REVIEW: The Beatles – “Now and Then” (2023 single)

THE BEATLES – “Now and Then” (2023 single)

I get chills listening to this song.  Knowing now the story, about how John’s voice on this old tape was just too buried behind piano to work with, and how technology made it usable again…it is incredible.  John Lennon sounds fresh, front and center, as if the vocals were recorded yesterday, even though they were taped in 1977.

It’s also incredible that Yoko Ono handed these tapes off to the surviving Beatles for them to finish.  She didn’t have to do that.  She could have kept them, and put them out as unfinished solo songs.

George’s slide guitar parts were written in 1995 when the Beatles last tried to tackle this song.  Paul and Ringo finished it with drums, bass, acoustic guitars, and strings.  Paul felt the strings were very “Beatles”.

The string players had no idea what they were working on.  Secrecy was a priority.  They were just told they were playing on something for Paul McCartney, but not the Beatles.  Can you imagine how the players would have reacted to that?

To me, this sounds like an old Beatles song from the Abbey Road or Let It Be era, that I had somehow forgotten about.  It sounds somber – sad, and mournful.  It also reminds us of “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” from the Anthology albums, which underwent similar reworking all those years ago.  It is the last Beatles song, and so it should be.

To me it is just incredible that we have one more Beatles song to enjoy.

“Now and Then” will be out on an expanded edition of the Blue album.  A necessary purchase for fans who want to relive the days when we was fab.  I just wish the artwork for the single wasn’t so drab!

4/5 stars

21 comments

  6. I enjoyed the touching mini-documentary and love the Beatles but I’m only moderately interested in the song as I have issues with the idea of calling it a Beatles song (I had the same view of the two “new” songs on the Anthology series in the ‘90’s). Henry. 

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      1. I’ll look forward to watching that, Mike. I wrote my initial comment at the bus stop on the way to work (a first!). Temperature is 32 F outside. PS – I am enjoying the new Stones album too. They’ve pulled similar tricks on the some of the previously unreleased outtakes/bonus tracks on the deluxe editions of their ‘70’s albums.

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        1. It’s cold here this morning. Winter has come as far as I am concerned!

          Peter may have skipped our talk about this, I just went on YoutTube and he posted some solo remarks. Tonight we’re recording about a different band, but the Beatles may still come up, I hope.

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  9. I was fortunate enough to see Paul live a week or so before this release. As a long time fan of The Beatles I think Now And Then is a beautiful closure to an amazing body of work. So sublimely infectious.

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