Review: The Beatles one of few bands with enough good will to be charitable towards ‘final song’ Now and Then

Love me do-over? Reverential reviews have greeted the release of Now and Then, the so-called “final Beatles song” summoned out of a home demo John Lennon recorded alone on piano in 1977. Now a plodding string-laden pop ballad, the four-minute song highlights the dichotomy between the voices of then 37-year-old Lennon and now 81-year-old Sir Paul McCartney, who contributed new vocals and lyrics, as well as bass, slide guitar and other instruments. Ringo Starr also chipped in on drums, while guitar tracks by the late George Harrison from abandoned sessions for the 1995 retrospective project, The Beatles Anthology, reunite the awesome foursome in the virtual studio. Harrison reportedly hated the original demo, describing it as “f…ing rubbish”. Like Jurassic Park, the studio scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should. Let’s put aside the fact that Lennon’s solo effort was made seven years after Macca issued a press release stating he was no longer working with his Liverpudlian chums and three years after the split was formalised. The Beatles were effectively done and dusted, a reformation only another three years away from being physically impossible due to the 1980 murder of Lennon. Now and Then has a spectral feel, Lennon’s vocals have been described as coming from “beyond the grave”. However, Macca didn’t need an Ouija board, transcendental meditation, or a drug-fuelled magical mystery tour to conjure his old mate on the new single. All he needed was a little help from his friend, New Zealand director Peter Jackson. The Lord of the Rings filmmaker, who created the incredible three-part 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back has serious expertise with digital recording technology and managed to gouge out a clean track of Lennon’s vocals from the old demo tape Yoko Ono found lying around. Jackson, who also directed the wistful music video for Now and Then, used the same artificial intelligence-backed audio restoration technology he utilised on Get Back to isolate Lennon’s voice. Currently on tour in Australia, McCartney has stated that he reckons Lennon wouldn’t be upset with his old demo being completed and released. “He would have loved that,” Macca says in the 12-minute documentary issued with the single along with the “B-side” of the Beatles’ 1962 debut single, Love Me Do. Nonetheless, in this streaming era, the Fab’s “final song” may be a belated addition to the legendary band’s best-selling singles compilation, 1. The Beatles remain the music industry’s deepest well, with seemingly endless re-issues, remasters, boxed sets and special editions. But this AI-enhanced release feels like an attempt to prepare fans for more posthumous releases and perhaps even a “live” production similar to that other Fab Four, ABBA and the Swedish pop icons’ Voyage concert featuring avatars performing until the end of time. Beatles diehards should save their pennies for endless zombie releases once the various estates of the Fab Four decide to really fossick in the tailings. The Beatles are, it seems, one of the few bands on earth with enough goodwill for music lovers to be charitable about even the most cynical churn, or re-churn, or re-re-churn, of the old catalogue. As they sang on their 1963 cover of a Barrett Strong classic: “money, that’s what I want”.