The Beatles and The Rolling Stones both have released new music. Who would have ever guessed that?
The British are coming! The British are coming!
That described the pop music scene in 1964. The British Invasion started by The Beatles and followed shortly afterward by The Rolling Stones meant the music world would never be the same.
Who would have guessed that almost six decades later not only would both bands still be relevant, but would also be dropping new music?
Last month, the Stones released their latest album, “Hackney Diamonds.” It's their first album of new, original songs in eighteen years. They broke out the big guns for this recording. Among the star musicians helping out are Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga and former Stones bassist Bill Wyman. It also has the last two recorded tracks of their late drummer Charlie Watts.
“Hackney Diamonds” has the sound you expect of a Rolling Stones record. I think it has the feel of “Sticky Fingers”, both in the songs and the way they've arranged the tracks. Many critics have said it's their best album in a couple of decades. I'll go one better; I think it's their best since “Exile on Main Street”, more than fifty years ago.
If you've been following the band in recent years, a new album shouldn't have been a surprise. Keith Richards has said multiple times that not only are they not done touring, but he was sure there would be new music. “Hackney Diamonds” is that new music, and it's good. Will be a classic and hold up to those albums of the late 1960s-early 70s? We’ll have to ask Keith in fifty years to see what he thinks.
New music from The Beatles is much trickier. When half the band is no longer alive, how do you get a new tune.?
AI and new technology…and we’ll get to that in a bit.
The last time the boys dropped new music was in 1995. Paul, Ringo and George got together, and with help from Jeff Lynne, they cleaned up some John Lennon tracks. When they added their own instruments and vocals, you had “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” They also had the opportunity to work on what is now known as “Now and Then”, but Lennon’s vocal track wasn't up to their standards. George Harrison backed off.
It’s almost three decades later. Technology has changed so much that almost anything is possible. They could have used Artificial Intelligence to create a new lead vocal track. Instead, they used the technology developed by the filmmaker Peter Jackson and his team that was used during his “Get Back” documentary. It strengthened Lennon’s original vocals and made the project a lot less creepy, which even McCartney had some fear of doing.
“Now and Then” was released earlier today. Are you going to love it immediately? Probably not. Will it grow on you? Absolutely, it will. I’ve listened to it five times and I’ve picked up different nuances with each listening. And, you’re going to love it because it’s THE BEATLES! Anytime you can get something new from an iconic group of musicians that broke up more than fifty years ago, with half of their members being gone for more than two and four decades, that’s a great thing.
Linda McCartney once revealed that John Lennon’s last words to Paul McCartney were “Think about me every now and then, old friend.” That’s what he was doing while making this record and closing out the final chapter of The Beatles.