The Beatles - Now And Then EP (2022)

NOW AND THEN EP

1. Free As A Bird

2. Real Love

3. Grow Old With Me

4. Now And Then

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    Here's an EP of the Beatles' reunion songs, the first installment in a little series on the band that I've been working on. In 1980, rythm guitarist John Lennon compiled a cassette of four home demos, all compositions from his years on paternity leave from the music business. He labelled this cassette For Paul, referring to bassist Paul McCartney, Lennon's former bandmate. A reunion of the quartet (following their messy and highly publicized breakup a decade prior) had been much-demanded by the public, and it would seem that Lennon was about to make the first steps toward such a thing. But then he got murdered. Roughly a decade later his widow, Yoko Ono, showed other members of his former band this cassette, and they agreed to put aside their differences (and massive egos) and get down in a studio together to finish them. This was quite difficult with the technology of the early 1990s, but with the help of the likes of Jeff Lynne, they managed to finish and release two of them ("Free As A Bird" and "Real Love"), building them up from unfinished low-fidelity demos into polished, finished songs while still keeping Lennon's musical parts intact. To media frenzy, the songs were released as singles from their big archival project of the time called Anthology (I actually have both CD singles; they come with a few rare and exclusive tracks).

    But what of the other two songs? "Grow Old With Me" had actually been released already on the John Lennon/Yoko Ono collaboration album Milk And Honey (1984) in the form of a raw home demo, with Ono's song that inspired it, the even better "Let Me Count The Ways," appearing in the same form. Had they been able to record Milk And Honey together as planned in January 1981, "Grow Old With Me" was to receive a sweeping orchestral arrangement and all that sort of stuff. But a demo it was left, and a demo it remained. In the late 1990s, for the John Lennon Anthology (I wonder what could have inspired that release), the former Beatles producer George Martin scored an orchestral arrangement for the demo, and his song Giles added a bass part. That version is very nice, but doesn't feel much like a Beatles song at all. While recording his solo album What's My Name (2019), drummer Ringo Starr decided to cover the song and got McCartney (the only other surviving Beatle besides their long-kicked-out drummer Pete Best) to do bass and backing vocals on the track. It too received an orchestral score, this time by Jack Douglas, who had produced Lennon and Ono's comeback album Double Fantasy (1980), released three weeks before his killing. Douglas apparently quotes a melody line from a sing written by lead guitarist George Harrison called "Here Comes The Sun," maybe just so that in interviews Ringo could say, yet again, that "the four of us are all in there." Another classic rock grandpa, Joe Walsh, plays guitar on it too. It's not quite a Beatles song, but, (A) it wouldn't be the first Beatles track with a guest guitarist, (B) there are lots of Beatles songs without all four of them present, (C) it makes sense to have just one song with only the surviving members, and (D) it really fits in sonically with the rest of the songs.

The artwork for the "Free As A Bird" single. It was my third choice for the

cover art, after the front and back covers of the "Now And Then" single.

    Moving on, the other song "Now And Then" was worked on a bit during those 1990s sessions, but for one reason or another didn't come anywhere close to completion. Less than a decade later, George Harrison died of cancer: two down, two to go. It seemed the song might never get finished, but in the 2020s Paul McCartney decided at long last to complete it himself, playing a number of instruments and getting Starr in for drums and percussion. Technological development in the audio restoration department allowed for Lennon's voice to be recovered in far clearer form, some guitar parts Harrison laid down in the 1990s were recovered, and a string section (arranged by Giles Martin in the style of his father) was added atop those in 2022; some old 1960s backing vocals of the four Beatles singing were even thrown in to fill out the track. At last the song was finished, and it got released the following year. I first heard it coming out of some workmen's radio as they were fixing the balconies on my apartment building. Seems oddly fitting. It took me a bit, but I did eventually manage to get a bit emotional about the song (I was, after all, pretty obsessed with the band in high school), and cried to the video. The fact that McCartney decided to finish the song after all these years really touched me; he didn't need the money or anything like that; he just loved his old, long-gone friend enough to do it. So it seemed to me at least. But always.

    For this EP, I sourced "Grow Old With Me" and "Now And Then" from their standard 2019 and 2023 releases, respectively. "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love," though, are not the original single versions, which sound quite different from those more recent recordings. Giles Martin, who I mentioned already, took up the mantle from his father in some ways and has been having a successful career as of late remixing music by classic rock acts such as you-know-who and their contemporaries the Rolling Stones (who also released an album in 2023, which is just insane) and the Beach Boys, among others. Although some fans are up in arms about his remixes of the Beatles albums, I appreciate them for the far higher fidelity of the instruments. Not all remixes are good, but his really are. He's good at his job, and in my opinion, all the complaining fans are entitled pedants. Giles Martin's first Beatles remix project (besides a mid-2000s mashup album) was for a reissue of the bestselling hits compilation 1 (2000), which was also expanded into a music video collection called 1+ (2015). Some songs were remixed but remained exclusive to the music video audio tracks, and two of those songs were "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love." These remixes restored Lennon's parts much better than was possible in the 1990s and stripped back the layers of Jeff Lynne's signature (but very dad-rockian) production style. I prefer them to the originals, and they have a much similar (i.e., high level of) fidelity compared to the other two songs on the EP. All of the tracks on here actually received music videos (or at least a lyric video for "Grow Old With Me"), so I decided to link those in the tracklist so that it can be something of an audiovisual experience. Although being far from inventive, I do find the four songs quite pleasant (as far as old men making rock music goes, at least).

CD-quality down-low'd linc's here.

Happy listening, and tell me what you think of it below!

Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973) - An Appreciation

    There's something big coming up in February but it won't be ready before the end of the month, so I'm putting out a few little stopgap posts to tide viewers over. There was a brief time a couple of years back when I was thinking of becoming a music reviewer; in hindsight I'm very glad I didn't, but this was the only review I ever completed. I submitted it to a friend's magazine, but it was a punk magazine so didn't make it in, and it's just sat on my computer ever since, needing a home. Now it has one. It was written for the album's 50th anniversary, in mid-July 2023; I remember going on walks that summer, thinking of ideas to put down, pretty ways to word things, and so on. At the time I hadn't seen the film which the album soundtracks, but I did get around to watching it last fall. It was a fairly mediocre and particularly violent Western, of which this soundtrack and Dylan's occasional and awkward performances were the most interesting parts. My favourite scene was where Dylan read the ingredients on food cans as a shootout took place. What a showcase of his Nobel Prize-winning poetic abilities. The album remains one of my favourites of his, and I hope that the writing communicates my affection for it. The review below remains largely, but not entirely, unchanged:

Rustic Beauty

It’s clear throughout his career that Bob Dylan liked the western motif, judging by his inclusion of the occasional cowboy song certain albums unrelated to the topic, such as Blood On The Tracks (1975). In the case of this 1973 soundtrack LP, the chance to make a full record on the topic allowed Dylan to create a whole world, an aural experience like none other that I’ve ever encountered. A soundtrack album is the perfect medium to express the feelings of cinematic vastness that are essential to transporting the listener into this cowboy world, and this is accomplished exceptionally well in the opening instrumental, “Main Title Theme (Billy).” An instrumental with a melody to die for and gorgeous, emotive guitar playing, this is one of my favourite Dylan songs. The emptiness of the frontier and the loneliness that comes with it really connect with me here, even causing me to tear up a bit when I put it on. Booker T. Jones’ bass work really shines on this one, and the star-studded cast of musicians on the album also include session drummer Jim Keltner and Byrds mastermind Jim McGuinn, who supply some excellent drums and guitar, respectively, on other tracks. There’s a real confidence in the playing across the record, showing that the masters are at work.

“Cantina Theme (Workin’ for the Law)” is next. Ross Kunkel’s bongos add a hint of darkness to the mix, which, when combined with the repetition of the main melody played on acoustic guitar, create the tension reminiscent of a sheriff hunting a criminal. One aspect of the album that I would criticize is that there are a large number of sudden, unnatural fade-outs, including on this song here. The third song, “Billy 1,” begins after a long and excellent harmonica introduction. Dylan’s emotionally searing voice comes in with full force, giving me chill after chill with each new line. The final one, “Billy, you’re so far away from home,” is a beautifully simple way to put the feeling of expansive wilderness evoked by the music. If anybody needs convincing that Dylan was a good singer, show them “Billy 1.” He uses his voice masterfully on that song and across the album in general. The next instrumental, “Bunkhouse Theme,” is a laid-back piece which I picture as being set in an area shaded from the searing noonday sun, making for a perfect balance after the prior song. Wordless vocals appear on “River Theme,” evoking to me the cool breeze one feels when standing near a large river in a canyon. A sort of spiritual peace comes across, a bit of a haven from the more emotionally powerful songs, ending the first side of the record beautifully. 

“Turkey Chase” gets things running again at a faster pace, and the flow of the fiddle gives a sense of the twisting and turning path an animal runs through bushes and grass. It's a real hoedown. The big single “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door," which follows, is of course a masterpiece, with luscious backing vocals and another sudden fade-out. All his lyrics on the LP come across as metaphors for greater events; they express feelings obviously felt outside of the Wild West, and this is especially true of this song. “Final Theme” is the last instrumental and repeats some familiar motifs from earlier in the tracklist. The use of a flute is excellent, sounding like somebody leaving Earth for heaven (as sung about in the previous song). It’s just gorgeous, rustic, simple beauty. The last tracks offer variations of “Billy 1,” featuring some different lyrics and vibes between them. “Billy 4” features more yearning in Dylan’s effortless singing. One verse in particular always gets me: “They say that Pat Garrett’s got your number/So sleep with one eye open, when you wonder/If every little sound just might be thunder/Thunder from the barrel of his gun.” These lyrics, and others on the song, dig to my very core, as they create such powerful and vivid imagery, with understated but excellent wordplay and unexpected lyrical twists to boot. On “Billy 7” he sounds tired and somewhat hopeless with his voice low and gravelly, making for a fitting close to a lovely record. 

Despite being a mostly instrumental soundtrack to a cowboy flick, this is one of my favourite albums by Bob Dylan. He creates an entire world and sucks the listener into it, making it an immersive and introspective listen, which I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.