Beatles fans are on standby for the announcement of an expanded ‘1962-1966’ (The Red Album) and ‘1967-1970’ (The Blue Album).
The speculation for the reissues is that the initial 2LP/CD editions will each be expanded to triple album sets and contain for unreleased song ‘Now and Then’.
Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller has confirmed he has heard the new version of ‘Now and Then’. More details in the updated story here
In his podcast, Penn says he heard the song on a tour of Abbey Road recently with his host, Giles Martin. “There was a recording. The last recording that Paul McCartney did not make money off. There was John Lennon playing piano and singing while watching TV. The TV is loud and John is playing the piano and singing. Paul had this is the 80s when they were doing all Anthology stuff (ed. Anthology was actually the 90s) and Paul got every engineer in the world to try and take out the TV and they all tried and they all failed. Giles (Martin) said to the people on ‘Get Back’ “can you take out the TV on this?” and they said “yeah” and sent them John Lennon from three mics, voice and the TV all separate. So they now have a verse and chorus of John Lennon. In the 80s (ed. It was the 90s) Paul played the track to George and George played some guitar over it so they have that.
“‘Now and Then’ will also feature a chord from an outtake of ‘Because’. “They took that chord, changed the key”, Penn added.
Penn also said “He (Giles) is also remixing the Red and Blue album with all those tracks laid out separate because now they can give them five tracks of drums”.
‘Now and Then’ was abandoned during the construction of the 1995 Anthology series of albums. It was the third of three songs but not used because at the time, technology wasn’t available to clean up the original John Lennon to a presentable stage like the other two songs ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’.
‘Free As A Bird’ was released on Anthology 1 in November 1995. ‘Real Love’ followed on ‘Anthology 2’ in March 1996.
‘Now and Then’ was meant to be included on ‘Anthology 3’ but the three Beatles Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were not confident what they had to work with at the time could be achieved with the raw demo. Now nearly 30 years later, new technology developed by Sir Peter Jackson and used for the ‘Get Back’ movie makes it possible to separate every sound into its own channel. The technology was used for the recent ‘Revolver’ reissue and well as The Beach Boys new ‘Pet Sounds’ remaster.
The release of the ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ albums creates a diversion in the Beatles reissue road. I would imagine a slight change to take into consideration 1962 – 2023 might be appropriate.
In 2017 The Beatles released the first of the expanded albums box sets with ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. Next came ‘The Beatles’ (The White Album’) in 2018, ‘Abbey Road’ in 2019, ‘Let It Be’ in 2021 (delayed to coincide with the release of the ‘Get Back’ movie because of the 2020 covid year) and then ‘Revolver’ in 2022.
When the releases went back to 1966’s ‘Revolver’ after the 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970 releases it was expected that The 2023 Beatles release would be with ‘Rubber Soul’ or a hybrid ‘Yellow Submarine/Magical Mystery Tour’. However, producer Giles Martin has said that because of the frequency and thirst for Beatles releases during the early days of Beatlemania, nearly everything recorded has been released.
Paul McCartney has confirmed a 2023 release for ‘Now and Then’ and also insists it will be the final Beatles song.
A release for ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ is expected in September 2023. An official announcement is expected in August.
The Beatles 1962-1966 (The Red Album) Track Listing:
LP1
1. Love Me Do
2. Please Please Me
3. From Me To You
4. She Loves You
5. I Want To Hold Your Hand
6. All My Loving
7. Can’t Buy Me Love
8. A Hard Day’s Night
9. And I Love Her
10. Eight Days A Week
11. I Feel Fine
12. Ticket To Ride
13. Yesterday
LP2
1. Help!
2. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
3. We Can Work It Out
4. Day Tripper
5. Drive My Car
6. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
7. Nowhere Man
8. Michelle
9. In My Life
10. Girl
11. Paperback Writer
12. Eleanor Rigby
13. Yellow Submarine
The Beatles 1967-1970 (The Blue Album) Track Listing:
LP1
1. Strawberry Fields Forever
2. Penny Lane
3. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
4. With a Little Help From My Friends
5. Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds
6. A Day In the Life
7. All You Need Is Love
8. I Am the Walrus
9. Hello, Goodbye
10. The Fool On the Hill
11. Magical Mystery Tour
12. Lady Madonna
13. Hey Jude
14. Revolution
LP2
1. Back In the U.S.S.R.
2. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
3. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
4. Get Back
5. Don’t Let Me Down
6. The Ballad of John & Yoko
7. Old Brown Shoe
8. Here Comes the Sun
9. Come Together
10. Something
11. Octopus’s Garden
12. Let It Be
13. Across the Universe
14. The Long and Winding Road
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