Happy Diwali 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Selamat menyambut Hari Deepavali"! Happy Deepavali to all celebrating! May light always guide your way this Diwali and all year long!

 

Following a lot of hype – and a quarter century of work – “Now and Then”, presumably the last song to feature all four original Beatles, is here. It debuted in the charts at number 42 after its release on November 02, based on just 10 hours' worth of sales. 

 

Since then, it has jumped forty-one places up the charts and is the 18th number one single for Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late John Lennon and George Harrison.

 

And "Now and Then" is this century's fastest-selling vinyl single, according to the Official Charts Company.

 

In case you don't know, the Beatles are the British act with the most number one singles in UK charts history – only US singer Elvis Presley has more, with 21 chart-topping singles.  

 

"Now and Then" is a psychedelic soft rock ballad that John Lennon (left) wrote and recorded in around 1977 as a five-minute solo piano home demo, but left unfinished. An apologetic love song, it is addressed to an old friend (or lover), to whom Lennon declares: "Now and then, I miss you/Now and then, I want you to return to me". 

 

It was shelved for nearly three decades, until it was completed by the surviving bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr (above photo), using overdubs and guitar tracks by George Harrison (who died in 2001) from the abandoned 1995 sessions. 

 

The final version features additional lyrics by McCartney and Lennon's voice extracted from the demo using the AI-backed audio restoration technology commissioned by Peter Jackson (right) for his 2021 documentary "The Beatles: Get Back".

 

Martin Talbot, head of the Official Charts Company, said: "The return of John, Paul, George and Ringo with the last ever Beatles single has cemented their legend by breaking a catalogue of records – and in doing so underlined the extraordinary scope of their enduring appeal, across all the generations, with huge numbers of streams, downloads and vinyl singles".

 

“Now and Then” signals, if anything, not just the “last Beatles song” (as it’s been advertised) – but the first in what could be a long stream of work that’s salvaged or saved using artificial intelligence.