“It’s been a long time, now I’m coming back home” … or so the song says.
I haven’t been around these parts for a few weeks now which is a long time for me. It’s not that I’m losing interest in music but recently I’ve been feeding one of my other passions – writing children’s books – and as it seems I’ve forgotten my way to this blog.
As it happens I just released three new children’s books that I wrote – see photos and link below – and I’ve been immersed in the world of fiction writing for these past few weeks.
Since I’ve been gone the biggest and most interesting music news, to me anyway, was the announcement a few weeks ago of the imminent arrival late this year of the infamous long lost Beatles track from the mid-’90s reunion sessions for The Beatles Anthology sets – “Now and Then”.
This is certainly the song that’s coming out though when Paul McCartney broke the news he didn’t mention the title. More than likely this will be the third John Lennon demo that Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr worked on in 1994/95 or it could even possibly be called “I Don’t Want to Lose You” which is another lyric from the demo.
My bet is on it be called “Now and Then” and from the incomplete demo that circulates it should be a fitting postscript to the whole Beatles experience.
Like “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love”, the surviving ex-Beatles took the raw informal cassette demo of “Now and Then” and edited it while cleaning it up and adding new instrumentation as well as new lyrics and vocals.
Supposedly “Now and Then” required much more work than “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love” so it was abandoned to the mists of time after 1995 when George Harrison nixed its completion and sat unfinished low these thirty some years; that is until now.
(Note: Apparently Harrison wasn’t that keen on the track for some reason but also the fact that it had a worse quality vocal than the other demos and a loud hum contributed to his decision to stop work on the song.)
Paul McCartney over the years has mentioned his desire to finish the track and now with the advent of AI technology the ability to totally isolate Lennon’s vocal from the murk of the original demo enabled the song to be mixed much better than the other reunion tracks making it the perfect final reunion of the Fab Four.
I’m also guessing that the lyrics which contain the phrase “now and then” are a real emotional trigger for McCartney as supposedly the last thing John Lennon ever said to him was “Think of me every now and then my old friend” which certainly makes this track a worthwhile thing to finish and release.
All four Beatles play on the song “Now and Then” as the three ex-Beatles all contributed to the track before abandoning it. The good thing is the use of AI did not go beyond cleaning the track up – no fake Lennon or Beatles vocals or instruments were added – which makes me really excited to hear the finished result.
To those who’ve heard the original demo obviously a lot of work must have gone into the song as many lyrics weren’t completed and the song needed tightening as well.
(Note 2: One of the demos for “Now and Then” appears on the groovy bootleg CD set pictured above. I’ve always loved the melancholy feel of the song and can’t wait to hear it as a completed Beatles track.)
With the advent of all the recent media buzz on AI technology I’ve felt very uneasy about the abuses that it could bring but weirdly enough I too found a really good use for this technology my self these past few weeks.
Which brings me back to my books.
I’ve been writing children’s books for over twenty years and have assembled several completed manuscripts – everything from picture books to YA novels – but have lost my drive to continue to sent out to publishers.
My picture book manuscripts especially went unloved in a file cabinet until a few weeks ago when I decided to experiment with using AI to generate illustrations for my text.
I went to a Website that generates copyright free AI created images and after a lot of trial and error came up with some truly lovely illustrations that were perfect for three of my manuscripts.
No one is more surprised than me at the assistance AI has provided me in bringing these three books to life. I must admit I’m still leery of the technology but used wisely it does seem to provide interesting results.
Photos of the my three new books are featured below.
Two of the books are picture books (“The Star Miner” and “The Shadow Gardener”) meant for younger kids and one is a short story (“The Christmas Bees”) that consists of a Christmas saga set in the Depression era in the Midwestern United States that can appeal to all ages. It weaves in a bit of mystery with a bit of Christmas nostalgia without being cloying, in my mind anyway.
Anyone interested in taking either a better look at my books or even ordering them from Amazon in physical form or ebook can go to my Website for more details – click the link below:
Anyway, that’s my update for today.
Oh and before I forget it’s also Ringo Starr’s 83 birthday! I thought I’d share a couple of photos (above) of one of the rarer Ringo items I own – the USB wrist band version of his “Liverpool 8” album that came out a few weeks after the CD and vinyl versions of that album.
It’s truly a one-off item from Ringo and who knows one day I may just open it and see if it works!
So that’s all for now. Happy Birthday again Ringo and more sooner here than later I hope.
Be well and healthy and see you soon.
Records, CDs and Music: 