If I am being honest, the video borders on cheesy for me. I suppose it’s possible that we live in such a tech era where someone can make Hank Williams sing gangster rap and it sounds good. I get the adding of footage but I really think the video could have been so much better.
I don’t have anything new to add but I like Now and Then.
I tend to think it would have worked well as a McCartney/Lennon single. It’s not a bad song and the nostalgia hits the right tone. I totally get that. It is at first listen a bit unremarkable though its effect (like the song itself with the string section) tends to grow.
But it’s in my opinion, the least of the three Threetles songs and it’s interesting to find out that it was skipped in those 90s sessions earlier because Harrison didn’t think it was enough to build a song around.
All of the three “reunion” songs fit a generic Beatlesque template but for example that’s no surprise, but I love the sound of the other two. Even in their context, they sound good to me, for example, Real Love is carried by a strong Harrison guitar. I would love to feel more of a Harrison presence in the new song.
I think there is definitely an element of “the times” in the appraisal of these songs. The 90s songs seemed to be pretty much discounted right from the gate and I feel are largely unloved.
I realize they might not be the bands best work but one also can’t help but think that they’re no different than say VoodooLounge/Steel Wheels or the best moments of Its Hard/Face Dances. The trouble with any established band is they start to have to compete against themselves. The reason later Prince records were disappointing was because they were never going to be as good as Dirty Mind or Sign O The Times but also they were not going to be as good as the new Janelle Monae or Outkast album. The Beatles, the Stones, U2, whoever is always going to have those issues. There is no potential Beatles single that can beat nostalgia.
But the 90s songs are treated with a definite asterisk. Now we are separated to a point where the audience is either of a more advanced age pondering mortality (Now and Then) or haven’t really grown up with the Beatles at all (extending to not hearing Lennon/Macca/George on the radio as Gen X had)
The acclaim for the song seems fairly universal. The memes have the Beatles playing rivals to Jungkook, perhaps the biggest artist on the planet. And though you could play it for laughs, it is like two titans at the top.
At least, that’s my guess why it’s hitting different. It is being marketed as the last Beatles song ever and it seems quite possible that it could be (As technology changes, tapes get unearthed,etc, I still fell the inevitable doubt that we won’t see something else, but I guess the odds are probably strong it will be the coda).
Clearly, the way we consume music has changed as well. It is much easier to digest Here and Now by flinging it onto a playlist. We can share the video with our friends. Radio airplay is not really important to the process.
(Maybe that is also why I can be so cavalier in my opinion. The Beatles are everywhere in my life. There is a 24/7 Sirius channel. There have been numerous outtakes. The Peter Jackson doc. I don’t feel a sense of “return” as others may have because I can’t miss what hasn’t went away)
Ironically, the new trend towards buying vinyl probably has helped get the song to the top of charts as well. And as far as those charts go, maybe the charts aren’t that big of a deal anymore, but surely fans want to see them take the top spot.
The new song has been appended to the re-release of the famous Red and Blue Greatest Hits (perhaps like me you are annoyed if has been appended to 1967-1970 which surely would now make it 1967-2023)
As with Now and Then, technology has jumped in leaps and bounds since the Beatles anthology CDs. In this case, the songs recorded in mono have been taken by Peter Jackson and the elements released now in stereo surround.
The Red and Blue albums are special to me because they essentially were my introduction to the Beatles. I have fond memories of it taking me to a certain time and place. It is a pretty solid comp too. (I am in the ball park where Rock and Roll Music Vol 1 and 2 were contemporary too. There’s probably never not going to be a Beatles compilation or two on the market)
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