Now and Then song from John
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John's voice has a dreamy sound, even in the demo, before any fancy production tricks. I love it and hope I live to see it made into a song by someone who cares.
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hey_kittay:
John's voice has a dreamy sound, even in the demo, before any fancy production tricks. I love it and hope I live to see it made into a song by someone who cares.
Maybe Paul and Ringo will have a go at it. That would be cool.
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RMartinez:
John's voice on the cassette is not better quality. It is just easier to hear on its own. Those cassette demos are actually REALLY bad, sonically. Instead of trashing Jeff Lynne, you should thank him for doing such a great job with what little he had to work with. The songs are cool, and all you REALLY hear added are Ringo's drums, Paul's bass, George's guitar, and a lot of overlaid vocals, ala ELO. Or not. More like what you hear on Abbey Road, and Sgt. Pepper's, which was the template for early ELO. Truth is, what we got is about all you can do with those recordings. Sorry folks, but that is about what the Beatles would have sounded like had they stayed together, or reunited, which is what Free As A Bird and Real Love are: the Beatles reunion we all waited for. Kind of.
I respect your opinions and we agree on much. On this I disagree absolutely...VEHEMENTLY!
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RMartinez:
hey_kittay:
John's voice has a dreamy sound, even in the demo, before any fancy production tricks. I love it and hope I live to see it made into a song by someone who cares.
Maybe Paul and Ringo will have a go at it. That would be cool.
I hope not. The (for want of a better word), "song" is blatant garbage. Even when a pig scrapes under a tree, it occasionally surfaces with truffles. Now and Then is the type of thing found under a tree that people sometimes tread on and have to scrape from their shoe!
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RMartinez:
John's voice on the cassette is not better quality. It is just easier to hear on its own. Those cassette demos are actually REALLY bad, sonically. Instead of trashing Jeff Lynne, you should thank him for doing such a great job with what little he had to work with. The songs are cool, and all you REALLY hear added are Ringo's drums, Paul's bass, George's guitar, and a lot of overlaid vocals, ala ELO. Or not. More like what you hear on Abbey Road, and Sgt. Pepper's, which was the template for early ELO. Truth is, what we got is about all you can do with those recordings. Sorry folks, but that is about what the Beatles would have sounded like had they stayed together, or reunited, which is what Free As A Bird and Real Love are: the Beatles reunion we all waited for. Kind of.
How can you say that is about what The Beatles would have sounded like had they stayed together? Nobody in 63 could have foreseen their sound 4 years hence! For all we know they might have been predominantly acoustic!!! Nobody is saying (well I'm not) that the 2 songs aren't cool songs. I DO have an issue with the lead vocal and Ringo"s drum sound. I DO have an issue with the MUCH speeded up Real Love. BUT...as I acknowledged, it obviously is what The Beatles wanted. Sadly, they all opted (or was it simply they knew and felt comfortable) with Lynne. I'm glad they did the songs. But I think other mixes and isolated vocals and instruments prove they could...no SHOULD have sounded better.
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moptops:
RMartinez:
John's voice on the cassette is not better quality. It is just easier to hear on its own. Those cassette demos are actually REALLY bad, sonically. Instead of trashing Jeff Lynne, you should thank him for doing such a great job with what little he had to work with. The songs are cool, and all you REALLY hear added are Ringo's drums, Paul's bass, George's guitar, and a lot of overlaid vocals, ala ELO. Or not. More like what you hear on Abbey Road, and Sgt. Pepper's, which was the template for early ELO. Truth is, what we got is about all you can do with those recordings. Sorry folks, but that is about what the Beatles would have sounded like had they stayed together, or reunited, which is what Free As A Bird and Real Love are: the Beatles reunion we all waited for. Kind of.
How can you say that is about what The Beatles would have sounded like had they stayed together? Nobody in 63 could have foreseen their sound 4 years hence! For all we know they might have been predominantly acoustic!!! Nobody is saying (well I'm not) that the 2 songs aren't cool songs. I DO have an issue with the lead vocal and Ringo"s drum sound. I DO have an issue with the MUCH speeded up Real Love. BUT...as I acknowledged, it obviously is what The Beatles wanted. Sadly, they all opted (or was it simply they knew and felt comfortable) with Lynne. I'm glad they did the songs. But I think other mixes and isolated vocals and instruments prove they could...no SHOULD have sounded better.
You can say and think what you want. But it is what it is. And it ain't what it ain't!
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moptops:
RMartinez:
John's voice on the cassette is not better quality. It is just easier to hear on its own. Those cassette demos are actually REALLY bad, sonically. Instead of trashing Jeff Lynne, you should thank him for doing such a great job with what little he had to work with. The songs are cool, and all you REALLY hear added are Ringo's drums, Paul's bass, George's guitar, and a lot of overlaid vocals, ala ELO. Or not. More like what you hear on Abbey Road, and Sgt. Pepper's, which was the template for early ELO. Truth is, what we got is about all you can do with those recordings. Sorry folks, but that is about what the Beatles would have sounded like had they stayed together, or reunited, which is what Free As A Bird and Real Love are: the Beatles reunion we all waited for. Kind of.
How can you say that is about what The Beatles would have sounded like had they stayed together? Nobody in 63 could have foreseen their sound 4 years hence! For all we know they might have been predominantly acoustic!!! Nobody is saying (well I'm not) that the 2 songs aren't cool songs. I DO have an issue with the lead vocal and Ringo"s drum sound. I DO have an issue with the MUCH speeded up Real Love. BUT...as I acknowledged, it obviously is what The Beatles wanted. Sadly, they all opted (or was it simply they knew and felt comfortable) with Lynne. I'm glad they did the songs. But I think other mixes and isolated vocals and instruments prove they could...no SHOULD have sounded better.
If not Lynne, then who?
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Okay, I will for free, produce this song right now. Give me a recording studio and an assistant. I will make sure the song is not overproduced and brings out the pure essence of John. There, now it is settled.
If not, it looks like it will take forever, if ever. -
OK! You're hired. Only if you donate your fee...wait for it...to charity.
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^^ In the spirit of John's "Imagine," it shall all go to charity. I just need peaceful studio accommodations.
* I am only speaking for me, John's estate will have to be consulted. -
moptops:
RMartinez:
John's voice on the cassette is not better quality. It is just easier to hear on its own. Those cassette demos are actually REALLY bad, sonically. Instead of trashing Jeff Lynne, you should thank him for doing such a great job with what little he had to work with. The songs are cool, and all you REALLY hear added are Ringo's drums, Paul's bass, George's guitar, and a lot of overlaid vocals, ala ELO. Or not. More like what you hear on Abbey Road, and Sgt. Pepper's, which was the template for early ELO. Truth is, what we got is about all you can do with those recordings. Sorry folks, but that is about what the Beatles would have sounded like had they stayed together, or reunited, which is what Free As A Bird and Real Love are: the Beatles reunion we all waited for. Kind of.
How can you say that is about what The Beatles would have sounded like had they stayed together? Nobody in 63 could have foreseen their sound 4 years hence! For all we know they might have been predominantly acoustic!!! Nobody is saying (well I'm not) that the 2 songs aren't cool songs. I DO have an issue with the lead vocal and Ringo"s drum sound. I DO have an issue with the MUCH speeded up Real Love. BUT...as I acknowledged, it obviously is what The Beatles wanted. Sadly, they all opted (or was it simply they knew and felt comfortable) with Lynne. I'm glad they did the songs. But I think other mixes and isolated vocals and instruments prove they could...no SHOULD have sounded better.
Totally agree. It would be cool if Paul & Ringo released different mixes of FaaB and RL as part of a new Now & Then single. There has to be more stuff in the vault that they could release. Anthology shouldnt be the 1-all-and-end-all. Dylan releases new demos/remixes each year, so why cant they?
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JoeySmith:
moptops:
RMartinez:
John's voice on the cassette is not better quality. It is just easier to hear on its own. Those cassette demos are actually REALLY bad, sonically. Instead of trashing Jeff Lynne, you should thank him for doing such a great job with what little he had to work with. The songs are cool, and all you REALLY hear added are Ringo's drums, Paul's bass, George's guitar, and a lot of overlaid vocals, ala ELO. Or not. More like what you hear on Abbey Road, and Sgt. Pepper's, which was the template for early ELO. Truth is, what we got is about all you can do with those recordings. Sorry folks, but that is about what the Beatles would have sounded like had they stayed together, or reunited, which is what Free As A Bird and Real Love are: the Beatles reunion we all waited for. Kind of.
How can you say that is about what The Beatles would have sounded like had they stayed together? Nobody in 63 could have foreseen their sound 4 years hence! For all we know they might have been predominantly acoustic!!! Nobody is saying (well I'm not) that the 2 songs aren't cool songs. I DO have an issue with the lead vocal and Ringo"s drum sound. I DO have an issue with the MUCH speeded up Real Love. BUT...as I acknowledged, it obviously is what The Beatles wanted. Sadly, they all opted (or was it simply they knew and felt comfortable) with Lynne. I'm glad they did the songs. But I think other mixes and isolated vocals and instruments prove they could...no SHOULD have sounded better.
Totally agree. It would be cool if Paul & Ringo released different mixes of FaaB and RL as part of a new Now & Then single. There has to be more stuff in the vault that they could release. Anthology shouldnt be the 1-all-and-end-all. Dylan releases new demos/remixes each year, so why cant they?
The question is, are there DEMOS of FaaB and RL with Paul, Ringo and George on them? I doubt that.
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moptops:
Squid:
I didn't much like Grow Old With Me. I really did like Free As a Bird, and I loved Real Love. Sadly both these songs were turned into ELO tribute songs (as was Flaming Pie) by Lynne, which was a real shame. Still they retain moments of greatness, despite the production.
That damned awful drum sound he gets. To this day I'm amazed that John's vocal on the cassette demo is better quality than what appeared on the released version! Second: Real Love was speeded up so much it detracts from the beauty of the original song. Still - both released versions were ok'd by The Beatles. But....
I don't think the, er, Threatles, or Lynne, for that matter, quite realised what they had on their hands with Real Love. It's becoming something of a classic, well-covered by other performers, and a favourite song of amateurs at youtube; its use in the John Lewis Xmas advert only went to confirm its status as something of a modern classic.
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As you know this was the 3rd Lennon demo the three were working on in 1995 for the Anthology project but did not finish due to background humming they could not properly erase. The youtube fan mix is pretty good and the technology now exists to eliminate all background noise. Last I heard Paul made a statement in 2012 that he would love to go back into the studio with Ringo and finish it with archival George guitar tracks. Has anyone heard anything since about this? I think it would be great and it's a very nice song.
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I think this is covered in another thread somewhere.