The Beatles Announce Release of "Now and Then" and Re-Issues of 'Red' and 'Blue' Albums

The Beatles will be releasing what is defined as their last song, "Now and Then" on Nov. 2.

The Beatles 1962-1966 ('The Red Album') and 1967-1970 ('The Blue Album') Special Edition, mixed in stereo & Dolby Atmos will be released on Nov. 10.

The Beatles and Apple Corps, Ltd. have released the long-awaited news that "Now and Then," a song by John Lennon that was given to the remaining 'Threetles' as a cassette during the 1994-95 Anthology sessions, will be delivered on Nov. 2. In addition, the Beatles 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 double album sets originally released in 1973, will see a 50th anniversary deliverance on Nov. 10.

"Now and Then" started life as a cassette demo that Lennon recorded at The Dakota sometime in the late '70s. Yoko Ono gifted this song, along with "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" to Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in 1994. From there, with producer Jeff Lynne, the trio began work on restoring and recording their contributions. While the latter two songs were completed for the Anthology series, "Now and Then" was left unfinished due to the poor quality of the original recording.

Moving forward to 2021, director Peter Jackson used cutting-edge technology, developed at his WingNut film studio, to restore and enhance the source material for what became the epic eight-hour Get Back documentary, released in November of that year. Jackson also worked with McCartney on his Got Back tour, providing him with footage of Lennon singing his portion of "I've Got A Feeling" at the January 1969 rooftop gig.

As announced in the press release "Besides John’s vocal, "Now And Then" includes electric and acoustic guitar recorded in 1995 by George, Ringo’s new drum part, and bass, guitar and piano from Paul, which matches John's original playing. Paul added a slide guitar solo inspired by George; he and Ringo also contributed backing vocals to the chorus." The misconception that Lennon's vocal was reproduced using artificial intelligence or replaced with deep fake technology has been officially dissuaded by Apple and by McCartney and Starr themselves.

Paul says: "There it was, John's voice, crystal clear. It’s quite emotional. And we all play on it, it's a genuine Beatles recording. In 2023 to still be working on Beatles music, and about to release a new song the public haven’t heard, I think it’s an exciting thing."

Ringo says: "It was the closest we'll ever come to having him back in the room, so it was very emotional for all of us. It was like John was there, you know. It's far out."

The release of 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 are the celebratory 50th anniversary of these albums. Considered by many Beatles' fans as the gateway to their music, both editions have been remixed and remastered and will include "Now and Then" as the last track on 1967-1970. Additional songs that were available on previous remastered collections — "Strawberry Fields Forever" are the 2015 stereo mix and 2023 Dolby Atmos mix — will certainly have audiophiles wanting to purchase as many variants as possible. This will include vinyl, colored vinyl, CD and multi-vinyl versions. "Now and Then" will also be available on vinyl, colored vinyl and of all things, cassette along with a stereo mix of the Beatles' very first release "Love Me Do."

Pre-orders are available on the Beatles website starting today, Oct. 26.