Now and Then
5Just listened to the “last Beatles song.” The technology that put it together is cool but the music itself? Meh. Despite my penchant for bubblegum and power pop, I’ve never been a huge Fab Four fan anyway. Maybe this new tune is genius and it’s just me being cynical.
- 7 comments, 4 replies
- Comment
I thought it was great! A fitting last Beatles song.
I got halfway through it and thought: meh.
I love the Beatles, but haven’t bothered tracking down the new song. I think they needed to take their own advice and just let it be.
@donpratt You are speaking words of wisdom.
I wanna hold your hand
Doesn’t seem to be a new thing for them/they’ve done it before
https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/2/23943290/now-and-then-the-beatles-new-song-ai
@unksol And here’s a link to the complete “new” “Beatles” song (the verge just has a preview embedded).
Notice Jeff Lynne is now evidently a “Beatle”, by the cover pic.
FWIW, I liked this latest release, but it’s not in my list of greatest for the group. A opposed to @Frcal, I was a huge fan of theirs. Interesting to see multiple ghosts appearing and performing in the video. To me, the more enduring story is what AI is contributing/unleashing on the world as we know it.
I wonder at what point one (or both) of the major political parties will completely fabricate a presidential candidate who exhibits no foibles whatsoever, including speech gaffes, falling, nasty tweets, confusing/contradictory statements, humiliating of opponents, etc. You will see this “person” only online and in videos. They will be two inches taller than any other embedded, recognizable person, and be of indeterminable ethnicity and gender. They will indeed be a “They”, a composite of multiple party leaders. Any policy they pronounce can be immediately updated in the video, after a quick AI review of opinion polls. (But the policy implementation will not necessarily be changed.) The world of “1984”, but half a century later.
@Frcal @phendrick @unksol Well. There was Max Headroom, quite prescient for a little-known TV show of the 1980s. The speech impediment was one of the endearing characteristics.
@Frcal @phendrick @unksol @pmarin
Max Headroom was great!
An interesting use of tech, and I’ll allow that the four of them would have availed themselves of it if all were still around, but the end result of this effort is not exactly a capstone on the main body of their work. It’s more of an OBTW, almost parenthetical addition. Neither crucial nor irrelevant, more of a completist’s treasure than an enthusiast’s.
Yes. It’s like a very nice B-side featuring John, & I think the Beatles are entitled to release a B-side, even in a world that’s changed so much that many people don’t know what a B-side is. As those of us in our dottering souls know, when 45-s were released, the labels had an A-side, which they considered to be the likely hit (& promoted), and a B-side, a pleasant song that’s added as a little something else. I’ve only listened once, but “Now and Then” seems to fall into that “a little something else” category.
BTW, I crashed my way into a Beatles press conference in DC the day after their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. They were funny & charming.
Not awful, but not great either. Musically it’s a bit poor by Beatles standards. Granted, I know it’s hard to sing great when you’re no longer alive, but, I wasn’t overly impressed.