intelligent part only was seperating vocals and piano on a demo recording from each other in a clean way, which made building upon this recording possible.
We're talking about a demo from John Lennon, which Yoko One passed to Paul McCartney after his death. Two of the three songs on it were completed by the rest of The Beatles in the early 1990s, and they also recorded additional tracks for "Now And Then", but it just wasn't technically possible to do it in a satisfying way, so they gave up on it.
Jump to today and enter Peter Jackson - also resposible for the 2021 documentary "Get Back!" - who makes the two last living band members aware that it's doable now... and they did it, the last Beatles song - sung by John then in the Seventies, with George's guitars from the Nineties and Paul and Ringo adding bass, more guitars, vocals and drums now. Plus George Martin's son Giles adding an orchestral arrangement.
Since they tried to squash in as many Beatles trademarks as possible into these four minutes - including the strings, the Harrison tribute slide guitars and even some sneakily recycled harmony vocals, it is of course a bit much. So it's definitely a more is more affair. But you know what? It's cool. I love that making this was possible - and despite the derivated (or call it tribute) nature of some details it is a really great song.
The only irony after all the effort to turn this unfinished imperfect demo into a listenable single is that he production actually isn't nearly as possible. Which is a matter of taste and deliberate choice, since they wanted it to be modern and not too vintage. And that decision unfortunately comes with a compressed, louder, less dynamic sound then what would have been if The Beatles had recorded it right after "Let It Be" and "Abbey Road". (And yes, of course I'm by far not the first person to think this way, as you can for example witness in this quite authentic cover video on YouTube.)
Still love the song though, did I mention that yet?
Pairing it with a new mix of "Love Me Do" seems a bit odd, since it represents such a totally different phase than the late, much more progressive and experimental studio nerds. But it's probably meant as doubling down on the then part in the title. So why not?
Despite it not being as perfect as it could have been, this still is an astonishing achievement and without a doubt more relevant than tenmore new Stones albums. *duckscoversandsneaksaway*
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