The Beatles will release their last record, with the use of artificial intelligence, over 50 years after the band broke up.
The last Beatles song they recorded collectively was “The End,” from the album “Abbey Road” in 1969, the final song of the medley on side two of the album. John Lennon was murdered at the age of 40 in December 1980 and George Harrison died of cancer at the age of 58 in 2001. But surviving member Paul McCartney has revealed he will “extricate” Lennon’s voice from an old demo to create the group’s final song, believed to be “Now And Then.”
“We just finished it up and it’ll be released this year,” McCartney told Radio 4’s Today program.
McCartney explained that producer Jeff Lynne, who in 1995 and 1996 had released songs recorded by Lennon including “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love,” had also tried to clean up “Now And Then” but had a hard time cleaning up the song, but AI gave McCartney the opportunity to revive Lennon’s voice.
McCartney explained that director Peter Jackson, who used AI to clean up the audio for the “Get Back” documentary, was “able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette. We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.’”
“So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles’ record, it was a demo that John had; we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI,” he continued. “Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway.”
The Beatles’ final incarnation, with Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and drummer Ringo Starr, was formed in 1962. Prior to that, Lennon had founded a group called The Quarrymen including Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and bassist Stuart Sutcliffe; the group used several drummers before ultimately settling on Starr.
Producer George Martin helped them get signed by EMI Records and their first major hit, “Love Me Do,” was released in late 1962. Their film debut came in 1964’s “A Hard Day’s Night.” They retired from live performances in 1966 but kept recording albums such as “Rubber Soul,” “Revolver,” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
In 1968, they founded Apple Corps, a multimedia corporation that still oversees the groups’ projects. The group broke up in 1970. They are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units.