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Thoughts on the new Beatles song "Now and Then"?

I think it's great. Beautiful haunting vocals from John and the rest of the Beatles have great contributions. I just wish George had recorded more for the song back in the 90s. Other than that, I think it's catchy and It's been stuck in my head since it came out.

Reply 1

gjd800

I'm not huge on the Beatles (sacrilege for a Scouser) but I like the idea behind it and think the AI use here is both inventive and conservative - by that I mean that it's not filling in any gaps or really creating, it has been used to enhance what was already intended to be released in the 70s. I really like that in this age of AI suspicion (I myself do not like many AI applications).It sounds very much like a Beatles song of that era. I think it's a nice thing.

Reply 2

CCCU Official

Official Rep

Original post by gjd800

Personally, I'm a huge Beatles fan, but I'm in agreement. I was pleased to hear the AI was used just to clean the audio, not to replicate John's voice, which I think is a step too far and I really hope the music industry doesn't start to take further steps in that direction. Thank you for your well considered response!

-Sam

Reply 3

Picnicl

I agree with George Harrison's assessment that it wasn't worth them working on it. The song has John Lennon solo song written all over it. It's a nice song. It's by John so it has to be. But it's simply not a 'Beatles' song to me. Whereas Free as a Bird and Real Love became 'Beatles' songs because they soar more and because there's a lot more to them. Credit to Paul in particular, though, for being so keen to extend the Beatles discography, knowing that John, and George's guitar on Free and Real, would get more noticed on those songs than Paul would and knowing that it'd enhance John's Beatles legacy. Even though Paul should have been vetoed on making this one a 'Beatles' song.