Now, Then and Later

Anyone who remembers the Beatles' Anthology CD releases of the mid-nineties also remembers the thrill and excitement of waiting to hear two new Beatles singles - "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" - as part of the accompanying TV documentary that aired on ABC in America in 1995.  So what if the two new songs had clichés as titles?  They were two new Beatles songs, made with overdubbing and remixing from two unfinished John Lennon cassette demos from his retirement years in Manhattan.  Despite the passage of time and the worry that that band's legacy would be cheapened, and despite jokes that Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were planning to make a record out of another unfinished Lennon recording called "Yoko and I Can't Come To the Phone Right Now" ( 😃 ), the two new songs not disappoint.  Ringo, after hearing one of the new songs in finished form, famously said, "It sounds like the bloody Beatles!"

Because "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" were the Beatles, and they satisfied the desires of Beatles fans - many of whom were too young to have experienced the Fab Four firsthand and had to settle for the record business cramming Duran Duran down their throats in the 1980s - who wished there could be new Beatles product.  "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," appearing on the Anthology albums, complemented the three double-CD compilations of alternate-take and unreleased-song tracks as well.

"But wait!" we all said collectively.  Two new songs for three new double-album releases of previously unissued session tapes?  That doesn't add up!"  No, it didn't.  While Anthology 1 kicked off with "Free as a Bird" and Anthology 2 started with "Real Love," Anthology 3 began with . . . a beginning.  That is, "A Beginning," a short orchestral introduction composed by George Martin as a possible item for Ringo's White Album song "Don't Pass Me By" but then discarded.  Why not a third new Beatles song?

Well, as we all know now, there was a third unfinished John Lennon song intended to start the third Anthology collection . . . "Now and Then." The three surviving Beatles had begun work on it in 1995, but John's voice was so weak that George didn't think it was worth completing, lest the group put out inferior product and fail to provide value for money (already a quaint notion in 1995, but the Fabs were old-school), and so the song was shelved.  If one member of the group objected to an idea, the group did not go forward with it.

But as artificial intelligence technology has improved, Paul thought it would be possible to strengthen John's vocal on "Now and Then" by having AI simulate his voice from the original cassette demo and add more fullness and timbre to it.  Ringo was game, and so the intended Anthology 3 bonus track was completed.  (Note: This song has been referred to before by the title "I Don't Want To Lose You," but the verse that includes that lyric was edited out of the final product.)

Given the way AI has taken over the Internet and has been used to create dangerous deep fakes that include a video of Hillary Clinton endorsing Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign (what next, a rom-com feature pairing Helen Mirren and Dan Aykroyd?), I was skeptical about how "Now and Then" would turn out.  Having now listened to it, though, I can say that it turned out beautifully.  The song is wonderfully arranged around John's somber piano, with Ringo's steady drums keeping a perfect beat and Paul's and George's guitars adding rich treble to what is essentially a folk-rock ballad in the style of Rubber Soul.   And John's vocals?  Well, I heard the "Now and Then" demo, and I don't think his vocal was that weak, but the AI certainly makes him sound more polished and professional.  The use of AI is so subtle - subtlety being a Beatles trademark - that you can't tell how or where the AI technology enhanced it . . . though to Paul and to Giles Martin, who produced "Now and Then" together, it must stick out like a sore thumb, just like the edit joining two entirely different arrangements of "Strawberry Fields Forever" did to Giles' father George.  "Now and Then" itself is rather poignant as a song, showing John in conflict about he's nothing without Yoko but still wanting enough freedom to stand on his own.

"Now and Then" is appearing on an album, by the way.  To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the original release of the Beatles' 1962-1966 Red and 1967-1970 Blue compilations, Apple is releasing new versions of both albums with expanded track lists on CD and vinyl, adding more songs (including a few covers) to both collections, turning the two double albums into triple albums, at least on the vinyl edition, were the additional songs will comprise bonus LPs.  So the Beatles' first greatest-hits compilations will now be the equivalent of a sextuple album, with "Now and Then" appearing as the final track on CD edition of the Blue Album and as the lead track on a bonus record of the Blue Album's added songs on the vinyl edition.  (Would you believe that the songs added to the Red Album do not include "If I Fell," even though it was an American single that got airplay on AM radio,  and also do not include "Do You Want To Know a Secret?", a number-two hit single in the States? Incomprehensible.) 

As the final "new" song from the Beatles, "Now and Then" represents the last hurrah for the group - and, along with the Rolling Stones' new Hackney Diamonds album, the last hurrah for rock and roll.  Rock has had a great deal of trouble producing acts with anything resembling staying power in the past four decades, and even in the 1970s - a decade that saw the debuts of the Eagles, Steely Dan, Jackson Browne, the Doobie Brothers, Bruce Springsteen, Rush, Tom Petty and Elvis Costello and also saw the peaks of artists that debuted at the end of the sixties, such as Elton John and Led Zeppelin - the Stones and the solo Beatles seemed to dominate the rock scene like no seventies artist (except Elton John) could.  Also, rock had to contend with the disco craze in the seventies.  And while rock survived the seventies better than Gloria Gaynor's career, its decline in the 1980s, despite a few strong albums and artists, was hard to overlook and impossible to comprehend.  That decline - paused briefly by the early-nineties grunge revolt - continued in 1995, the year the first product from of the Beatles' Anthology project came out and the year after Kurt Cobain's death, and it continues to this very day.  But that's a topic for another blog post.  Suffice it to say that it seems sadly appropriate that the Beatles and the Stones, who rescued rock and roll from the dead after it seemingly perished with Buddy Holly and his traveling companions, are now ready to give the form last rites now. 😢

Here is the official video for "Now and Then," created by Get Back director Peter Jackson.  This isn't a Music Video Of the Week; this is the music video of the year. 😊