Beatles Listening Party: Let's Come Together Now and Then

[Sennheiser]

In a few hours, a [controversial] Beatles track will be released, supported by AI and ultimately completed with contributions from the remaining group members, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.

At 10:00AM New York Time / 2:00PM London Time, "Now and Then" goes live.

Let's listen and share impressions through the hi-fi headphone "lens"... good, band and in-between!

Let us know what cans you're going use on the first listen, and if you plan on making a pass with another setup.

@ericpalonen will be using the @iFi audio Gryphon to HD 660S2, which is his "all-arounder" for both vibe and detail retrieval all at once. 2nd pass will likely be with IE 900, balanced.

How about you?

 

[rfernand]

Controversial? why?

Martin and Jackson showed us a few miracles with the re-release of revolver, being able to use machine learning to separate information from the same track and enabling Martin to work on a remix. Those familiar with his work can probably attest The Beatles sound like themselves, only as if they had recorded things last nightand mixed with modern equipment. For a new generation, they’re enjoying their music in Spatial Audio, as well.

Like “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love”, “Now and Then” is a post-breakup work based on tapes and sessions Lennon left behind. Audiophile-grade they were not, but the tracks in Anthology gave the remaining three Beatles a chance to do something with their departed friend one more time. Now and Then failed because the tape just sounded bad (the piano and John’s voice are on top of each other and… it’s a bad tape.)

The song is what it is. It has a lot going on with strings and music from all four Beatles - with a lot of work from Paul. It’s well presented in stereo. It sounds great. John sounds great. It’s a good bookend.

The B-Side is a new remix of “Love Me Do”, with the Giles Martin treatment, and it sounds absolutely fantastic. Today also sees the release of the remixed Red & Blue, so there’s a lot of the mono catalog getting real stereo (and Spatial) mixes here. It’s a good day to plug in your reference cans to your reference amp and… just let it be.

 

[ericpalonen]

Now and Then:

Sonically there's a lot to like if you enjoy full-bodied, punchy mixes. It's rather smooth without a lot of air band to speak of, so I preferred the IE 900's reproduction of the song, which keeps the low-end heft while giving a lot of intelligibility to John's vocal. What was a pleasant and welcome surprise were John's background vocals throughout the song, giving it the soaring topcoat that made his solo efforts so distinct.

I LOVE Ringo's kick drum. Thick, syrupy, and deep. On the S2 it's quite tall and warm. On the IE 900 it hits you right in the chest so to speak.

The strings were a nice touch, and a bit evident of their popularity in 90's pop-rock recordings, which is when I presume the string parts were added but I could be wrong.

I wanted a lot more lead/slide guitar in the mix (2:26 is a solo section), and think they've done some injustice here as the long & sustained playing + effects tail fits the song well. On every set of cans the solo was buried as well

The mix is a bit heavy-handed with percussion compression, which just wasn't "the sound" back in their heyday. Nowadays its quite commonplace and so it sticks out to my ears, but is not offensive- just an observation. Part of the charm of classic Beatles recordings was their resourcefulness given the technological limits, and the presence of the acoustical spaces they were performing in. That character is largely stripped away here, unsurprisingly, though the modern fidelity and ability to hear this idea come full circle is special in and of itself.

I'm going to try this on the AMBEO Soundbar Mini & Sub next and see if it opens up the upper frequency range a little more.

Love Me Do remaster:

On the IE 900, Paul's bass playing sounds like it was just for me, plugged directly into my skull. The gulpy pluck (which is trademark Paul) is as audible as it's ever been. Here I enjoyed the HD 660S2 more; the remaster lets you pick apart the instrument lanes much easier but I've heard the original so many times that I'm seeking the "glue", which the S2 offers in spades.

Happy Listening!


[EDIT] The "Now and Then" guitar solo does come out a bit more using the Soundbar Mini, and the mix does well here. The final phrase comes to life, and could very well have been repeated a few more times during the song, but that's the armchair producer in me

 

[rfernand]

Now and Then:

Sonically there's a lot to like if you enjoy full-bodied, punchy mixes. It's rather smooth without a lot of air band to speak of, so I preferred the IE 900's reproduction of the song, which keeps the low-end heft while giving a lot of intelligibility to John's vocal. What was a pleasant and welcome surprise were John's background vocals throughout the song, giving it the soaring topcoat that made his solo efforts so distinct.

One thing to note is that John sounds “normal”, so, not like in the bulk of the catalog. He used to thicken things with multitrack and stuff.

The strings were a nice touch, and a bit evident of their popularity in 90's pop-rock recordings, which is when I presume the string parts were added but I could be wrong.

In the documentary Paul seems to confirm the strings and the slide solo are new. The drums, Paul’s bass, and the piano in the track are re-recorded from what they were doing in the 90s With it. They seem to have kept George’s guitar parts.

I wanted a lot more lead guitar in the mix (2:26 is a solo section), and think they've done some injustice here as the long & sustained playing + effects tail fits the song well. On every set of cans the solo was buried as well

The mix is a bit heavy-handed with percussion compression, which just wasn't "the sound" back in their heyday. Nowadays its quite commonplace and so it sticks out to my ears, but is not offensive- just an observation. Part of the charm of classic Beatles recordings was their resourcefulness given the technological limits, and the presence of the acoustical spaces they were performing in. That character is largely stripped away here, unsurprisingly, though the modern fidelity and ability to hear this idea come full circle is special in and of itself.

I'm going to try this on the AMBEO Soundbar Mini & Sub next and see if it opens up the upper frequency range a little more.

Love Me Do remaster:

On the IE 900, Paul's bass playing sounds like it was just for me, plugged directly into my skull. The gulpy pluck (which is trademark Paul) is as audible as it's ever been. Here I enjoyed the HD 660S2 more; the remaster lets you pick apart the instrument lanes much easier but I've heard the original so many times that I'm seeking the "glue", which the S2 offers in spades.

Happy Listening!

 

[ericpalonen]

One thing to note is that John sounds “normal”, so, not like in the bulk of the catalog. He used to thicken things with multitrack and stuff.


In the documentary Paul seems to confirm the strings and the slide solo are new. The drums, Paul’s bass, and the piano in the track are re-recorded from what they were doing in the 90s With it. They seem to have kept George’s guitar parts.

Hoping to watch the documentary this evening. Agreed about the "John-normal" vocal. I feel like it could have been mixed a little louder still but am glad they didn't try to emulate his usual vocal chain for the sake of giving us a bit more of a naked vocal track. At 80 years old I don't know if I would have had the energy to contribute to the track, so kudos to the crew for shaping John's idea over the decades.

 

[M3NTAL]

HD660S2 and IE 600 once they get back from Sonova. Not a huge beatles fan, but enjoy the trippier stuff.

 

[Bones13]

I listened to the songs via Qobuz this afternoon. I thought the sound good, I felt the tempo was off on the song, just a bit too slow for my concept of the Beatles. I liked it well enough though {Qobuz - Holo Audio Spring KTE (OG) - Headroom Balanced Ultra - Senn HD 800 (OG) - my somewhat retro office rig.}

 

[ericpalonen]

just a bit too slow for my concept of the Beatles

Same! Maybe a McCartney bridge would have broken things up a bit. Anyone ever read A Hard Day's Write? It's a fascinating look at the construction of the songs from both sides of the brain. Some of the most memorable tunes are quite literally the juxtaposition of two different songs, with one being repurposed as a bridge.

Your retro rig is pretty capable! Love it!

 

[rfernand]

Put the track through the MHA200 which is super mid forward. Yggy OG, HD600. Pretty glorious.

Love me do, oh my. So good.

 

[emdeevee]

Still haven't heard these but saw some musicians were upset saying the "bridge" is missing. If it was a new song, how do they know?

 

[ericpalonen]

Still haven't heard these but saw some musicians were upset saying the "bridge" is missing. If it was a new song, how do they know?

Lennon-McCartney did such a good job spoon-feeding pop and rock songs with amazing bridges that NOT hearing a dreamy departure was noticeable.

 

[rfernand]

Lennon-McCartney did such a good job spoon-feeding pop and rock songs with amazing bridges that NOT hearing a dreamy departure was noticeable.

Remember the group broke up before they were 30 years old - and this is John, in his late 30s, in New York , with two lifetimes worth of experiences behind him…

… and two 80 year olds are going by notes they made when they were 50…

 

[eldus]

Still haven't heard these but saw some musicians were upset saying the "bridge" is missing. If it was a new song, how do they know?

The original cassette demo has been around as a bootleg for some time now. Here is a video with the demo and the new song side by side.

 

[Alenotta]

The original cassette demo has been around as a bootleg for some time now. Here is a video with the demo and the new song side by side.

Wow, you can tell how much pitch correcting they did on John's voice in the new mix when you listen to the demo alone. I conceptually think it is powerful to have a ghostly young John voice duet with current Paul on a track called Now and Then. The technological resurrection captures a place between time. I think I may enjoy the concept more than the song itself. It does sound like a Beatles joint though. I will say, in addition to the lower octave and aging, you hear some of post-Beatles Paul vocal flourishes in there too. Love that they got Giles Martin in on it. I was under the impression from the doc that Paul probably did the new guitar slide solo. Didn't surprise me since Paul is known to redo parts. Maybe the structure of the song had shifted too much since they jammed on it in the 90s.

Mix-wise I sort of wish they had double tracked John and added some lower mid weight to that vocal. It does sound a bit extracted and thin when it is standing next to all the modern recordings in the mix. It gives you the impression of his voice coming in through a small speaker. Maybe having that contrast actually helps the concept of a duet through time though... I can get behind that.

I wonder if the backing harmony vocals are AI? They sound more like young Beatles. Maybe they are snippets pulled from somewhere else or complete AI fabrications?

Has anyone looked at the instagram page theaibeatles? I know there is a lot of debate around the ethics of AI fabrications. These ones can be pretty convincing.
https://www.instagram.com/theaibeatles/. The fake AI Beatles responded to this new legit Beatles track with a banger called Then and Now...which tbh is pretty catchy.

 

[Alenotta]

Still haven't heard these but saw some musicians were upset saying the "bridge" is missing. If it was a new song, how do they know?

From that demo it seems like Paul would have had to make up some lyrics for the end part of that bridge...
I like the bridge in the demo, but I can also see why Paul would have edited it out from a Paul perspective. That part feels the most like an unfinished audio sketch. A really nice one though - no hate. Love John solo stuff.