"Now And Then" offers a mesmerizing glimpse into the creative legacy of The Beatles that stems back to the 1990s. The collaborative effort among John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr initiated the song, which, until recently, remained an unfinished work. The song's rich history becomes a canvas for exploration, with each member contributing a layer to its narrative. When the song was first worked on, we had three Beatles; Paul, Ringo, and George. They released two songs on the 1994 Beatles anthology project, “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” This was a three-album set with two songs being split up on the records, giving one song for Anthology 1 and Anthology 2, but no song was on Anthology 3. I guess that “Now and Then” was supposed to be on the third record, but was never completed. My thoughts are they tried to fix the issues they ran into with the demo track from John Lennon which was difficult at the time because the technology for fixing demo tapes hadn’t been invented yet and after George died in 2001 this project probably seemed almost impossible to complete for the two remaining Beatles. That’s why I think this song was finally released in 2023. The song when I listen to it has backing vocals that are from current times. You can hear the age in Paul and Ringo’s voices which adds a nice contrast to John Lennon’s younger voice, it reminds you that the song was completed now instead of back then. There is also a slide guitar part that was added to the song, but it was played by Paul McCarthy. This was to pay tribute to George Harrison since, unfortunately, he wasn’t around to complete this song. The only parts that are original to this song are John’s voice and George’s acoustic guitar track. The strings in the song were done by George Martin’s son, Giles Martin. George Martin did all the original symphony work for the Beatles in the 1960s and 70s on songs like “A Day In Life” and “I Am the Walrus.” The rest was played by Paul and Ringo in 2023. The song itself sounds reminiscent of the past and to me, sounds like maybe early 70s Beatles or a solo John Lennon song.
Explanation:
The AI intervention in "Now And Then" represents a groundbreaking chapter in the song's evolution. In the 1990s, the recording sessions for The Beatles' "Anthology" project left the track incomplete, a fragment of the collaborative effort among the band members. Fast forward to the present, where advancements in AI technology have allowed for a unique resurrection of the song. By employing sophisticated algorithms, the AI meticulously removed additional sounds and the piano from the original recording, unveiling a solo track centered around John Lennon's evocative vocals.