Beyoncé's new cover of the Beatles' "Blackbird" on her "Cowboy Carter" album uses the original 1968 backing track by Paul McCartney, including his acoustic guitar and foot tapping. "Blackbird" was written by Paul McCartney for the Beatles' 1968 "White Album", inspired by the call of a blackbird during the Beatles' trip to Rishikesh, India. He later claimed it was a tribute to the civil rights movement. The song has a long history in Black music, with various artists like Aretha Franklin and Sylvester adding their unique interpretations. 

The Beyonce cover version, retitled "Blackbiird," features additional harmony vocals by four Black women in country music, Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts and Brittney Spencer. Apparently, Beyonce looks to emphasize the song's historic meaning to her audience.

Of course, McCartney should have invited Black singers to join him on the White Album original. An oversight, which we now can correct, thanks to the BDJ spectral remuxers. So, enjoy Macca's Blackbird with backing vocals by Tanner, Tiera, Reyna and Brittney.

The Beatles' journey to India in 1968 is a fascinating slice of rock 'n' roll history that continues to intrigue music fans and historians alike. It was a time of spiritual exploration and prolific songwriting for the Fab Four. The band, along with their wives, girlfriends, assistants, and a medley of other celebrities like Mike Love from the Beach Boys, traveled to Rishikesh to attend an advanced Transcendental Meditation training session at the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

This retreat proved to be a creative boon forPaul McCartney, who wrote many songs during this period. It's widely acknowledged that a significant number of tracks from "The White Album" were penned in India, including "Birthday" and "Back in the USSR".

The snippet of audio from India survives, where the Beatles and friends serenade Mike Love for his birthday. While it's difficult to pinpoint the exact source of inspiration for McCartney's compositions, it's certainly plausible that the camaraderie and musical exchange during such moments could have sparked ideas that later evolved into the tracks on "The White Album."

McCartney's 1987 single "Once Upon a Long Ago" carries with it a bittersweet tale of what could have been a historic collaboration. The song, which was part of McCartney's compilation album "All the Best!" and later released as a single, was initially composed with the Queen frontman in mind.

The story goes that McCartney had envisioned the track as a duet with Mercury. However, due to Mercury's ill health and busy schedule, the collaboration never materialized. McCartney went on to perform the song solo, and it reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart. 

Artificial intelligence has opened up new possibilities, allowing fans to experience a version of "Once Upon a Long Ago" featuring Mercury's distinctive voice. This not only showcases McCartney's songwriting prowess but also pays homage to Mercury's enduring legacy.
While it's true that nothing can replace the magic of a real-time collaboration between McCartney and Mercury, AI remixes offer a glimpse into an alternate universe where the two icons perform together.

"Once Upon a Long Ago" serves as a beautiful, if somewhat melancholic, tribute to the power of music and the enduring spirit of creativity that defines both McCartney and Mercury's contributions to the world of music.

It was 1968 when Peter Brown, a close associate of the Beatles, approached none other than Frank Sinatra to perform a unique rendition of "The Lady is a Tramp" for Maureen Starkey's birthday, Ringo Starr's first wife.

Sinatra, with his unparalleled panache, transformed the classic into "Maureen is a Champ," a playful twist on the original lyrics, celebrating Maureen's vivacious spirit. 

The recording was intended as a private gift, a one-of-a-kind single that encapsulated the essence of an era where music was an intimate affair. Rumor has it that only one copy of this exclusive single survived, a testament to its rarity and the ephemeral nature of such personal tributes.

The original features Sinatra's voice and piano accompaniment. We made a remix, crafted with the finesse of a complete orchestra, reverberating Sinatra's style, and echoing the grandeur of the original recording. 

The remix was a meticulous endeavor, requiring a deep understanding of Sinatra's musical nuances and the orchestral dynamics that could complement them. It shows how modern technology and reverence for musical heritage can coalesce to create something truly transcendent. 

The story of "Maureen is a Champ" is more than just a footnote in music history; it is a narrative that resonates with the notion that sometimes, the most personal gifts are the ones that echo the loudest through time.

The second single to be released from Walls And Bridges, ‘#9 Dream’ continued John's fascination with the number nine. He woke up one morning and wrote down the words along with the melody. He had no idea what it meant, but he thought it sounded beautiful.

John produced the song himself. Until now, only demos (on guitar and piano) were known, but recently just over a minute of Take 1 became available. Our engineers produced a full song from this snippet. The production is more sparse and the vocals are less distorted than the official version on Walls and Bridges. Judge for yourself!

The Deluxe set of Lennon's 'Mind Games' album just arrived. It contains 6CD's and 2 Blu-ray discs. Asa result, there are (at least) 6 different mixes of each song on the album. How can a Remixer resist this temptation?
The original Mind Games production sounds rather busy and massive, as if Lennon and co. wanted to include every instrument in the studio in the track, This tends to obscure the beauty of the composition. Furthermore, Lennon's vocals are double -tracked, and various effects added to them. So our task was to make a remix which is simple, and has only single-tracked vocals. We prefer our 'Relax-Mix' over the original, but we could be biased........

In an interview in the late 70's, Lennon said that he would have sung Oh Darling better than McCartney did. Unfortunately, Lennon did not supply a recording to substantiate his claim.
But now, thanks to state-of-the-art-artificial-intelligence-technology, it is possible to create this unheard outtake of the Abbey Road sessions.
Who do you prefer, John or Paul?

For You Blue is a song by the Beatles, written by George Harrison and released on their 1970 album Let It Be. Glyn Johns and Phil Spector were two of the producers who worked on the album, but they had different visions for the sound and style of the songs. Johns preferred a more raw and live approach, while Spector added orchestral overdubs and effects. Glyn Johns mixes were all rejected, and Spector's version was released as a single and on the album. 

But was the Glyn Johns production of For You Blue really worse than Spector's? 

To facilitate the comparison, we play the Glyn Johns version in the left channel, and Spector's mix in the right channel. It is evident that Johns liked Harrison's guitar, which is almost absent in Spector's mix. Much of the instrumental mixes are similar, but Spector includes a new version of the vocals. These were recorded after Johns left, so these new vocals were not available to him. 
But overall, were they right to reject Johns mix?

One of the rare original songs on McCartney's “Give My Regards To Broad Street” soundtrack was “No Values”. However, it was s not composed for the film. The song had been in the works since late 1980, when Wings did some demos that can be found on bootlegs. McCartney recorded another version of the song at AIR Studios on Montserrat in February 1981, during the Tug Of War sessions. The final version for the film was done in December 1982 at AIR in London, with the same musicians as on ‘Not Such A Bad Boy’.

McCartney has said that "No Values" came to him in a dream, much like 'Yesterday' did. But here, he dreamt that the Rolling Stones were playing the song: "They were all there, Bill, Charlie, Keith and all the lads; and Mick was up there singing, “No values, seems to me that you’ve still got no values…” I couldn’t quite hear all the lyrics but I heard all the chorus and I woke up and thought I really like that song that they do. Then I thought, Hey, wait a minute – there is no song called “No Values”. They don’t do that song. My brain had just created it, or however it happens. I haven’t told Mick Jagger – he’d probably claim the copyright!"

The 1980 outtakes still have a bit of a Rolling Stone feel, but by 1982 that had gone and it had become a typical 'Wings' track. 

A good occasion to set Artificial Intelligence to work, and produce a version of "No Values" with the Rolling Stones swagger; is this the way McCartney heard it in his dream?

The production of the last Beatles single, Now and Then, is lush, to say the least. A heavily compressed piano (McCartney) accompanies Lennon's vocals. The string octet kicks in, we hear backing vocals echoing all the way back to Abbey Road, and then somebody messes up a solo on a slide guitar. Of all these add-ons (that Lennon would have hated) the string octet stands out, because it is not that bad. It is choreographed very much in style of Eleanor Rigby, with short bursts of te violins and cellos. Well worth a listen in isolation.