Ahead of the release of their new song, the Beatles have given fans a 12-minute-long documentary on the story behind ‘Now And Then’.
In the documentary, Paul McCartney explains how they used John Lennon’s voice from a muddy cassette created in the 70’s. Using Peter Jackson’s state-of-the-art technology they were able to pull apart the track, isolating Lennon’s vocals and then build the song from there.
McCartney describes the process: “They said, this is the sound of John’s voice. A few seconds later… there it was. John’s voice, crystal clear… Peter took John off and gave him his own track. It’s like John’s there, you know — it’s far out.
“So in the mix, we could lift John’s voice without lifting the piano, which had always been one of the problems. Now we could mix it and make a proper record of it. I pulled it out, had a listen to it, and thought, ‘Oh, I could actually do the bass a bit better. So why don’t I start there?’”
In a statement about the documentary, writer-director Oliver Murray said, “The legacy of the Beatles set one of the most important foundations for modern youth culture. It is a great honour to be given the responsibility of telling this story and I think it will conjure up a lot of different emotions for people as we all have a very personal relationship to the band’s work. ‘Now And Then’ is a story of musical archaeology and a brotherly bond between four guys that gave the world some of the most popular entertainment in history.”
Peter Jackson’s music video will be released on Friday, Nov. 3. The following Friday, Nov. 10, expanded versions of the “1962-66” and “1967-70” collections, featuring dozens of new stereo and Atmos remixes, will hit DSPs and stores.
