John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney reunite for the last time: the original Beatles song “Now and Then” is released on Thursday. The recording was created using the ability of artificial intelligence.
Published on:
3 minutes
The Beatles released a new song on Thursday, November 2: recorded by John Lennon and mixed with artificial intelligence. “Now and Then” reunites the legendary Liverpool group, 53 years after their split. The title is expected to be released at 14:00 GMT. On the group’s online store, where the title is available on request, some of the media offered for pre-order, vinyl or cassette, are already sold out.
“It’s probably the last Beatles song and we’re all playing it, it’s a real Beatles recording,” Paul McCartney, 81, says in a short video documentary posted online Wednesday night that traces the song’s genesis and lets you hear a “Now and Then” preview .
“‘Now And Then’ is the last Beatles song written and sung by John Lennon, developed and worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and finally completed by Paul and Ringo more than four decades later,” the presentation summarizes. piece.
The name comes from a demo that John Lennon recorded in his New York apartment in the 1970s. After his murder in 1980, his widow Yoko Ono gave the tape with vocals and piano to the other members of the group in 1994. The techniques available at the time did not allow to extract John Lennon’s voice with sufficient quality, the composition remained in boxes.
“John’s Voice”
That all changed with the 2021 documentary series “Get Back” produced by Peter Jackson. The director of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy then extracted Lennon’s voice from the tape by separating it from the piano, helped by new technologies using artificial intelligence. “We ended up with John’s voice, crystal clear,” explained Paul McCartney, quoted in a press release announcing the title’s release.
The original demo added recordings of George Harrison’s electric and acoustic guitar from 1995, before his death in 2001. Completed last year in a Los Angeles studio, the track mixes Ringo Starr’s drums, Paul McCartney’s piano and bass, and vocals from the two living Beatles . “It was very emotional for all of us. It was like John was with us,” said Ringo Starr, 83.
In April 1970, six months after the release of the album “Abbey Road” and a month before the release of “Let it be”, the Beatles announced their separation. The ten-year collaboration between Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr produced 14 best-selling albums, nearly a billion records sold and resulted in several movies.
“It’s all true”
Despite Lennon’s death in 1980 and Harrison’s death in 2001, “Beatlemania” remains alive around the world, and the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence (AI) have already inspired fans to try to piece them together or revisit the latest works. Paul McCartney with his youthful voice.
During an interview with the BBC last June, McCartney revealed the preparation of this new song. “We came to make what would be the last Beatles record, it was John’s model that we worked from,” he explained. “Nothing was created artificially or synthetically, everything is true. (…). We have cleaned some recordings,” he insisted afterwards.
The existence of this model was known and Paul McCartney made no secret of the fact that he wanted to give the piece a new life. But he always explained that the project did not succeed due to the opposition of George Harrison, who did not like it. After “Now and Then”, two compilations Red 1962-1966 and Blue 1967-1970 will be re-released in an extended version on November 10th.
With AFP