The Beatles are releasing one last song—with the help of A.I.
Paul McCartney has employed the same technology used in Peter Jackson's Get Back documentary on a final John Lennon demo
Music News The Beatles
For a certain segment of the population, hearing that there will be a brand new track from The Beatles this year is equivalent to the discovery of the Holy Grail. It’s been more than 50 years since the group disbanded, and almost 30 years since the last Beatles collaboration (Anthology). Only two of the four band members remain alive, so how, one might ask, can they release a new track? Paul McCartney has the answer: artificial intelligence.
Before you get visions of a ghostly, semi-robotic John Lennon being resurrected from beyond the grave, this isn’t the kind of wholesale A.I. that invents an entirely new vocal (á la that creepy version of Lennon lauding A.I. that went viral last month). Instead, with technology pioneered by Peter Jackson for his documentary Get Back, Lennon’s voice can be isolated and strengthened from an existing unreleased demo.
“He [Jackson] was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette. We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar,’” McCartney explained on BBC Radio 4’s Today (via BBC). “So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles’ record, it was a demo that John had [and] we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this A.I. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway.”
Speculation suggests the track will be “Now And Then,” a demo that was considered for the Anthology project. “It didn’t have a very good title, it needed a bit of reworking, but it had a beautiful verse and it had John singing it,” McCartney told Q Magazine in 2006 (via NBC News). “[But] George [Harrison] didn’t like it. The Beatles being a democracy, we didn’t do it.”
Since it was tinkered with during the Anthology, that means it also features some work from Harrison, the band’s other deceased member. Add some drums from Ringo Starr, and you’ve got a bonafide Beatles track—the very last one that will ever be released. That is, unless their voices and sound are harvested by A.I. in the future.
“I’m not on the internet that much [but] people will say to me, ‘Oh, yeah, there’s a track where John’s singing one of my songs’, and it’s just A.I., you know?” McCartney said in the radio interview. “It’s kind of scary but exciting, because it’s the future. We’ll just have to see where that leads.”
67 Comments
a ghostly, semi-robotic John Lennon being resurrected from beyond the grave Oh, he can be the next Stranger Thing.
I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I like the Beatles. And I think they’ll have some longevity in that people will listen to and continue to be inspired by their music.
Since when it is controversial to like the beatles? They were the most famous and loved band for almost 3 decades.
I’m just trying to work out at which point in this conversation I will be suckered into responding to somebody being ironic.
I mean, there’s definitely a “the Beatles are overrated and I’m sick of their ubiquity” contingent these days. But the guy is being sarcastic.
I will completely unironically argue that they are underrated by the general public. Many people love them without quite realising how mindblowingly good they were.
Well, what are ya gonna do? I mean Frank Zappa and, god, Steely Dan fans love to go on about how most people don’t “get” their heroes true depth and genius.
https://hyperscapes.com/quotes-about-the-beatles/
I generally use these quotes to emphasise both their musical brilliance and their cultural impact. Just ignore the one from Putin.
I think the combination of easy singalongs, simple structures, and some kid-friendly subject matter resulted in generations of kids burnt out and assuming that the Beatles make dumb kiddy music. It’s not an unfair conclusion, but when I meet an adult with that opinion I get the impression they don’t reassess many childhood assumptions.
I think what you’re describing is different than being underrated. Maybe you mean that they are underappreciated for an aspect of their music that you find mindblowing (skill, innovation, songwriting?). Aren’t they regarded by the general public to have been very good at all these things?
I stand by my choice of words. I think people love their songs, but don’t always get how innovative they were. They went from She Loves You to Tomorrow Never Knows in just three years, and, crucially, took the world with them.If you haven’t seen this, it’s well worth your time.
I don’t know how you can say that they took the world with them, but also say that the world somehow wasn’t aware of this. The only people who don’t know how innovative the Beatles were are young people who don’t know shit, and old people who don’t give a shit. it’s an essential part of the Beatles mythology that they completely changed their style and changed what was acceptable in popular music.I’ll grant you that most people don’t understand music theory enough to really understand on a theoretical level what the Beatles were doing, but that’s a broader argument that would apply to all music and not just the band.
ohhhh, it was a joke. Alright, got it thx
If by “these days” you mean “since the early 1960s…”
I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I like Nickleback!
That’s how the F you do a controversial opinion.
I too am a fan of breathing oxygen and using H2O in order to remain hydrated.
Yeah, I think those crazy kids have a hell of a future ahead of ‘em.
Not a big fan of the hair, though. It gives people…ideas.
Not me. I don’t like those boys’ sound. Guitar groups are on their way out.
Hi Dick!
I’m more of a Herman and Hermits fan myself
While I always enjoyed several Pacemakers, I found Gerry to be naff.
Was it his appearances on the Sooty Show?
Herman the Vietnam War cheerleader?
Herman The Half-track Huffs it to Hanoi
And in the early 2000’s, that came true.
I salute your courage in speaking out, good sir.
Whatever, Spartacus.
The Beatles? They’re okay. They’re no The 1975, obviously, but they’re still pretty good.
With all the hype around AI these days, I think we’ve kind of forgotten that AI has been used for straightforward tasks like this for a quite a while.
It’s because the politicians have finally decided to get involved.
It feels a bit like that era in the 90s when they slapped “Fat Free” labels on products which never had fat content to start with.
No thanks.
Hahaha. Fuck off.
Fuck off, yeah, yeah, yeah!
I mean, this is pretty much AutoTune but like…more?
Do you want eternal Jimmy Buffett releases? Because this is how you get eternal Jimmy Buffett releases.
Did you read the article?
I’m interested to see whether this will sound like a Beatles song (as Free as a Bird did) or like a John Lennon song that the others happen to be backing him on (like Real Love). By and large I think Jeff Lynne managed to resist the temptations that frequently make songs produced by Jeff Lynne very easily identifiable, when he was working on those tracks. I hope he does so again.I’m slightly concerned that George wasn’t keen but has now lost his vote in the Beatle democracy. But at the end of the day, it’s more stuff by the freakin’ Beatles, and that is almost always a good thing for the human race.
Think so? I give Lynne props for the technical achievement that was in the mid-90s but to me both those songs sound very much like him as a producer. That’s not a smackdown on its own, but I do think the contrast between that ultra-smooth, compressed thing he does and the then-inevitable murkiness of the tape recording doesn’t sound great. Maybe that won’t be the case with this new thing.
Maybe that’s true if you have a better ear for these things. I think most of my Lynne-dar is from the backing vocals you hear on all his 80s work with the Travelling Wilburys and their constituent parts.
Agreed. I think Lynne made them sound like another Jeff Lynne produced song, which dated the songs immediately. He had an impossible task, to be sure, but I don’t even think hardcore Beatles fans are giving Real Love too many spins these days. My guess is the new one will be even worse.
FYI, grains of salt and all, but, Real Love(95) and Free as a Bird(94) both worked their ways in to the Top 100 Beatles countdown on SiruisXM this year.To a younger generation those are formative entry songs and might move up.Also the remixes done for the 1+ release sound very good and less Lynne-like.
McCartney didn’t want him doing it because he thought the signature sound would overwhelm the Beatles. He was right.
My guess is the only way George would participate is if Jeff produced.
Yes that actually true. George was hugely ambivalent about being involved in the project and, while he’d repaired his relationship with Paul by that point, he didn’t especially want to work with him again, recalling his lack of say in The Beatles.Lynne’s involvement was what got him over the line and, from memory, he enjoyed working on Free as a Bird but felt essentially like a session musician on Real Love (which was largely complete in comparison to Free as Bird which needed a lot of work)
I’m a big Beatles fan and Real Love is actually one I do spin a fair bit. It’s simple but beautiful. I fell in love with it as a piece of music after a friend of mine had her first dance at her wedding to it.
“I’m slightly concerned that George wasn’t keen but has now lost his vote in the Beatle democracy.”In fairness, treating George’s opinion as an afterthought is an accurate representation of how The Beatles worked for most of their career.
Kind of true, but he did get his way sometimes. Unfortunately one time was when he fought to keep Lennon’s Run For Your Life on Rubber Soul.
Oof that one is a yikes
Indeed. I mean he lifted the most offensive lyric from Elvis, but even so.
lifted the lyric from Elvis, who lifted it from Arthur Gunter. Fun fact about Gunter. He didn’t get paid a dime for his song, but later won the lottery in Michigan. It was like karma demanded his payment.
Kill it if you have too – Mark david Chapman
Oof.
Neat.
There’s going to have to be some AI invention of vocals if it’s “Now and Then,” because the demo has John mumbling through nonsense words for half of the chorus and most of the second verse.
Play it backwards. Not only did Paul die, but Satan eats Cheez Whiz.
Should’ve just done it in analog, man.For a two second clip, Cindy Williams’ face says a lot.
I read that they gave it a half arsed attempt, then decided against it. Can studio wizardry improve a half arsed attempt? I’m willing to listen to it, but not willing to pay for it.
Hopefully 50 years from now, AI will have progressed enough to allow the Gallagher brothers to call each other cunts from beyond the grave.
Please, as if there’s not an ample amount of audio reference material enabling that even with the AI of today.
Drums!
Cowbell?