NOW AND THEN

Being touted as "the final song by The Beatles", "Now and Then" effectively brings an end to the sounds of the Fab Four, the British rock band from Liverpool that helped shift the culture in the '60's and has continued to be highly influential long after they came to an end in 1970. And the story behind the creation of this track is as fascinating as the idea that the Beatles are together for one last time.

It all began when John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono gave the three surviving members of the group, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, four unfinished demos by Lennon for an anthology project they were working on. After rejecting one track as unsalvageable, they went to work on "Free as a Bird", "Real Love" and "Now and Then". With Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, who had worked with Harrison on their side project, The Traveling Wilburys and Harrison's 1987 comeback album, "Cloud Nine", on board to contribute, "Free as a Bird" was completed in 1995 and "Real Love" was released the following year. But work on "Now and Then" ended not long after when Harrison decided there just wasn't enough there on the track and not worthwhile to devote any more time on.

However, McCartney strongly disagreed and wanted to finish "Now and Then". After Harrison's passing in 2001, McCartney no longer had a dissenter in the band to stand in the way, yet the song still proved to be extremely complicated to complete. That changed last year when technology helped overcome some of these obstacles. Filmmaker Peter Jackson's team had developed a way to isolate specific sounds on an audio track in order to clean up a muddied recording. McCartney along with Giles Martin, son of the Beatles' legendary producer, George, went to work arranging the track with Starr's original drums, McCartney providing an accompanying vocal with Lennon and playing all other instruments while merging elements of Lennon's piano and Harrison's rhythm guitar.

As for the completed song? While it's certainly wonderful to once again have something "new" from this classic band, "Now and Then" simply lacks a vitality that makes this ballad still feel like a work in progress. I certainly understand the attraction that made McCartney want to attempt to finish this song, with a lovely melody and Lennon's wistful lyrics but without the rest of the band available to offer contributions, "Now and Then" continues to leave an impression as a possibility of what could have been. The music video for "Now and Then" reflects the sentiment of the song, featuring the current McCartney and Starr merged seamlessly with past images of Lennon and Harrison and them all together as a band. This final collaboration from one of the world's most popular musical acts is absolutely thrilling in concept yet remains slightly disappointing in execution.



And here are the previous two tracks released by The Beatles:

PHIL SPECTOR (1939 - 2021)

Phil Spector, a highly influential producer and songwriter known for the creation of "the wall of sound" which brought a dense orchestral aesthetic to rock music, has passed away at the age of eighty-one. He died on January 16th from complications of COVID-19 as an inmate at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, CA. after being convicted for the 2003 murder of actress, Lana Clarkson and sentenced to nineteen years to life in prison. This is not a warm tribute to this unstable and deeply troubled man but simply acknowledging his important contributions to pop music.

Born Harvey Phillip Spector in the Bronx, he began his career as a musician, performing with the group, The Teddy Bears as a guitarist and vocalist. He wrote their number one hit, "To Know Him Is to Love Him" in 1958, inspired by words on his father's tombstone. He soon moved to forming his own record label, Philles Records, at the age of twenty-one in 1960 and focusing on production. Spector had an ear for talent and went on to sign and produce The Crystals ("He's a Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Then He Kissed Me"), The Righteous Brothers ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration"), Darlene Love ("(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry", "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)") and The Ronettes ("Be My Baby", "Baby, I Love You", "(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up"). One of the last artists he signed to his label were Ike & Tina Turner and Spector produced the single, "River Deep, Mountain High" in 1966. While the song reached number three in the UK, it did not even come close to the top-forty in the US, disappointing him greatly since he considered it his greatest work.

Spector slowly began withdrawing from recording after this, living largely like a recluse. He was lured out in 1970 by Allen Klein, the manager of the Beatles, to help work on completing their abandoned project which would ultimately become the group's final album, "Let It Be". The album was a major hit with Spector later producing solo work for John Lennon ("Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)", "Imagine", "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)") and George Harrison ("My Sweet Lord", "What Is Life"). Spector went on to produced the albums, "Death of a Ladies' Man" for Leonard Cohen in 1977 and "End of the Century" for the punk-rock band, The Ramones in 1979. In both of these cases, fans were unhappy with the results as they found the records too commercial and strayed too far from their musical roots.

While married to his first wife, Annette Merar, a lead vocalist of the Spectors Three, Spector began an affair with Veronica Bennett, (later known as Ronnie Spector), the lead singer of The Ronettes and married her in 1968. Ronnie went on to later describe being psychologically terrorized by him and in forced isolation in their home for years before escaping from Spector in 1972.

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WHITE ALBUM

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles self-titled ninth studio album which over time has been referred to as "The White Album" due to the plain white cover with only the band's name embossed. In celebration, a new edition of the album has been remastered and fully remixed with a seven-disc, box set featuring plenty of bonus material and demos. This massive project was overseen by producer, Giles Martin, the son of the late Sir George Martin who produced most of the band's music and has been referred to as "the fifth Beatle".

While the album marked a creative high point for the Beatles, the tension between the band members intensified during the recording sessions leading to many arguments and disagreements (particularly between the main writing team, Paul McCartney and John Lennon) with even happy-go-lucky drummer, Ringo Starr briefly quitting the group. The band did manage to record a couple more albums before finally calling it quits by 1970.

The Beatles had enjoyed critical and commercial success with their last album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and had all embarked on a transcendental meditation course in India in order to recharge and clear their heads. During the retreat, Lennon and McCartney began working together in relative calm to write material for the band's next record.

But by the time the group returned to Abbey Road Studios in London to begin recording, all of the peace and calm they had experienced had quickly evaporated. With their long-time producer,  Martin no longer able to have a steady, guiding influence over the band, their creative problems escalated. Another concern was the presence of Yoko Ono who was Lennon's new creative and love partner at the time. Since the band did not usually invite wives or girlfriends to be present during recording sessions, Ono was considered an unwelcome distraction as she always remained by her man's side.

The Beatles finally finished the album and released it on November 22, 1968. While it did have a working title of "A Doll's House", the thirty song, double-album was just simply called "The Beatles". Despite all of the drama that went in to it's creation, this wildly diverse record is considered the band's greatest achievement and features some of their most classic songs like "Dear Prudence", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Back in the U.S.S.R." "Happiness is a Warm Gun" and "Helter Skelter". Here are a few of my favorite songs from the album:

THE BEATLES INVADE AMERICA

It was exactly fifty years ago today when a scruffy rock band for Britain made their American television debut and an entire nation swooned. An estimated seventy three million people tuned in to the popular "The Ed Sullivan Show" to watch The Beatles make the first of three consecutive appearances on the program. On that inaugural evening, the foursome performed "All My Loving", "Til There Was You" and "She Loves You". By the time The Beatles finished their act, they left the audience completely mesmerized and screaming for more.

There is no way to overestimate this band's power and influence they had not only on these shores but on the rest of the globe. Many other British acts followed and found great success here but very few made such a lasting impact on music and culture like The Beatles.

Enjoy the recorded versions of two of the songs the Beatles performed on the show:

"All My Loving" - The Beatles (1963)

"Till There Was You" - The Beatles (1963)

Here is the group performing, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" live on "The Ed Sullivan Show":