{"id":88228,"date":"2023-11-08T16:55:51","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T16:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/?p=88228"},"modified":"2023-11-08T16:55:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T16:55:51","slug":"cvs-now-and-then","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/cvs-now-and-then\/","title":{"rendered":"Now and Then"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I don\u2019t often do music reviews in this space nor offer many opinions on new releases, but in lieu of the Beatles first single released in 28 years (and probably the last, at least without \u201cAI\u201d intervention), I thought it would be appropriate to make an exception for this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(ATVN video customers can hear the music of the Beatles and also the solo career hits of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on several \u201cMusic Choice\u201d channels available \u2013 most often heard on channels 1932 and 1933.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a lifelong Beatles fan, I was excited to hear what was actually going to be released with the group\u2019s \u201cnew\u201d single.\u00a0 There are many varying opinions about this song, \u201cNow and Then,\u201d written by Lennon in the late 1970s.\u00a0 A \u201cdemo\u201d he recorded on cassette tape was released in the early 80s, but the remaining three Beatles briefly toyed with the idea in the mid-1990s of making it into a completed song before Harrison decided to abandon the project.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, 28 years after that attempt and 52 years since the band members were in the same recording session together, comes their &#8220;final&#8221; song.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it won\u2019t make many Beatles\u2019 fans list of their top 10 songs ever produced by the \u201cFab Four,\u201d I did believe there are several strong points that make this a significant contribution to the band\u2019s legacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s an objective listing of my thoughts \u2013 good and not-so-good \u2013\u00a0 on the release of this song:<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>LIKES<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fact that McCartney didn\u2019t try to \u201coverwhelm\u201d the song with his tradition pop tools that he\u2019s utilized very efficiently over the last half century and still tried to keep it similar to a \u201cJohn song\u201d (although both would wildly vary in their styles throughout their careers)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The inclusion of the band\u2019s legendary producer George Martin\u2019s son, Giles, in the recording, with a very classy symphonic string arrangement that would have made his dad proud, and is very reminiscent of many classic Beatles songs<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thanks to modern recording techniques, Lennon\u2019s voice was \u201cfreed\u201d from the track coupled with his upright piano recording and a low \u201chum\u201d that was on the original tape, making his voice crystal clear. This was a refreshing change from the muffled voice and subsequent \u201ctricks\u201d that spoiled the release of previous posthumous Lennon solo songs that were made into the \u201cBeatle\u201d catalog like \u201cFree As A Bird,\u201d and, to a lesser extent, \u201cReal Love\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The inclusion of snippets of previous Beatles songs like \u201cBecause,\u201d \u201cHere, There and Everywhere\u201d and \u201cElenor Rigby\u201d, all of which include Harrison in the vocals<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Double-tracking John\u2019s voice (something the singer asked for in many of his songs) and the subtle variances in the rhythm sections during the verses and percussion auditions near the end of the song. Also, Paul&#8217;s backing with a top harmony is very reminiscent of many great Beatles songs and is even something that John often ask Paul to do with his songs according to the &#8220;Beatles Anthology&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The irony of a song sung by Lennon (in 1979) and by McCartney (in 2023) WITHOUT the use of AI, in effect singing about (to?) each other through the former&#8217;s tragic death AND the fact that this group\u2019s last song is about each other and &#8220;making it through,&#8221; together\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paul&#8217;s counting at the beginning is reminiscent of the first ever Beatles hit song in America, &#8220;I Saw Her Standing There,&#8221; but in a much softer tone, which provides an appropriate bookend to the groups first and last number one U.S. single<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u201cNow and Then\u201d demo cassette was simply labeled \u201cFor Paul,\u201d indicates he was writing about his former bandmate and the fact that the two got to sing \u201ctogether\u201d and provides an appropriate final chapter to the relationship between these two musical giants<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>NOT SO MUCH<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fact that Harrison didn\u2019t care for the song when he was alive and refused to do more than provide a brief rhythm guitar bit and a side guitar contribution (which is present but enhanced by McCartney).\u00a0 His estate (his wife and son) gave their consent to include his work in the production, but it\u2019s somewhat difficult to imagine that Harrison would give his \u201cok\u201d had he not succumbed to throat cancer in 2004. (The fact that Harrison HATED technology interfering with songs also suggests that he would not have approve of this release)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although they tried to include Harrison by taking snippets of previous Beatles songs that included his vocals, the song still is missing the \u201cmagic\u201d of the group\u2013and it\u2019s not hard to believe his creative absence (either instrumental or vocal) is part of that reason\u2026which is why some die-hard fans don\u2019t even consider this a \u201cBeatles\u201d song and, instead, refer to it as one of the better Lennon solo efforts further enhanced by McCartney and Starr.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The exclusion of both of the \u201cI don\u2019t want to lose you\u201d refrains that was on the original demo recording.\u00a0 Already, there\u2019s people producing &#8220;alternate&#8221; versions of the song (a few quite good) that took the new officially released song and mixed it with the original bridges.\u00a0 One could argue the song was \u201ctighter\u201d without it, but again, with two members of the group no longer with us to give their input, listeners are left to wonder their opinions\u2026and what could have been<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are your thoughts on the new release? Should they even call it a \u201cBeatles\u201d song?\u00a0 With emerging technology, I\u2019m sure there will be many \u201cnew\u201d songs (or different versions) of their work\u2026but should there be?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The views expressed in this blog are<\/span><\/i> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I don\u2019t often do music reviews in this space nor offer many opinions on new releases, but in lieu of the Beatles first single released in 28 years (and probably the last, at least without \u201cAI\u201d intervention), I thought it would be appropriate to make an exception for this week. (ATVN video customers can hear&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classic-video-showplace"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Now and Then - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/cvs-now-and-then\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Now and Then - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I don\u2019t often do music reviews in this space nor offer many opinions on new releases, but in lieu of the Beatles first single released in 28 years (and probably the last, at least without \u201cAI\u201d intervention), I thought it would be appropriate to make an exception for this week. 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