Beatlemania in 2023!

Given the insistence from the record label Universal Music to sign on an NDA nondisclosure agreement before we can preview the last song by The Beatles Now and then that dropped online Nov 2mdashwersquore tempted to believe maybe Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr will show up for its launch at The Beatles Cafeacute at the hippie plus holy quarters of Tapovan in RishikeshAfter all McCartney 81 is still touring as we speak Starr 83 hasnrsquot muted his drumset yet Although John Lennon died 1980 and George Harrison 2001 So howrsquore they even releasing the final track involving the Fab Four in 2023The story starts in the 1970s John Lennon while inactive as a performer in public was still making music in his Manhattan apartmentIn the mid rsquo90s Lennonrsquos wife Yoko Ono passed on three of his demo tracks to bandmates who worked on them to release Free as a bird and Real love as The Beatles singles Except the third one Now and then for multiple reasons seemed hard to rebirthThe Beatlesrsquo Cafe where the launch was held the Beatlesrsquo Ashram at Rajaji National Park RishikeshA rarer more interesting piece of archive to do with The Beatles is what filmmaker Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings Hobbit trilogy released as a documentary series Get Back in 2021The series is on the making of a film by Michael LindsayHogg on the last time The Beatles were recordingcutting an album together in 1969 before they officially splitThe threepart sixhour doc seriesmdashsheer masterpiece available on DisneyHotstarmdashuses 60 hours of raw footage 150 hours of audio recordings to piece together the fall of inarguably the worldrsquos most loved bandThe audio restorative technology powered by AI and machine learning used by Jackson for his series it turns out proved handy with McCartney and Starr going over Now and then again in 2022Meaning chiefly a way to cleanly separate Lennonrsquos vocals from the piano in the scratchy home recording Hence The Beatlesrsquo last track was reborn in 2023 Jackson has also directed the music video for Now and thenThe Beatlesrsquo ashramThat Rishikesh was the chosen venue to preview The Beatlesrsquo final song seems obvious Among other reasons itrsquos the spot where as per Jacksonrsquos doc seeds of the bandrsquos split were somewhat sownThat is at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogirsquos ashram where the group along with friends had gone to learn transcendental meditation in Feb 1968 Maharishi died 2008But he was kicked out of the ashram with the government laying claim to the land as wildlife protected zonemdashtiger reserve and elephant corridormdashby 2001 The ashram itself officially opened for The Beatlesrsquo pilgrimage in 201516It is part of the Rajaji National Park While derelict with various Beatlesrsquo graffiti and lovenotes on the walls the ashram in its original form survives as ismdashmeditation domes hostels postoffice down to quarters where The Beatles and friends lived in rooms with bathtubs and the Maharishirsquos own ACfitted villaThe ghosttown overlooks the Ganges from a hilly corner The ashram is selfexplanatorily called Chaurasi Kutiya 84 HutsIn Rishikesh the tour guide is the friend and philosopher you trust According to guide Anurag ldquoThe Beatles were here for 45 days during which they composed 48 songs of which 18 made it to their White Album Of the Fab Four Ringo left within 10 daysldquoHe couldnrsquot take the sattvic food Then there was an issue between Maharishi and actor Mia Farrow and her friend over the yogirsquos conduct They left Eventually everyone didrdquoAs you can tell from Jacksonrsquos series Harrison was the one still devoted to the Maharishi The ashram has Paul Saltzmanrsquos photography exhibition on The Beatlesrsquo time there and on transcendental meditationOnly it doesnrsquot explain anything on the meditation technique Another Rishikesh guide Goswami tells us ldquoMaharishi Ji wanted to fly while meditating He managed to ascend just a foot above the groundrdquoOn the trackThe most spoton line in Jacksonrsquos Get Back 2021 is the fact that there is ldquono duff Beatles albumrdquo No duff song either Now and then is not an exceptionWith backing vocals by Starr McCartney a new slideguitar section along with Starr reloaded on the drums McCartney on bass and piano including Harrisonrsquos guitar recordings from the mid rsquo90s and Lennonrsquos original voiceThe song like the entire Beatlesrsquo discography while surely complex in its composition is the simplest for a lay listener to instantly rattle and hum toFor the preview of Now and then at The Beatles Cafeacute by the Ganges in Rishikesh our phones get taken away first We halfexpect this to be the moment McCartneyStarr will casually pop in to the cafeacute that besides its name has nothing to with The BeatlesThey do show up Albeit in the 12minute short film on the making of Now and then That instantly defies the premise of Danny Boylersquos film Yesterday 2019 Which is to imagine a world without The Beatles in itAI and its attendant restorative technology have rendered that impossible The song feels fresh like yesterday There are two fully pimpedout remastered albums of 75 Beatles tracks titled The Red Album 196266 and The Blue Album 196770 dropping on November 10