balzac inadvertently became a Now and Then expert

When I say that something might be potentially "divisive", I'm just talking about how people will debate the quality of the things. From everything I've heard, there's nothing topical (e.g. politics) that would be divisive. It would just be more the presentation/quality sort of thing. The type of stuff that's divisive *within* a fan base mainly (like Star Wars fans debating whether a given movie or show is amazing or awful, etc.). Though, past the actual fan base, I suspect any Beatles "reunion" single will get its share of detractors from actual reviewers and certainly from otherwise uninvolved social media spectators, who often make bad faith arguments on a daily basis.

You've managed to dance past this point a few times, which is your right, but I'll try to nail it down: have you actually heard things directly related to the single and/or video from someone in the know (or in the know of someone in the know)? Or this is some kind of industry chatter that's going around?

Or are all of these just best guesses about any "new" Beatles product in 2023?

It's not an unfair question to ask. I'm not just guessing. I'm also not just talking about random chatter in the fan community.

Folks can invest in any information as much or as little as they feel comfortable of course; I totally understand. I've been on the board for 18 years, hopefully people realize I don't go posting rando bogus rumors and whatnot.

As I've mentioned recently, a few hints about specific tracks/things have been dropped in recent days/weeks that are specific enough that they can be easily confirmed once everything is announced and out there.

I would also say that, just from my observation, I've seen *some* folks have such zeal regarding wanting to know announcement and release dates that they've seemed to completely gloss over actual details *about* the project that have been hinted at. Or I dunno, maybe some folks really are more interested in *when* this thing is coming out than *what* it's going to be or how good it's going to be.

I understand wanting it and wanting to know when it's coming out. If this was a hypothetical project that may or may not even exist let alone come out, I'd say the "when" would be more important than asking how good it is, because first it has to exist and be planned for release.

But this project is done and will be coming out, and relatively sooner rather than later. At that point, I don't understanding having no interest in information (hints and otherwise) about the project while having intense interest in the date of an announcement.

Are people still worried it isn't coming out at all? I obviously can't rule out anything 100%, but I feel very safe saying this thing is going to come out, and will be coming out very soon "this century".

Would you feel inclined to highlight the information shared that you find relevant for those who missed it in the thread ?

I mean, there's just so much across this and the other "Upcoming Releases" thread, it's hard to remember when exactly different things were gone over. I think there might be some stuff in the other thread pretty recently. There are at least one or two pretty specific things that were all but literally spelled out in the last few weeks. Mind you, I wouldn't call it a particularly excitement-inducing hint. But a detail nonetheless.

And then there's just some more subjective, qualitative stuff about how folks might feel about the new song, its ancillary things, and the project/album as a whole. But that can't be fully gauged until the stuff actually comes out. Even if one has heard the song or heard the album, and even if they've spoken to multiple people who have heard the stuff, that's still not a big enough sampling to say whether any specific person might like it.

Some of what I've done is simply try to remind folks that might be letting their hopes and imagination go wild that we're looking at a song and project that may be somewhat divisive, and what I've heard has not dissuaded me from that point of view. But that doesn't mean everybody or even the majority will hate any particular thing about it.

I mean, I think some stuff is more likely to be of little excitement for most fans. Like, if a b-side or something was kind of predictable and not noteworthy, or something like that.

So, @themess asks this simple question: "Would you feel inclined to highlight the information shared that you find relevant for those who missed it in the thread ?" And this is your reply is:

(quotes balzac)

Are you running for office or some such? Too much...

It's times like this when I have to agree with my wife when she states that "you and all these other BeatlesGeeks should probably seek counseling"

Yeah, I mean, you either know how this flow of information works, or you don't. I understand being frustrated by many aspects of it. But in this particular case, I'm not even trying to be coy. I can't name like the page or post number that a hint was dropped on, I just don't have that much time to try to track it down, and the only other way to reference it is to actual say what the hint is, which defeats the purpose of hinting rather than just saying. I feel kinda goofy even explaining this.

Either way, don't worry too much. That particular detail I'm thinking of is something that I don't think anybody is going to be super-enthused about. Which, who knows, might be part of why few have seemed to react to it even though it's a pretty specific sort of discographical detail.

All of this hemming and hawing just to say that "Love Me Do" is going to be the b-side to "Now and Then".

Would there be a Now and Then video by Peter Jackson to go with the release of the song?

Not a bad theory......

Whether folks would end up liking said video would be an entirely other issue of course.....

I've had people ask about the extra Red and Blue tracks. I have to say honestly I haven't paid *too* much attention to fan discussions going back months about what fans seem to want, or what they seem to think is likely. I mean, there's not like a HUGE number of possibilities.

So it's hard for me to say whether the extra tracks are going to be liked, disliked, or be met with apathy.

I can say, from what I know, at least some of the extra tracks are not necessarily what *I* would have picked. I mean, again, there isn't really anything beyond like "Revolution 9" that I would say would be a total mind-blowing shocker to be included.

I guess one question worth pondering is, how excited would fans be by more cover versions and some extra Harrison tracks? Just as a "for instance" theoretical exercise.

I think if you were to talk to someone who was at a listening session, you'd find their reaction to the new song (and all the ancillary things attached to it) far more interesting than any takeaways from the Red/Blue tracklistings or remixes, Atmos mixes, etc.

I'm honestly both excited and horrified to discover how divisive this thing might be once everybody hears it. I suppose it's possible I'm overestimating how much the s**t might hit the fan with opinions all over the place. And who knows, maybe I'm *underestimating* the attention that might be given to changes to Red/Blue, maybe underestimating how much someone might be excited or repulsed by getting like "Rock and Roll Music" or something on the "Red" album instead of whatever.

It's difficult to explain I suppose, but *beyond* the obvious divisiveness which would meet just about any release (both from mainstream media/press and within fan communities), I think this one might just be a bit more intense, and/or different than, say "Free As A Bird" or "Real Love" was, and not just because of the proliferation of social media, etc. But I guess we'll see; I don't think we'll have any broad perspective or indication about how the masses feel until some time after it's been out and people have digested it for awhile.

And the fact that I probably couldn't particularly easily sum up the overall fan opinion/feeling on those tracks, or characterize any sort of consensus, speaks to how we'll see "Now and Then" pan out.

I think FAAB and RL were generally liked more than disliked. But few seemed so enthralled by the tracks that they put them in their top Beatles tracks of all time. Within a few years, I think they kind of faded into a tiny bit of obscurity (as much as Beatles tracks can). Which was probably just as well, because it kept them kind of low key and out of heavy fire from cranky, cynical fans too much.

I've always loved the tracks, while understanding what they are and acknowledging their (mostly) unavoidable issues. But I also always knew I probably liked the songs, and found the whole "reunion" era (including the infamous "Now and Then") far more interesting than most.

I think how "Now and Then" ends up computing on the actual main singles charts is unclear. They shouldn't assume a #1. I mean, anything is possible. I know if the hype machine can push it that far.

I can reiterate again that people should not be expecting FAAB or RL on the set in any form, nor "Now and Then" on a separate disc within the package.

I'm calling it. Either Balzac was at a listening event, or his good close friend was. Say no more! Say no more!

I would say that some of the impressions I've heard of the new song from others that have heard it that are not resoundingly 100% positive don't have to do with one specific element, but the overall impression of the track. I think people that have heard this track are, from my own experience and talking to others, actually doing a good job of kind of just rating this track as a track/song like they would any other, and not trying to dock it points at the outset for any of the anomalous aspects of it.

One person I spoke to gave a kind of scathing but I have to say pretty funny review of it. What they compared it to was pretty funny, and I can't say it wasn't pretty on point. But as with most things, what they said it sounded "like" is something that others would say would excite them! Keep in mind, I love FAAB and RL and have no desire to not love "Now and Then" as well.

Naw, I haven't really run into a lot of comparisons to any one specific song. But that might just be because most fans like all of us have known the demo for years; we already kind of know what the *song* is. I don't anticipate a ton of people are going to say "it sounds too much like..." and then name another Beatles or solo Beatles song. But I suppose that is arguably true of FAAB and RL to some degree as well. There were more (incorrect in my opinion) assertions that they sounded "like ELO" than that they sounded like some other Beatles track.