{"id":42303,"date":"2023-11-05T06:35:46","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T06:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innodebt.com\/investing\/opinion-the-faux-four-why-im-fine-with-skipping-the-new-beatles-song\/"},"modified":"2023-11-05T06:35:48","modified_gmt":"2023-11-05T06:35:48","slug":"opinion-the-faux-four-why-im-fine-with-skipping-the-new-beatles-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innodebt.com\/?p=42303","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: The Faux Four? Why I\u2019m fine with skipping the new Beatles song"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been looking ahead to Thursday\u2019s release of the Beatles\u2019 \u201cnew\u201d song \u201cNow and Then\u201d \u2014 the work John Lennon recorded in demo form during the late \u201970s that has now been turned into a full Fab Four collaboration.<\/p>\n

At the same time, I\u2019ve been thinking about that glorious 1993 Steven Spielberg film \u201cJurassic Park,\u201d which detailed how you could make a new dinosaur out of old genetic material. <\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s not as odd a connection as it may seem.<\/p>\n

There are parallels between taking the bones of an unfinished song and using the latest technology to turn it into something \u201cnew.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Jeff Goldblum\u2019s pesky character in \u201cJurassic Park\u201d observes, \u201cYour scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could [do this], that they didn\u2019t stop to think if they should.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, why didn\u2019t the Beatles just \u201clet it be,\u201d to quote the title to one of their classic songs?<\/p>\n

I say this as someone who\u2019s loved the group since my early childhood, which unfortunately coincided with their split in the early \u201970s. The first album I ever purchased was a Beatles compilation. One of my first trips to the movies was to see a double bill of the \u201cLet It Be\u201d documentary and \u201cYellow Submarine.\u201d When Lennon was murdered in 1980, I was among those New Yorkers who stopped by his apartment building, the famed Dakota, to pay my respects.<\/p>\n

Heck, the Beatles are a big part of the reason I became a music critic in my early journalistic career. They were a standard against which I could measure everything.<\/p>\n

But the Beatles I cherish to this day are the real Beatles, as in Lennon and George Harrison (who passed away in 2001), plus Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, both of whom are thankfully still with us.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\n \u201c<\/span>Anything cobbled together after the fact is \u2018Frankenbeatles\u2019 or Faux Four or whatever term that could potentially apply to Beatles music revived by technological wizardry.\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

This is the group that recorded a string of crazily listenable and yet crazily innovative albums \u2014 among them \u201cRevolver,\u201d \u201cSgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band,\u201d \u201cAbbey Road\u201d and the record known as the White Album. And those albums set a new standard not just for popular music, but for music, period.<\/p>\n

Anything cobbled together after the fact is \u201cFrankenbeatles\u201d or Faux Four or whatever term that could potentially apply to Beatles music revived by technological wizardry.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been argued that \u201cNow and Then\u201d isn\u2019t exactly \u201cartificial intelligence\u201d Beatles, even though McCartney initially described it as such. As he said, \u201cWe were able to take John\u2019s voice and get it pure through this AI, so then we could mix the record, as you would normally do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cNow and Then\u201d demo dates from the same time as when Lennon recorded demos of \u201cFree As a Bird\u201d and \u201cReal Love.\u201d The latter two songs were finished by the remaining Beatles in the mid-\u201990s and released as part of \u201cThe Beatles Anthology\u201d project. However, the team could not pull things off with \u201cNow and Then\u201d because Lennon\u2019s vocals were not able to be separated effectively. <\/p>\n

The opportunity to revisit the song came as a result of the Peter Jackson \u201cThe Beatles: Get Back\u201d docuseries, which tapped into the latest audio-restoration technology. Work could be done to restore Lennon\u2019s part, while McCartney (on guitar, bass and piano) and Starr (on drums) added new bits. As for Harrison, he contributed electric and acoustic guitar parts during the attempt to complete the song in the \u201990s.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\n \u201c<\/span>\u2018We were able to take John [Lennon]\u2019s voice and get it pure through this AI, so then we could mix the record, as you would normally do.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p>\n


\n \u2014 Paul McCartney on the making of \u201cNow and Then\u201d<\/span>
\n <\/small><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Making things more complex: The final \u201cNow and Then\u201d recording also includes backing vocals from other Beatles songs \u2014 namely, \u201cHere, There and Everywhere,\u201d \u201cEleanor Rigby\u201d and \u201cBecause.\u201d<\/p>\n

I suppose if the song sounds good \u2014 or even if it doesn\u2019t \u2014 there\u2019s no real harm being done here. And I suspect no one connected to the Beatles is involved in this because they need the money. The group has already sold some 600 million albums worldwide, and McCartney and Starr still tour regularly.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s just a stab at staying relevant. Or, as veteran music critic and author Steven Hyden told me, \u201cThe Beatles\u00a0are in this fascinating place. They\u2019re still\u00a0one of the most\u00a0popular\u00a0rock bands in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

So just as the Rolling Stones, arguably the Beatles\u2019 biggest rivals, continue to release new music \u2014 their album, \u201cHackney Diamonds,\u201d dropped last month \u2014 the Fab Four remain in the game. Even if \u201cNow and Then\u201d represents what\u2019s being billed as the \u201clast Beatles song.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet, I take issue for two reasons.<\/p>\n

First, am I the only one who finds something unseemly about \u201cnew\u201d music that features two deceased bandmates? Granted, works by artists are often released posthumously, but \u201cNow and Then\u201d wasn\u2019t a song in almost-final form. It\u2019s more a complex collaboration, with dead people.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s creepy in the same way as certain other posthumous things, like an Elvis Presley \u201cconcert\u201d in which his bandmates accompanied video footage of the singer or a 2012 Tupac Shakur \u201cappearance\u201d at Coachella.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\n \u201c<\/span>\u2018Do we want a world of flesh-and-blood individuals strumming guitars and singing their hearts out, or do we just let the robots take over?\u2019\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Creep factor aside, the bigger question is how far are we going to let technology take us when it comes to music, if not all the arts? As the New York Times asked earlier this year, \u201cWill A.I. replace pop stars?\u201d That was the headline to a story that followed the release of an AI-created song with fake vocals from Drake and the Weeknd.<\/p>\n

Do we want a world of flesh-and-blood individuals strumming guitars and singing their hearts out, or do we just let the robots take over? The case that \u201cNow and Then\u201d isn\u2019t true AI stems from the fact we\u2019re hearing Lennon\u2019s actual voice. But I\u2019d hardly call it the Beatles in their natural form.<\/p>\n

Of course, I\u2019ll still listen when it\u2019s released, as will just about half the world. Allan Kozinn, a former New York Times music critic and noted Beatles scholar, told me there\u2019s no reason to get worked up about the song.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it\u2019s neither a complicated or controversial issue. People can like it or not, or consider it part of the Beatles\u2019 real canon or whether it requires an asterisk,\u201d he said. Plus, you can\u2019t ignore the fact that two living Beatles are part of it, he noted.<\/p>\n

But to me, the Beatles are most \u201calive\u201d when we hear them on those old recordings.<\/p>\n

I think back to a night from my days as a music critic, when I was reviewing a concert by some rocker whose name I\u2019ve long forgotten. It was at a small venue that kept the crowd warmed up by playing classic rock albums over the speakers. Suddenly, \u201cSgt. Pepper\u2019s\u201d came on and I was thoroughly swept up by its power, grace and beauty, almost as if I was listening to it for the first time.<\/p>\n

By the time the real concert started, I had lost interest. The Beatles had proven themselves once again \u2014 they were \u201cthere\u201d that night in their true, original form. And that\u2019s how I\u2019d like to remember them, now and then.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been looking ahead to Thursday\u2019s release of the Beatles\u2019 \u201cnew\u201d song \u201cNow and Then\u201d \u2014 the work John Lennon recorded in demo form during the late \u201970s that has now been turned into a full Fab Four collaboration. At the same time, I\u2019ve been thinking about that glorious 1993 Steven Spielberg film \u201cJurassic Park,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-investing"},"yoast_head":"\nOpinion: The Faux Four? 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