1. Real Love 8/10 (I would like to see a remixed version applying the same AI separation to John's vocal that they did for Now & Then)
2. Now & Then 7.5 (when I initially first listened, I gave it a 6.5, but after a few more listens, it's kinda growing on me)
3. Free As A Bird 6/10 (Definately the weakest of the 3 & hasn't aged well. George's slide solo saves it from total meh-ness)
Your rankings?
Bump!
shareI can’t choose. I love them all!
shareI thought it was a joke when someone told me they had "new" songs coming out.
shareI only like Free as a Bird.
Even then, not nearly as much as their original stuff
Copy that Hybrid66 - I'm in the exact same boat.
IN the case of "Real LOve" - I never liked The Threatles version of it. Interestingly enough, I do like John Lennon's demo.
"Now and Then" - eehh - it's just ok. I'm not disappointed or anything because I wasn't expecting much. It's just ok. What it does say to me is that's enough - I hope RIngo and Paul don't decide to dust off other John (or even George demos) and try to make them Beatle songs.
"Free as a Bird" is nice. The harmonies are nice. George's solo is nice. It's a good track. I still like it today.
Yeah, I say it with a heavy heart, but I think that should be it now.
I rank them in this order: Real Love, then Free as a Bird, and then Now & Then. To me, Real Love and Free as a Bird sound like they could have fit right on the White Album, or Let it Be, or Abbey Road. Those two songs sound just like the work the Beatles were doing back in the late sixties, Now & Then doesn't quite. Maybe this is because so many years have passed, and Paul and Ringo have been more influenced by the music of the last several decades than they were back in 1995, I don't know. Then again, the band's work from the late sixties sounds quite different to their work from their early period, so there's that.
I like all three songs, and I'm perfectly fine with viewing them as Beatles Songs, but they do sort of get an asterisk beside them, for the simple reason that when the group was still together, any of the four members had the power to veto a song, in which case it wouldn't go on the album they were working on. (As an aside, I'm surprised neither John, nor George, nor Ringo vetoed Maxwell's Silver Hammer, as they all reputedly hated it -- though that may have come mainly from the extended amount of time that Paul the perfectionist had them working on it than how they felt about the tune itself.) Obviously John was not available to exercise a veto in the case of these three, nor was George in the case of this last one. So these last three songs came out without the final approval of all four members, setting them apart from the rest of their catalog in that sense. But they're good songs, and I very much doubt John or George would have vetoed them.
Yeah, good points.
Without John or George's final decision, the three diminish in Beatle-power. Plus the remaining two Beatles have aged somewhat.
As a foursome, they still decided to put out B-sides with much more appeal and talent than these three songs.
Rain and Revolution should have been A-sides, but both with way more power than these mediocre three.
I'd probably rate them all 7/10 across the board. I agree about Harrison's slide playing (He was an outstanding slide player) on "Free As A Bird."
sharenow & then
is kinda growing on me too