As I'm sure you've all heard, the Beatles are releasing this supposed 'FINAL TRACK' (STILL WAITING for 'Carnival of Light')

They're not adding anything that wasn't there, don't worry..

I for one am excited, I never expected to get a new Beatles song in my lifetime

What are y'all's thoughts?

If they do release it i would imagine it will be tacked onto an overpriced box set that features all the tracks that we already have on a huge number of other releases already.

Add to that if it has been neglected this long then it's probably not anything to get over excited about.

You can find out all about it through various YouTube videos and their website, 

I'll listen to the track on digital, and then consider buying the 7-inch single

^ The old version is around, if the link doesn't work just check youtube "Now and Then"by john lennon -- performed live by Apple Jam

It's far from John's best and the melodic content was a bit better on 'Free as a Bird' & 'Real Love', but it's not a bad composition for the time.  

Oh I've very interested in hearing it, buying a physical copy for that much is another story

Thanks for that :)

Missed this one somehow.

Sounds like a typical Lennon song.

Not bad at all but needed work to be a real zinger.

I do love Free As A Bird and Real Love.

Those were perfect bonus tracks for those anthology albums.

Well, there are some very expensive reissues of the Red and Blue albums on vinyl, with some changes to the track listing.

The new track itself has been "neglected" because it's taken AI technology to get it to a listenable state.

The link does not work for me. 

Corrected link.

It is clearly, painfully a period Lennon cut and sounds nothing like anything the Beatles did or would ever do.  

I personally wouldn't get too excited about "Carnival of Light". 

Just anther unreleased experiment that has gained some kind of mythical status purely because it remains unreleased. 

A sound experiment Paul flung together in an attempt to enhance a reputation for innovation. I think there's a reason it has remained unreleased.

Frets N Worries wrote: Will it be better than Free as a Bird or Real Love?

From what I've heard above, yess, a bit better

But so what? They won't get me to buy it it.

^ Maybe the consensus in prog circles, but as songs Real Love & FaaB were more melodic, tighter, specific, and closer to what the Beatles might've released as B-sides.   'Now and Then' is more of an internal John Lennon exploration.

Nope, that doesn't exist.

 ... I mean except for 'The End/Her Majesty' of course  

'and in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make'

Certainly not their best song but it is satisfying to see a recording with half the Beatles living and half dead perform a bonafide song. This short 12 1/2 minute documentary scratches that itch.

I haven't heard this in its entirety, but some bits and pieces of this stuff appears to have been heard in the many bootlegs around the Beatles, specially Let It Be.

And of course, John, George and Paul would eventually remember their bits and do something with them!

As for a new "Beatles" ... I don't think that is right, or should have been done. Maybe if they were listed as "out-takes" it would make better sense.

'The Medley' (Which does NOT include Because) is their true end, however, I will say 'Now and Then' is a solid record, and the last 'NEW' Beatles song we'll ever get, it's sad, I had no idea I'd get a new song by Rock's greatest group in my lifetime, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. 

^ I don't think he had to---  he was a Beatle, and frankly he's right.

If I had to sum up my thoughts in a sentence, i'd say:

It's interesting, good, and I'm glad it came out, and I hope it doesn't mar what was meant to be their Swan Song. 

^ it's a mere blip and most people won't even be aware that it came out.

These things are acceptable given The Beatles never carried on with new band members.

Personally it's not horrible but hardly anything i will shell out cash for.

Of course.

Hi,

Considering GH's sardonic humor ... this comment would probably be followed with a laugh!

Hi,

Heck ... it might be worth it when the used copies show at at Amadxon ... for $2.99 each. I would buy it then, but I had for a long time over 20 Beatles bootlegs, and I have YET to hear anything that I had not heard in the bootlegs many years ago ... and for us to think that it is new ... is a way of rejecting the actual history of it all in my book!

I imagine that for almost everyone here, this is all "new" ... but it ain't and never will be! The interpretation, sure, but not the actual music. The only thing that bothers me, is the inability to let the actual moment to live on its own, and instead it has to be "redone" and "re-this" and "re-that", so they can sell it as if it were something new. I honestly do not think there is anything new that Paul or Ringo can show us anymore, and I'm getting kinda tired of their rehashes ... 

No I don't think it was followed by a laugh... maybe a cynical grin.

You don't become one of the most important songwriting teams in history without very high standards.   I don't think George Harrison liked every George Harrison song or wanted to record something he thought was not good enough, and he felt the same toward his band mates. 

I do prefer the original Lennon demo, which have the excellent "I dont wanna loose you" theme intact

Agree.. They could have used the technology to get rid of some hiss, but to also isolate the vocals and piano.

Oh, I don't know. I think John saying "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition." at the end of "Let it Be" is great.

Not only is it a little dig at the whole idea of the rooftop performance, but it could also be taken as a sardonic wrap-up of The Beatles whole career.

If this song did not have the magic talisman of The Beatles name attached to it I would think it would pass by relatively unnoticed (even if it was a new McCartney song).

Ah nostalgia. It always was The Beatles' trump card.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/10/the-beatles-54-years-no-1-singles-now-and-then-uk-chart" rel="nofollow - https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/10/the-beatles-54-years-no-1-singles-now-and-then-uk-chart

Listening to 'Free as a Bird' and it is a brilliant cut, as good as almost anything they ever recorded.   And 'Real Love' ain't bad at all, both with superb guitar from George, very reasonable breaks from Paul and Ringo's just-behind-the-beat drum track.   'Now and Then', not so much.

^ i totally agree but it does show how the hunger for The Beatles is still strong some 60 years later.

Not a #1 worthy song IMHO but then again not much is these days in the world of pop music.

Hi,

For GH, I don't think there was such a thing as good, or better, In terms of his "religious" standing, it would all be about the very moment it happened that mattered, not before or after, thus him liking or disliking something would seem to be slightly off base. 

I rather think that unlike Paul and John, GH was probably the first that didn't care what anyone thought of his music. He just did it, and that was that ... and you might even remember that he even put together an electronic album ... as a way to teach himself something else, and sadly, he did not continue that at all, and I think him having to play "hits" and not exactly appreciated for being the experimental person he wanted to be, might, in the end, be the bigger problem. 

Hard to tell, but you can see in "Let It Be" that he was, almost always, on a different wavelength, but he was good enough (and probably professional enough) to contribute to what was being done.

moshkito wrote: I rather think that unlike Paul and John, GH was probably the first that didn't care what anyone thought of his music. He just did it, and that was that ... and you might even remember that he even put together an electronic album ... as a way to teach himself something else, and sadly, he did not continue that at all, and I think him having to play "hits" and not exactly appreciated for being the experimental person he wanted to be, might, in the end, be the bigger problem.

Most, or some of this is probably true. But sometimes a genuine artist gets tired of putting together something like an electronic album. Perhaps for George being a true experimental person meant that from there he needed to move in the opposite direction. Maybe have a go at composing a tune that everyone can sing a long to, or whatever. Just because you hardly approve of anything resembling a hit, doesn't nessecarily mean that the artist is dishonest for creating it.

To me, for someone like George Harrison, Electronic Sound comes across as something he had to get out of his system. Except for the fact that it was made by a Beatle it's completely unremakable and about as interesting as me releasing an album where I'm toying around with a trumpet, a cembalo - or some other instrument I haven't taught myself to play. It didn't even need to be released as an album imo. I'm glad there's only the one.

The first side comprising "No Time or Space" wasn't even by Harrison, but the editing down of a demonstration done by Bernie Krauss (recorded and released without Krauss' knowledge or permission).

As to "Now and Then" I love both the lo-fi demo and the new sort of "full band" version. Paul and Ringo did an excellent job of cleaning up and building on John's original version, making it a sort of late Beatles pop cut that might fit on Abbey Road more or less. I as an audio engineer remain in awe of how far musical restorative tech has come to give us "Now and Then" as we now know it, which is not simply a job from iZotope's RX 10 which I'm familiar with but a product of Peter Jackson's own unique tool?! I'm not only pleased but fascinated and humbled by the track we've received, aside from how atrocious the associated music video is.