David Shingler's Stream of Consciousness

The news was finally released – we’re getting a new Beatles single this week. Over forty years in the making, “Now and Then” has been completed and is set to be released on Thursday 2nd November. This is probably the biggest news with regards to a release since we got “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” in the 90’s. But, does the world need this release? Are Paul and Ringo releasing it for the right reasons? Should it actually be released without John and George being able to have any input on the final version? And do we need so many different physical versions?

A little bit of history…….

Now and Then was one of Lennon’s demos given to the rest of The Beatles as they were working on the anthology project along with the demos for Free As A Bird and Real Love, which were both completed as new Beatles songs and respectively released as singles in 1995 and 1996. The band also attempted to record Now And Then, but this was abandoned George Harrison saying the quality of Lennon’s recording was “rubbish”. George’s widow Olivia Harrison said, “Back in 1995, after several days in the studio working on the track, George felt the technical issues with the demo were insurmountable and concluded that it was not possible to finish the track to a high enough standard.” Paul has always wanted to finish the track and with advancements in technology and Peter Jackson’s de-mixing software, he has been able to do so.

Back to present day. In answer to my first three questions – yes. Undoubtably yes. Personally, I cannot wait to hear what they have done with this track. The new stereo mix of Revolver was phenomenal and truly showed what Jackson’s software was capable of. The fact that it can be used to not only separate Lennon’s vocals and piano, but also get rid of tape hiss and electrical noise is an outstanding achievement and in my opinion, it would have been a missed opportunity to not finish this track (let’s face it, Paul and Ringo aren’t getting any younger). Not only is it great for Beatles fans, but it’s great for music fans as a whole. Who would have thought, sixty years after their first single was released, we’d be getting another new single. Not only from The Beatles, but The Rolling Stones too! What year is it again?!?

My only gripe about this whole thing is the physical releases. What an absolute cash grab! Five different 7 inch variants, 2 different 12 inch variants and a cassette! Why?!? And at a costly £9.99 for the cassette, £17.99 for the 7 inch and £20.99 for the 12 inch, there is definitely money to be made. Back in 1995 when Free As A Bird was released, it would have been no more than £2 to buy. Now I know that the single isn’t a format anymore, but I can’t see how these prices can be justified. Even with inflation, it would only be £3.93 today. And I know that a lot of Beatles fans will have pre-ordered every variant because that’s what Beatles fans are like. It’s similar to Record Store Day these days. Gone has the point of getting people back into store and in comes the cash grab. The black 12 inch has sold out in the UK and USA already and only one copy can be ordered into independent record stores leaving it as a mad scramble for anyone who still wants to get their hands on it.

Personally, I’ll be picking up a black 7 inch vinyl. Am I happy to pay £17.99 for it? Not really. But I will; and there lies the problem. So will every other Beatles fan in the world. Let’s face it, they could charge what they want and we would still buy it.

Photo by Neil Martin on Unsplash