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Mixed feelings on using John Lennon’s demo tape from the 70’s, extracting and refining the audio using machine learning, and then making a whole track out of it with some guitar parts George Harrison recorded when they last tried to make a single out of it in 1994. This is the “last” Beatles song according to McCartney and Ringo.
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the song is alright, i’ll break down a few things about my feelings on it
song itself is pretty good! not john’s best but a pretty little ditty
“and if i make it through” - the word “if” sounds like deepfake AI shit. this little bit is used multiple times, and it sounds like absolute dogshit every time. it kind of ruins the entire thing for me to some extent. “it’s all because of you” seems to lack the “it” and comes out “s’all” which is fine but it corroborates that they had to re-use that 1st verse from the demo a few times
the arrangement is not particularly interesting. paul’s little slide guitar stuff scarcely rises above functional, certainly not a patch on the guitar parts from their 60s work. the string arrangement has a few moments (the chorus has a little diatonic spike i dig, back into the last verse has a nice descending figure, the very end is interesting) but is largely safe and boring - giles is competent but he’s not bringing what george martin brought to the table here imo. piano is too loud and clear but without playing anything particularly interesting.
old paul harmonizing with ghost-john in the chorus is somewhat powerful. it works pretty good.
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AI shit like this is pretty wack in general but imo this at least falls on the novel experiment side of the line. it sounds better than i could have expected but y’know its also just a very official polished attempt to present an unfinished Beatles demo. neat but never going to be a favorite. Kinda cool to hear a Beatles song with modern production.
been pondering something my coworker commented the other day while Hey Jude was playing on the radio, “sometimes I’m really into listening to the Beatles and sometimes I never want to hear them again” kinda my sentiments exactly. I think if i want to hear a beatles song now it’s one of their weird B-sides or album cuts like It’s All Too Much or Tomorrow Never Knows
(i did scream my throat out to hey jude at my brothers wedding a month ago so set abd setting is obviously a factor lol)
related i walked into a liquor store the other day and one of the guys working the counter was complaining about there being an all-day bewtles marathon on the radio (which i silently agreed that’s Way Too Much Beatles in 2023) to which his coworker jokingly threatened to put on Phish instesd
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my actual song of the moment is this Steel Pulse cover of franklins tower from a double disc reggae grateful dead album my parents had when i was a kid lol. it fucking ripped and im glad upon googling it just now that there seems to be a full upload on YouTube again after years of not being able to find one!
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This song is so, so cozy 
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It must be fall/winter, because new releases start to plop up out of nowhere:
Epik new Epik High release!
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Love the story behind this, a favored track for a single deleted by some dope assistant (probably me in a previous life).
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the best mixes of that are maintained by a guy named jive miguel on soundcloud after they all got copyright takedowned from youtube: Stream Jive Miguel Mixes music | Listen to songs, albums, playlists for free on SoundCloud
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this was immediately noticeable to me as well. it’s pretty bad and kinda ruins the effect they were going for because it immediately brings up the thoughts of deepfakes and cheapens the whole thing.
this arrangement is corny as fuck! the main melody is pleasant, but the way it develops is a little meandery the arrangement doesn’t really meet that, it’s just very straight and flat that doesn’t really get the drama inherent in those chord changes. if Ringo wasn’t 80-something i’m sure he could’ve managed more energetic/interesting drumming, and they definitely could have boosted Paul’s bass playing. and yeah the strings are safe and really kinda are just an uninteresting layer over things. the vocal harmonizing is pretty good at least.
anyway the base song reminded me of Eillott Smith - that’s someone who took John Lennon songwriting’s whole thing and ran with it. or even Angel Olsen i got some of in the “I want you to be there for me, always to return to me” part. it reminds me of why all the stuff that has happened after the Beatles happened the way it did. it didn’t have to stop with the Beatles, and it hasn’t.
but i’ll give it to Paul and Ringo that they’re old and it’s nice to get the gang back together for one last go around. it could be a lot worse than it is - it’s not like it’s The Pixies post-reunion music or whatever. and i’m sure to the boomers who grew up with them it is a nice moment. but it’s a little sad and underwhelming as a piece of music.
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