The 2025 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 67th GRAMMY Awards, is airing live and already The Beatles and the Lennon Estate have won big:
Best Rock Performance WINNER: The Beatles – Now and Then The Black Keys – Beautiful People (Stay High) Green Day – The American Dream Is Killing Me Idles – Gift Horse Pearl Jam – Dark Matter St. Vincent – Broken Man
The award was accepted on stage by Sean Ono Lennon.
By the way, ‘Now and Then’ has also been nominated for Song of the Year in the prestigious Brit Awards in the UK.
Also tonight Sean Ono Lennon and art director Simon Hilton have accepted the Grammy Award for…….
Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package Alpha Wolf – Half Living Things WINNER: John Lennon – Mind Games Kate Bush – Hounds of Love (The Boxes of Lost at Sea) Nirvana – In Utero Unsuk Chin & Berliner Philharmoniker – Unsuk Chin 90 Day Men – We Blame Chicago
The Beatles were also GRAMMY nominated, indirectly, in the category below:
Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording Barbra Streisand – My Name Is Barbra Dolly Parton – Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones George Clinton – …And Your Ass Will Follow WINNER: Jimmy Carter – Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration Various Artists – All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words
All You Need is Love is an oral history of The Beatles (available digitally as an audiobook) from never-before-heard interviews. The material is comprised of interviews with Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, their families, friends and business associates that were conducted by Beatles intimate Peter Brown and author Steven Gaines in 1980-1981 – during the preparation of their international bestselling book, The Love You Make.
Record of the Year The Beatles – Now and Then Beyoncé – Texas Hold ’Em Billie Eilish – Birds of a Feather Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe! Charli XCX – 360 WINNER: Kendrick Lamar – Not Like Us Sabrina Carpenter – Espresso Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone – Fortnight
The GRAMMY’s are using this year’s ceremony to raise much-needed funds for those impacted by the terrible greater Los Angeles wildfires. You can donate by visiting MusiCares Fire Relief.
One of our readers (Guy in the USA) prides himself on securing every possible variation and often sends us a tantalising image or two. For ‘Now and Then’ he points out that most collectors only show pictures of the outer covers. Here, he says, are the contents – photographed all together:
For collectors in the west there are no fewer than 9 variations to seek out. If you add in unique Japanese editions that number creeps up to 14.
Because there are enough different pressings we thought we’d create another visual representation to capture them all (we have previously created these for McCartney III and McCartney III Imagined too):
(Click on the image to see a larger version)
The Japanese ‘Now and Then’ vinyl pressings are unique in that they have a rear cover written in Japanese. They also come with a special lyric sheet with the lyrics in English and Japanese:
Additionally, the SHM-CD single comes with an OBI strip (and also the extra lyric insert):
To add to the onslaught on collector wallets there was also Black Friday Record Store Day.
Also released on that day were further coloured vinyl editions (in “Yellow Submarine Yellow”) of Ringo Starr’sOld Wave and Stop and Smell the Roses. Here’s Guy again:
You can see there on the bottom row the little Yoto kids toy card editions of the 2023 Red and Blue albums, plus a unique Paul McCartney card containing a selection of his hits for kids which also contains two hard-to-get instrumentals.
There’s been huge discussion on a lot of forums and socials about the cover art choices for the new ‘Now and Then’ Beatle single.
This post on Reddit (by PowerPlaidPlays) is an articulate argument for why it actually works:
“A lot of people have a lot of negative things to say about the new single art. I initially did not like it at first ether, but it’s grown on me and I thought a post defending it would be a good counterbalance to all of the “improved cover” mock ups lol.
The biggest thing I appreciate about it is how it stands on it’s own.
It reminds me of how The White Album was a deliberate departure from Sgt Pepper’s cover, or how Abbey Road lacked the band’s name on the front. It’s not rubbing the band’s legacy in your face or leaning too hard into nostalgia. We already have Anthology if you want references to their entire career, or the Red/Blue albums if you want the ‘Please Please Me’/’Get Back’ photos paired together. It’s not just a normal boring photo of the band like the ‘Real Love’ single got. It’s not focusing too much on John like the ‘Free as a Bird’ single did by using one of his drawings. The song has it’s own unique image.
I think the most it hearkens back to old Beatles imagery is the serif font (similar to the drop-T logo) and the color palate reminds me of Abbey Road, with the blue (like the sky), green (like the trees), grey (like the road), and white (like the crosswalk).
The back cover is where I think some more symbolism is present. With the “Then” being the I ‘Wanna Hold Your Hand’ photo, and the “Now” being a clock with 3 and 9, but missing 6 and 12. I think the assembled sculpture also is fitting for a song that is a mix of 1979, 1995, and 2023 recordings, with apparently some stuff sampled from a few other Beatles songs.
I also do like how it seems to be a painting and not digital typography. Looking at higher resolution images of it, you can see the canvas texture and paint imperfections.
Admittedly I am not in love with it, and probably like it more for the things it’s not, but I can appreciate it for being an interesting decision. I keep looking at it, and it keeps making me think. It’s not just an obvious “yep, it’s a Beatles single and it has a photo of the Beatles.”“
And this (from zosterpops) also on Reddit:
“To add to the interpretation, the angles are reminiscent of the covers on the Red & Blue comps and it has a decades-spanning quality to it with its colors, typography, and texture.
I think it’s also worth mentioning how the cover works as a minimalist design. It’s inspired paragraphs of both appreciative and unappreciative discussion on this sub. That’s always a hallmark of good art/design for me. Something that gets people talking about it.“
This make a lot of sense. Yes, it’s a very plain front cover but it has lots of references and room for interpretation.
As to the rear cover image, more information on the origins of the cute little clock image have come to light since the 7″, 10″ and 12″ records have landed in fan hands.
Inside the record sleeve is an insert with notes by John Harris which reveals the origins of the art piece shown:
So, it turns out this is an actual little clock owned by the Harrison estate, purchased by George in 1997. It was made by an Oregon artist named Chris Giffin, who is regarded as something of a local cultural treasure. She specialises in found object, assemblage and altered art.
“I create objects from materials that capture my eye, and that can be recycled materials or found objects. I make functional and sculptural and jewelry objects out of these materials that I collect. I try to take things that have had a past life and then give them a new life.”
Much of Giffin’s work involves metaphor, specifically concepts having to do with measurement, or man-made divisions applied to natural forms: “Time for me is a real metaphor, so I do make a lot of clocks, and I have a lot of measurement objects in them. Because time is a measurement, and of course tape measures and rulers and protractors—all that kind of stuff—to me is just the way we have chosen to decipher our need to organize our daily lives.”
What better way to depict “Now” and “Then”? You can see more of Giffin’s work on this Pinterest page. You get the feeling that the value of their pieces just went up 1000%!
It was always odd that there wasn’t a CD single of “the Beatles last ever single” included in the long-awaited big release announcement last week.
Well, now there is.
A CD single, in what looks to be a simple cardboard slipcase, has belatedly appeared on the official UK Beatles site:
Like all other formats, the CD will feature ‘Now and Then’, plus the 2023 stereo remix of ‘Love Me Do’.
The release date is 3 November – exactly the same date as all the other formats – which suggests that physical product has been prepared and is ready to go out to stores. So why was it not part of the launch last week? Did somebody at Apple/Universal Music stuff up?
So far the CD single only appears on the UK Beatle store site but we’d expect it to pop up elsewhere during the day.
By now you’ll be aware that there’s a brand new Beatle song coming. It is called ‘Now and Then’ and is the last Beatles song ever to be released.
Like the singles ‘Free As a Bird’ (1995) and ‘Real Love’ (1996) before it, ‘Now and Then’ is all four Beatles contributing additional music and vocals to a cassette demo that John Lennon was working on in the late 1970’s but never got to properly record. It will now be released in 2023 as a vinyl single (in a variety of colours, plus as a 12″ single), and as a cassette (or a “cassingle” as we used to say), on November 3.
The new single has ‘Love Me Do’, the song that started it all off for the band, on the other side. So, it is listed as a “Double A Side”. The ‘Love Me Do’ news is that it is in stereo in a 2023 mix!
The colours for the 7″ are:
And an exclusive Beatles Shop blue/white marble 7″. Also available at some independent record stores:
There is also a 12″ single.
It’s a little confusing as to whether this is also available on red vinyl. It’s shown on the front page of the official Beatle announcement site, but when you click through to purchase it is not on either the US or UK stores.
Not finished with vinyl yet…..on some official sites there have been links to a black vinyl 10″ pressing. Take the French Beatles store for example:
The 10″ was listed briefly on the UK official site too – as a “Spotify Fans First” exclusive – but the link provided no longer seems to work. However, it is still up on the US Beatles Store, Universal Music Canada, and the Universal Music Brazil sites – but with all now showing as ‘Sold Out’. Strangely it is still for sale on the Universal Music Columbia site though!
In 2022, Paul and Ringo set about completing the song. Besides John’s demo vocal (now much enhanced quality thanks to the use of new technology developed by film director Peter Jackson and his audio team for the Get Back documentary series) ‘Now And Then’ includes electric and acoustic guitar recorded in 1995 by George, Ringo’s new drum part, and bass, guitar and piano from Paul, which matches John’s original playing. Paul added a slide guitar solo inspired by George; he and Ringo also contributed backing vocals to the chorus.
Then in Los Angeles, Paul oversaw a Capitol Studios recording session for the song’s Beatlesque string arrangement, written by Giles Martin, Paul and Ben Foster. Paul and Giles also added one last touch: backing vocals from the original recordings of ‘Here, There And Everywhere’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Because’, which are woven into the new song using the techniques perfected during the making of the LOVE show and album. The finished track was produced by Paul and Giles, and mixed by Spike Stent. Can’t wait to hear it!
Just by the way, the cover artwork is by celebrated US artist Ed Ruscha. That’s a Paul McCartney influence right there because Ruscha did the cover art (in all it’s many variations) for the McCartney III, McCartney III Imagined releases, and the box set McCartney 1,2,3.
Coincidentally, Ruscha is the subject of a major retrospective currently showing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It’s title? “Now Then”. You can see a short CBS News interview and retrospective about the man here.
As if all this wasn’t enough, on November 10, The Beatles’ 1962-1966 (aka The Red Album) and The Beatles 1967-1970 (aka The Blue Album) collections are to be released in 2023 Edition packages.
Both collections have been expanded, with all the songs mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos. Together both sets contain 75 tracks, 36 of which have new mixes for 2023. The booklets will contain new sleeve notes by journalist and author John Harris.
The UK single version of ‘Love Me Do’ now kicks off the CD version of The Beatles 1962-1966 (2023 Edition) – now expanded with 12 additional tracks added chronologically. ‘Now And Then’ ends the CD version of The Beatles 1967-1970 (2023 Edition) – now expanded with 9 additional tracks also added chronologically – to complete the career-spanning CD collections. Both are 2CD sets.
But is is different with the vinyl.
The Red and the Blue will have the first two discs just as they were originally released when they were double LPs, with the third disc containing all the expanded material. In other words, 12 extra tracks on Disc 3 for the Red, and 9 extra tracks Disc 3 for the Blue. Quite a different approach to the CD. No slotting in the newly added songs in chronological order here. In fact the new song ‘Now and Then’ is Track 1 of Side 6 of the Blue. A little bit odd.
Both are 180 gram Half Speed Mastered. They will be available on black vinyl separately as triple LP sets, and they’ll be sold together as a 6LP box set:
The Beatles Store is also offering exclusive limited editions of the box set and individual albums on red and blue colour vinyl:
And here’s the CD packaging:
And a 4CD collections will pair the Red and Blue in a slip-cased set.
The new music video for ‘Now And Then’ will debut on Friday, November 3. It is directed by Peter Jackson.
There’s also going to be a short “making of” documentary film released on November 1. Here’s the teaser:
Beatles Blog 