The Beatles’ “Now And Then” music video is a goofy little time capsule
Peter Jackson used never-before-seen footage of The Beatles to craft a final "short film" for "Now And Then"
Aux News Now and Then
On the heels of releasing their first song in almost 30 years—and their last song ever—The Beatles now have a final music video to accompany “Now And Then.” Peter Jackson, who directed the in-depth docuseries Get Back and whose team pioneered the audio technique that made “Now And Then” possible, was tasked with creating a video that brought Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr back together for one final time. And based on the video, he took that task quite literally.
In a statement, Jackson admitted to his trepidation about being in charge of a music video, particularly because of a lack of footage of Lennon around the time he made the demo, of the other three members working on it during the Anthology sessions, or suitable contemporary shots (“they didn’t even shoot any footage showing Paul and Ringo working on the song last year”). Luckily, McCartney, Starr, and Apple Records provided him with what he needed and then some, with bonus footage of “the earliest known film of The Beatles and never seen before” provided by the group’s one-time drummer, Pete Best.
Jackson created what he terms a “short film,” the ending of which he hoped to “craft something that could adequately sum up the enormity of The Beatles’ legacy,” an “impossible” task because “Their contribution to the world is too immense, and their wondrous gift of music has become part of our DNA and now defies description.” His ideas got the seal of approval from Harrison’s son Dhani, and Jackson has “genuine pride” in the final result.
“To be honest, while we hope we’ve given The Beatles a suitable final farewell, that’s something you’ll need to decide for yourselves when it’s finally released,” he said.
Now that it has been released, the music video is not unlike the song itself: sentimental and nostalgic, if veering on cheesy at times. It works best when focused on the archival footage of the band working on the track; the blend of present-day McCartney and Starr with Sgt. Pepper-era Lennon and Harrison is jarring and frankly, a little goofy. (To be honest, it looks more like when someone adds a sticker GIF to their Instagram Story than a Peter Jackson-worthy visual effect.) Nevertheless, Beatle fanatics may find themselves charmed by the time capsule quality of the video, which travels backward through the group’s career all the way through to childhood photos and footage of the four members.
In an introduction, McCartney promised Jackson “passed the audition” for making a Beatles music video, although it feels less like a true Beatles project than two older musicians looking back on their glory days. When the glory days were that glorious, you can get away with having a mawkish final farewell. And when the group takes their final bow in the last shot of the video, the sentiment somehow still feels earned. It’s not a timeless classic like so much of the band’s creations, but it’s still something fans may want to return to now and then.
24 Comments
I agree that initial shot of them performing together looks bad — does George’s guitar pass through the mic stand?? But the comps later in the video look a lot better.
I’m having a hard time thinking of this as a Beatle’s track. A song John sent Paul, who called up the rest and they left it unfinished until AI could separate John’s vocals from the piano track… it’s a stretch for me.It sounds fine but I wonder if John or George would have been happy with the final mix. The Beatles have an enduring legacy which I respect but this isn’t the same as the four of them sitting in a room and working it out collectively. At least it isn’t Waters horrid ego-centric spoken word Dark Side of the Moon!!
Pretty sure that John didn’t even send it to Paul. Yoko did, after John’s death.
That said . . . It’s inessential, but kinda lovely. An unheard Lennon song, with all the Beatles playing on it, it’s nice. For me, it’s the lyrics. They’re obviously written about Yoko, it’s hard not to hear “If we must start again/Well, we will know for sure/That I will love you . . . I miss you/I want you to be there for me/Always to return to me” and think of the poignancy of old friends reflecting on things unsaid, missed opportunities. Maybe I’m just a maudlin sap (okay, I’m definitely that) but I don’t mind it at all.
Looking at it as a Lennon track with some rather famous musician friends adding their twists is how I’ll ultimately look at this.
I like this take. The irony fits nicely too: If Paul and Ringo want to release “new” Beatles material featuring John, then the lyrics are all going to be about Yoko. It’d be funny if she was like “Oh, looky here: I found ten more tracks never released, in a box in the attic.”
This does not sound like a Beatles recording. There’s no dynamics, the drums are barely audible, none of the Ringo fills, everything sounds flat and boring. Lennon’s AI replicant voice sounds tired and bored. Why does this exist?
Basically harmless curiosities. Hitting up Rubber Soul/Revolver cleanses the palate.
I think that the main reason it exists is that it just for whatever reason became personnally important to Paul to finish the effort. He has referred over the years to his desire and intention to do it. For sentimental reasons I think, not crass or cynical ones. And there is no “John’s AI replicant voice” or is John’s own, real voice we hear clearly. The AI involvement was in the recently developed technology that was used to separate the audio components of the demo tape (separating the vocal from the piano) and remove the tape hiss. Same technique used to isolate John’s live vocal from from the rooftop performance of ”I’ve Got a Feeling” that Paul and his band sing and play along with on their current tour.
It’s probably 50/50 real Lennon and AI replica. They had an AI model of his voice that was created from previous recordings. What is “real” or “simulated” is a philosophical debate. And judging by some of the comments from McCartney, George Harrison is nowhere on “Now and Then”…the Harrison-like slide guitar is 100% McCartney.
It’s a perfectly fine coda to the Anthology sessions, which were a perfectly fine coda to the Beatles’ actual music.
You’re talking out of your ass. That’s John’s actual voice. AI was just used to clean an old demo up.
I noticed the motion tracking on the photos…. to be fair, they probably have negatives, original audios, original film. It’s hard to not notice modern techniques in something as classic as an original Beatles Recording.
It has the vibe of an Oasis song, just as “Real Love” had the vibe of an ELO song.
There’s a couple shots when multiple Beatles across different decades are on screen that made me wonder what someone like Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry could have thought up with all of that footage if they had this level of access and budget. This video just feels like Jackson is too duty bound to the Beatles legacy, and too afraid to upstage the song itself to really make it anything interesting.
With all due respect to the community here:Jees…just sit back and enjoy it. I thought it was nice to see some shots of John and George again.
This is the right attitude.
As a long-standing member of this community . . . at this point, there’s not much respect due.
I really wonder if there are true fans at all here but ill digress. While the song is up to individual taste, I feel its been well done here based on how it was originally made. It def is a John song of that time period he died in but the chorus is def Beatles all the way. The video is just pure awesomeness, a perfect send off. While putting the older versions of John n George is s little jarring at first, once you get past that n watch it more, it makes for wonderful viewing and you can almost imagine that’s what Ringo or Paul is seeing right there in their mind as they are performing today. As a life long fan who wasnt old enough to appreciate them while they were together, I loved it.
It definitely ‘feels’ like it’s missing that George Martin touch.
those weird CGI Beatles are incredibly distracting, reminds me of one of those face-mash apps that my dad loves.should have just blended together contemporary and archival footage like in “Real Love”:
THIS EXACTLY. I’ve seen friends raving about the content of this video and I keep thinking, “But they did this before on ‘Real Love’… thirty years ago, and they did it better then.”
It’s not a great video for all the reasons already given, but it has nice moments. And the final shot had me in tears.
it sounds like less AI was used on Lennon’s voice here than on Mick Jagger’s in the first 8 tracks of the new Stones album (the last two tracks are really good imo). That said, nobody puts “Free as a Bird” on their Beatles mixtape and this weaksauce will similarly fade away.I actually find the video creepy? It’s like there is are antic googly ghosts dancing clowning and pulling faces following around the surviving Beatles. If I want Beatles nostalgia by Beatles (and this song is not fun so the clowny stuff in the video is doubly weird), I would watch “When We Was Fab”—a fun ELO gloss with melancholy notes, and the end of the video is really lovely
Yeah, John being goofy undercuts the tone of the song, even though, yeah, were he around, he might be tempted to undercut the tone of the session on camera. There’s a little bit of “dumping out all that’s left in the junk-drawer” feel to all of it, which is fine. You generally dump out junk drawers to find little gems. I think I prefer Real Love’s visual of all the Beatles’ stuff floating away into space.