Today’s reaction is a special one. Although I’ve never been a huge Beatles fan, I’ve always appreciated their melodies and the evolution of the group from their inception to their breakup. The Beatles formed in Liverpool, England in 1960, comprised of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr (with Pete Best being considered “the fifth Beatle”).
They’ve won 7 Grammys from their 23 total career nominations. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, the band’s final studio album, “Let It Be” was released in May of 1970.
Today’s featured track is called “Now and Then” and is included on the 2023 expanded compilation “The Beatles 1967-1970”. Released in early November, the song was paired with “Love Me Do” as a double A-side single, topping the charts in four countries and landing in the top 10 in numerous others.
The Road to a New Beatles Song in 2023?
The story leading to this “new” song from The Beatles in 2023 is a fascinating tale, involving ELO front-man Jeff Lynne, a demo recording by John Lennon from 1977, additional lyrics added by McCartney, a failed mid-90’s attempt to flesh out the song from a cassette tape, and a type of artificial intelligence capable of extracting Lennon’s vocals from the home-recording.
To make a long story short, John Lennon wrote and recorded a piano demo version on a cassette tape at his home in The Dakota in 1977, with the song lacking lyrics at points, and the recording featuring hissing noise and scratchy-sounding points.
In 1994, Yoko Ono (Lennon’s widow) gave McCartney two cassette tapes she had in her possession, including a handful of songs Lennon had never finished or released commercially. “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” were released on the “Anthology” compilations in 1995. With technical difficulties resurrecting “Now and Then” (not to mention George Harrison stating the track was “f*@k(dg rubbish”), McCartney and Jeff Lynne’s efforts to record the song were scrapped.
In 2021, Peter Jackson was working on the documentary “The Beatles: Get Back” using a neural network process called MAL (machine-assisted learning) to isolate instruments, vocals, and conversations for the program. Later realizing the same technology could be used to isolate Lennon’s vocals from the cassette recording of “Now and Then”, strings and new instrumentation were added to the recording with mixing and final mastering taking place at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.
“Nothing has been artificially or synthetically created. It’s all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings – a process which has gone on for years.”
Paul McCartney, June, 2023
Peter Jackson and the Creation of the Video
Having previously directed the documentary on the Beatles, Peter Jackson helmed the creation of the music video for “Now and Then”, working with never-before-seen footage of the Beatles and current recordings of both McCartney & Starr, merging the data via video effects into a quirky and welcomed reminder of the greatness of the greatest group of all time.
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The Song’s Reception
According to Wikipedia, this last song from the Beatles:
- Achieved an 87 out 100 from Metacritic, which equates to “universal acclaim.”
- Received feedback from Rolling Stone, noting the song was “the final masterpiece that the Beatles – and their fans – deserve.”
- Was called “the musical event of the year and one of the greatest tearjerkers in history” by The Independent.
- Hit the Washington Post differently, who concluded that “a passable song is simply not good enough when you’re sharing vinyl with ‘Strawberry Fields Forever”, ” A Day in the Life”, or “Let It Be”.
- Was named the 3rd best rock song of 2023 by Ultimate Classic Rock.
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