“Here’s the Beatles making history again”. It is one of the many ways the British public celebrates ‘Now and then’new single from the beatles, released on 2 November. An unexpected and very experimental work, and consequently divisive among conservative Beltesians and ordinary enthusiasts. Still, that reference to history – whether you like the piece or not – seems quite sensible. Because ‘Now And Then’ features the great Beatles hits, and maybe in the end it features the great classics too. And that’s because there’s a lot of the band’s history within it whichever way you look at it, which paradoxically also includes the use of artificial intelligence. And above all, intact, is a timeless elegance that is the essence of the Fab Four.
Origin of the song
‘Now and Then’ was born from a 1977 home ‘demo’ John Lennon (you can find it here), and was never developed before the composer’s murder, which occurred three years later. yoko ono He made it available to Paul, George and Ringo in 1995, a period in which the Beatles had similarly revived “Free as a Bird” for the anthology. But if the latter was eventually usable, the ‘Now and Then’ track required operations that were too complex for the 90s. However, now, with a leap of nearly thirty years in time and technology, it has found its way to becoming the last single in Beatles history. With detailed origins, very digital and kept as secret as possible, so much so that some people in Britain have given it a bad name mccartney He wanted to play another prank on his friends/rivals Rolling stoneReleased in September with their 29th album ‘Hackney Diamonds’, a condensation of the London band’s most classic rock’n’roll in the seventies style.
The Beatles and AI? Surely they have something to do with it
The Beatles have once again raised the bar. Because the work done on ‘now and then’ gives that aura to that work, and also gives that momentum, which belongs to a different artistic dimension. And it’s no contradiction to compare the ‘oldest’ band of the contemporary era to artificial intelligence technology. since I the beatlesIn the late 1960s, He invented the musical panorama Even from this point of view and, above all, with the limitations imposed by the naïve technology of the time. In 1966 he created ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ (from the album ‘Revolver’) from scratch, with unimaginable effects, given by highly engineered tape loops and tape saturation, which ultimately resulted in “Sounds from Another World”. (New Musical Express). Today Paul can have fun with AI, and he does it with excellent skill. Giving ‘Now And Then’ a sonic depth that “Free As A Bird” could not and did not have.
A classic Lennon-McCartney
Many observers have expressed skepticism about Abbey Road being properly weakened by years of scraping the barrel. beatlesque reality This is how One Piece was conceived. Really you can’t see why not: the track is from right here lennon (and certainly Lennon-esque), arrangements, additions and brilliant bridges towards the finale mccartney, also Paul’s bass. Pattern identical to several original pieces composed together in John’s bedroom in the Mendips sixty years ago. drum parts are ringo In fact, the strings are recorded by an orchestra in the studio (without the musicians knowing they were playing for the Beatles, incidentally), as already done on ‘Eleanor Rigby’, or A Day in the Life. ‘ was for. Nothing reprehensible. While the use of artificial intelligence – as well as cleaning up the original vocal track and stripping it of the screeching piano – belongs to a much more suggestive area: the three-way choirs follow the original perfectly, taken from Strawberry Fields. Mellotron sound, ‘liquid’ style guitar sound george, The breath of history is presented digitally here and there, in a vaguely sparse and dreamy frame that leaves its mark.
the last beatles classic
So a song is not born from artificial intelligence, or thanks to artificial intelligence, but A Lennon-McCartney Original Reassembled, rearranged, wonderfully restored, thanks to AI and the genius of Paul McCartney. So is this the last great Beatles classic? Of course, there are some legitimate doubts about whether John Lennon would have given the green light to the barely-crafted lyrics – despite his obsessive attention to words – and the songs were abandoned after the demo was substantially over-written. But McCartney deserves credit for the fact that the operation makes sense, as it completely respects the Fab Four’s history while projecting it surprisingly well into the future. Perhaps no one had the right or duty to experiment more than the Beatles. Perspectives are opening up once again. Paul considers it ‘the Beatles song over and over again’, who can blame him?