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9.54pm
1 December 2009
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So I’ve read a few sources and I’m still unclear about something: Does anyone know, has John’s piano been removed from the recording? or is it just the tape-machine hum that’s been scrapped?
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
11.31pm
28 July 2023
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' I was half an hour looking for the sugar!'
11.32pm
28 July 2023
Offline vonbontee said
So I’ve read a few sources and I’m still unclear about something: Does anyone know, has John’s piano been removed from the recording? or is it just the tape-machine hum that’s been scrapped?
I’m pretty sure the piano has been removed, too, since on the official website it says Paul plays piano.
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11.35pm
28 July 2023
Offline Ahhh Girl said
What is the symbolism of the objects and shapes on the back of the Now & Then shirt?
Whoops, meant to quote this.
Hm.. no clue. Maybe the clocks and measuring tapes are meant to symbolize the passage of time? The number 9 is always assosiated with John, but the three I’m not sure. Something to do with years..? The key and the buttons are interesting, as well as the house shape. I have no idea.
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1.34am
11 November 2010
Offline Well, there’s going to be no excuse now. Next time they want to make money off a new Beatles recording, it’s gotta be Carnival Of Light .
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3.38am
1 December 2009
Offline his weeping guitar said
vonbontee said
So I’ve read a few sources and I’m still unclear about something: Does anyone know, has John’s piano been removed from the recording? or is it just the tape-machine hum that’s been scrapped?
I’m pretty sure the piano has been removed, too, since on the official website it says Paul plays piano.
Thanks, HWG.
This decision makes the project another slap in the face of the memory of John Winston Ono Lennon, as far as I’m concerned – like, if Paul and Giles and co are gonna treasure every last scrap of a demo that John recorded in the 70s, you’d think they’d want to his actual recorded piano performance as well. But we can’t have any spontaneous human errors left into recordings anymore, not in this 21st century, no.
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Shamrock Womlbs, his weeping guitarGEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
8.01am
31 March 2008
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The song grew up and around Lennon’s original late ‘70s vocal. In 2022, McCartney re-recorded Lennon’s piano line and added bass and guitar contributions of his own, before passing the tape to Starr to overdub a new drum part. Harrison’s input takes the form of acoustic and electric guitar tracks pulled from the aborted 1995 session. To ensure his influence was felt, McCartney added a Harrison-style slide solo in tribute. Finally, they tracked a majestic string section at the iconic Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, scored by McCartney, Martin and Ben Foster. The arrangement imbued the one-time demo with the grandeur of a late-era Beatles standard.
Giles Martin also flew in vocals from older Beatles recordings, augmented by new vocals by Paul and Ringo:
The biggest challenge for Martin was making a coherent recording from tapes recorded across three separate decades, in wildly varying environments, utilizing vastly different technology. To smooth over the cracks, he drew on skills he’d perfected while assembling the 2006 Beatles’ “mash-up” album Love. “I added some backing vocals from other Beatles tracks to create some coherence and to make sure that it sounds like the Beatles.” Sharp-eared listeners will detect harmonies borrowed from “Because ,” “Here, There & Everywhere” and “Eleanor Rigby .” The effect is arresting, though it initially made McCartney nervous. “When I [first] talked to Paul about it, he was uncomfortable because that is reconstitution. But there was a mission. George and John are not here. I couldn’t get the classic three-part harmony — George, Paul and John singing together. There’s a sound to it. So you go, ‘Well, they would probably be putting oohs and ahhs here…Let’s just find ones in the same key and use those.’” (The parts are also thickened with new backing vocals recorded by McCartney and Starr in 2022.)
https://people.com/the-beatles-announce-new-song-now-and-then-8382741
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8.13am
31 March 2008
Offline There’s a “Spotify exclusive” 10″ vinyl version, same tracks as the 7″ and 12″ versions.
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9.05am
8 January 2015
Offline Do they promise it’ll be the last Beatles song? 
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9.26am
14 June 2016
Offline ewe2 said
Do they promise it’ll be the last Beatles song?
As a true new release I say yes. Paul and Ringo finished it off quite recently. Carnival Of Light would be from back in the day as a pure outtake. I got to say this news being official has made me rather emotional. John Lennon in the lead vocal for a 2023 song being released in the mainstream. He’s back. I wonder what he’d think? At this point I don’t think that matters. There’s a chance he’d probably say “what the hell, go for it”.
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10.20am
26 January 2017
Offline I’ll listen to the song when it comes out of course but I’m not counting the days until its release. On the other hand what’s all this talk about Carnival Of Light ? Did I miss an announcement about its release? That’s something I would get extremely excited about.
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11.06am
30 August 2021
Offline I must say I’m rather underwhelmed – and disappointed that there’s no standalone CD release of Now & Then – much less combined with Free As A Bird and Real Love as I was hoping.
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11.18am
24 March 2014
Offline vonbontee said
his weeping guitar said
vonbontee said
So I’ve read a few sources and I’m still unclear about something: Does anyone know, has John’s piano been removed from the recording? or is it just the tape-machine hum that’s been scrapped?
I’m pretty sure the piano has been removed, too, since on the official website it says Paul plays piano.
Thanks, HWG.
This decision makes the project another slap in the face of the memory of John Winston Ono Lennon, as far as I’m concerned – like, if Paul and Giles and co are gonna treasure every last scrap of a demo that John recorded in the 70s, you’d think they’d want to his actual recorded piano performance as well. But we can’t have any spontaneous human errors left into recordings anymore, not in this 21st century, no.
Totally agree with that 
I don’t see the point of an ultra sanitized Beatles song when they never cared too much about it and used every mistake to their advantage. I don’t like what they are doing 
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12.47pm
31 March 2008
Offline I disagree. I suspect the motivation in re-recording the piano was to make it sound as good as possible. Even if they could separate Lennon’s piano and vocals using MAL AI, that doesn’t necessarily make either sound good. For example, they could demix In Spite Of All The Danger or That’ll Be The Day and release true stereo versions, but they’ll still sound lo-fi and tinny. We’ve heard John’s demos for years, and they were often scrappy. I want to hear how the Beatles would interpret the songs.
Yes, the Beatles left mistakes in, but they were recording at Abbey Road , pretty much the gold standard in 1960s recording studios. Lennon’s home demos can’t compete with that, and I’d rather a fantastic-sounding final Beatles single than something left deliberately ragged as a tribute to John. It’s going on at least one compilation; this is part of the canon now.
I may revise this opinion when the single drops, of course.
Edit: Maybe there’d be some value in releasing Lennon’s demo, the 95 work-in-progress, and the final 2023 version, similarly to how the Beatles and Lennon box sets have shown the progression of a recording. It could have made an interesting Now And Then EP/CD single instead of just putting Love Me Do on every b-side.
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12.54pm
14 June 2016
Offline The idea would be if John handed the rest a rough demo and said ‘make something of it.” The original demo already exists. The job here is to make something new. In that light I have no problem with Paul doing a new piano segment. John provides the vocal, and the others are also featured with their instruments. It’s that way so all members have something to do, to really have this as a team effort. There’s something really poignant about older Paul and Ringo stepping back into this arena with an official release years later, and having an ear for what would be good enough to have The Beatles name attached to it.
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1.19pm
6 May 2018
Offline Joe said
I disagree. I suspect the motivation in re-recording the piano was to make it sound as good as possible. Even if they could separate Lennon’s piano and vocals using MAL AI, that doesn’t necessarily make either sound good. For example, they could demix In Spite Of All The Danger or That’ll Be The Day and release true stereo versions, but they’ll still sound lo-fi and tinny. We’ve heard John’s demos for years, and they were often scrappy. I want to hear how the Beatles would interpret the songs.Yes, the Beatles left mistakes in, but they were recording at Abbey Road , pretty much the gold standard in 1960s recording studios. Lennon’s home demos can’t compete with that, and I’d rather a fantastic-sounding final Beatles single than something left deliberately ragged as a tribute to John. It’s going on at least one compilation; this is part of the canon now.
Yes, my sentiments too.
As you emphasised in the earlier post, it is reported that McCartney re-recorded Lennon’s piano line, and I expect he kept quite closely to the original line – basically just re-recording for quality.
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2.26pm
24 March 2014
Offline Joe said
I disagree. I suspect the motivation in re-recording the piano was to make it sound as good as possible. Even if they could separate Lennon’s piano and vocals using MAL AI, that doesn’t necessarily make either sound good. For example, they could demix In Spite Of All The Danger or That’ll Be The Day and release true stereo versions, but they’ll still sound lo-fi and tinny. We’ve heard John’s demos for years, and they were often scrappy. I want to hear how the Beatles would interpret the songs.
We’ll see. I think, and i might be completely wrong about this, that with a propper MAL separation they could’ve take that piano track and clenaed it up with a lot of detail (i bet EMI have the technicall staff and tools to do that). Then another piano track, or any other instrument, could be added as a double or whatever and use both. I don’t know…it’s John’s song after all and, unfortunatelly, he is not around to say “ok” or “no way”… Probably they just did it to adjust the tempo and make it more solid through out the whole track…anyways, they could have use the original piano and adjust it to the grid, so…
Hopefully it will sound great and they will all play amazing.
Edit: Maybe there’d be some value in releasing Lennon’s demo, the 95 work-in-progress, and the final 2023 version, similarly to how the Beatles and Lennon box sets have shown the progression of a recording. It could have made an interesting Now And Then EP/CD single instead of just putting Love Me Do on every b-side.
Agree with that
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2.30pm
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20 August 2013
Offline How many of you (us) will need a full box of Kleenex when we listen to the song for the first time? 
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4.26pm
28 July 2023
Offline Oh, @Ahhh Girl , I’ve already cried just thinking about it!
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4.38pm
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20 August 2013
Offline his weeping guitar said
Oh, @Ahhh Girl , I’ve already cried just thinking about it!
{hugs}
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