Beatles - Now and Then

[fuzzjunkie]

I guess the title is apt? It sounds like a mashup of different Beatles eras, which in a way it is. A ‘70s Lennon song with ‘90s McCartney arrangements, bolstered by Harrison’s ‘70s style slide guitar and some drumming and background vocals from Ringo. With a little help from their friend, AI.

It’s not a bad song. It sounds incomplete somehow. It was based off a Lennon demo after all. I think the 4 of them in a studio could have worked out something better? I just think that Paul really wanted this to happen and it’s a nice gesture, but falls a little flat for me at least.

It’s ironic to me that John would complain that Paul wrote sappy, maudlin love songs far too often, yet here he’s doing exactly that. I think the song would be stronger without the strings. Paul probably added those simply because he recognized what the song was. They fit, but don’t. I’d prefer a stripped down version. Guitar, bass, drums and maybe a little piano, since the demo includes that.

People often wonder where the Beatles would have ended up if they’d stayed together. I think a folky glam rock sound would have suited them in the ‘70s. This song would be better mining Ziggy Stardust and not a ‘90s James Bond sound track.

[Fiddy]

I liked it, if you didn't it's aaall beecause... Of you.

[s_mcsleazy]

so here's something interesting. i have a friend who knows i don't really care for the beatles and he just put on the song without telling me who it was. my first response was "wow, i'm not into this. not even because it's not something i'm into but it sounds like one of those songs you try so hard to make work but just won't come together" then he said "oh yeah, it's that beatles unreleased beatles song everyone's freaking out about"

i think my big issue still stands as it feels like one of those songs that just won't come together (pun unintended) but rather than try to let the song go, they feel the need to add everything to it in the hopes it will. i also just watched the music video for the first time there and.... i've been trying to limit my usage of the word "cringe" but it's cringe as hell...... sorry. tbh, i think i'm just wiped out on older artists looking back at their glory days.

tbh, i think it's one of those songs that's more interesting to talk about than it is to listen to and i know while mentioning i don't like the beatles has already caused some people to not take my opinion seriously, i did give it an honest go divorced of my opinions on them.

[fuzzjunkie]

Yeah. It’s more of a Beatles tribute than a Beatles song. It’s simple. Verse-chorus, blah, blah. John’s demo arrangement had more to it.

I like the beginning when the arrangement is stripped down. They could have done that all the way through and thrown in the slide guitar at the bridge with some McCartney piano bits on the turnarounds and it would be a better result.

Just watched the video and it is a bit “cringe.” I like the old group bowing and fading out at the end. A little too obvious maybe, but the song is intended to be a last hurrah.

[marqueemoon]

I hate the production. The song itself is ok.

I don’t know the backstory on this. I assume it was given the epic treatment because there wasn’t enough raw material to make it more of an intimate thing, but it just comes across as self-parody.

[BlixaFan]

I’d be fine with hearing more original demos but don’t necessarily think we need to hear more reworked versions of anything.

I think we would have been fine with a remastered cleaned up version of the Now and Then demo personally. In fact there’s a really good one on YouTube, and I prefer it to the reworked “band”version. looks like it has actually been taken down, glad i was able to download it

[Futuron]

How would folks rate it against Free As A Bird & Real Love?

[Nudger]

just watched the music video for the first time there and.... i've been trying to limit my usage of the word "cringe" but it's cringe as hell......

Yup cringe is the word
Watched it yesterday and I can honestly say that I cant remember how the song goes
And I like most if their output..

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I think the post-Beatles 'Threetles' tracks have been a case-in-point illustration of the law of diminishing returns. Free As A Bird came in on a wave of goodwill on the back of the Anthology TV show, and was as good as archeological demo digs of this kind are ever going to get.

I thought Real Love was pretty dire at the time, and the passage of time hasn't made it any better to my ears.

I think the basic nugget of Now And Then is a little better than either, but the "excitement" of a lost Lennon song being augmented by a new section worked up by McCartney is a busted flush at this point. Having heard an interview prior to its release I dug a little deeper into what Harrison's necro-involvement was exactly, and it seems it amounts to an acoustic guitar part which is barely audible on the finished track to the point where it might as well not be there. As per the previously-mentioned McCartney interview/statement, it transpires that he played some slide guitar "in the style of" George. For me that's an "oh dear" moment too far, not that I have much invested in the track anyway.

I saw the video last night, and found the spectacle of Ringo supposedly sharing equal vocal billing with McCartney just wrong, somehow. Okay, they're old pals and it's nice that they still have each other and got together to reminisce about the good old days and their fallen comrades, but....er, there's no "but..." really. That's just what it is: the old pals act from two guys who I guess have earned the indulgence more than most.

[s_mcsleazy]

just watched the music video for the first time there and.... i've been trying to limit my usage of the word "cringe" but it's cringe as hell......

Yup cringe is the word
Watched it yesterday and I can honestly say that I cant remember how the song goes
And I like most if their output..

i'm gonna get hell for saying this but it reminds me of that recent blink 182 music video which was all "hey, remember this? yeah you do. we were part of your childhood and you love us" am i saying blink 182 are the millenial beatles? no but i'm gonna let it sit there.

[marqueemoon]

just watched the music video for the first time there and.... i've been trying to limit my usage of the word "cringe" but it's cringe as hell......

Yup cringe is the word
Watched it yesterday and I can honestly say that I cant remember how the song goes
And I like most if their output..

i'm gonna get hell for saying this but it reminds me of that recent blink 182 music video which was all "hey, remember this? yeah you do. we were part of your childhood and you love us" am i saying blink 182 are the millenial beatles? no but i'm gonna let it sit there.

We’re getting past the stage of “remember this”, and to the point of The Beatles or their handlers needing to prove their cultural relevance every few years.

[Nudger]

I guess the title is apt? It sounds like a mashup of different Beatles eras, which in a way it is. A ‘70s Lennon song with ‘90s McCartney arrangements, bolstered by Harrison’s ‘70s style slide guitar and some drumming and background vocals from Ringo. With a little help from their friend, AI.

It’s not a bad song.
I’d prefer a stripped down version. Guitar, bass, drums and maybe a little piano, since the demo includes that.

What you make of this? I am now liking the song!!
https://youtu.be/iL_VrMGqa4I

[MKR]

What you make of this? I am now liking the song!!
https://youtu.be/iL_VrMGqa4I

That's a lot better. Kind of sad i guess.

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As for the "beatles" version. I don't hate it, but i don't think it's amazing either. My take on the video was a mix of meh, neat, not sure and all the while it made me a bit emotional. In fact both the song and the video do make me emotional. which is something i don't really quite understand given that both are somewhat underwhelming.

For what it's worth i am a massive beatles fan.

[Nudger]

What you make of this? I am now liking the song!!
https://youtu.be/iL_VrMGqa4I

That's a lot better. Kind of sad i guess.

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...
...

As for the "beatles" version. I don't hate it, but i don't think it's amazing either. My take on the video was a mix of meh, neat, not sure and all the while it made me a bit emotional. In fact both the song and the video do make me emotional. which is something i don't really quite understand given that both are somewhat underwhelming.

For what it's worth i am a massive beatles fan.

Ive watched the video and one was enough for me, may sound hypocritical but the puppetization "just invented a new word" of the deceased doesnt sit well with me yet, while....AI manipulation of their singing/playing I am somehow fine about..

[fuzzjunkie]

I guess the title is apt? It sounds like a mashup of different Beatles eras, which in a way it is. A ‘70s Lennon song with ‘90s McCartney arrangements, bolstered by Harrison’s ‘70s style slide guitar and some drumming and background vocals from Ringo. With a little help from their friend, AI.

It’s not a bad song.
I’d prefer a stripped down version. Guitar, bass, drums and maybe a little piano, since the demo includes that.

What you make of this? I am now liking the song!!
https://youtu.be/iL_VrMGqa4I

The arrangement is better overall. It’s more focused and not trying to cover several Beatles’ eras. I think including a 12-string instead of the orchestra strings is a good move. As is leaving the slide guitar out. Paul is a fine guitar player, but he doesn’t sound anything like George playing slide. Increasing the tempo changes the feel of the song quite a bit. That might stray too far from John’s demo. The drumming doesn’t feel much like Ringo though.

In some ways I think it sounds more like early REM than the Beatles, only with Lennon instead of Stipe on vocals. If I were producing, I would have modernized it and gone with something like the feel of Radiohead’s “In Rainbows.” But I’m not George Martin and 80+ year old Paul McCartney isn’t either.

Since the release I read that Paul was so driven/desperate to get this done because one of the last things John said to him before his murder was “Think of me now and then.” I know this is supposed to be an unrequited love song, which is very uncharacteristic of John and something he poked fun at Paul for doing.

I think Paul takes this as a song John wrote to him. It’s a song about a broken friendship and it’s more of a Paul song than a John song, which Paul must recognize as an attempt by John to want to reconnect/reconcile. That never happened and this is Paul’s attempt at making it happen through music. One last Lennon and McCartney original. He added too much Paul to it though and having George Martin around probably would have reined that in.