The Beatles: Now and Then released - a look back at Free as a Bird and Real Love in 1995

A song 45 years in the making by arguably the world's most famous band is being billed as their 'final' release. All four of The Beatles will feature on 'Now and Then' - a song that will also feature John Lennon's vocals thanks to help from AI software.

Not only is a new song being released on November 2, but an accompanying music video is being rolled out too that is directed by Peter Jackson in his music video directional debut. All four Beatles will feature on the song - including guitar parts played by the late George Harrison.

The band haven't released new music in decades but unreleased material from sessions in 1995 form the basis of the new track.

Beatles fans are eagerly awaiting the new single which is the first new song by the band since the release of 'Free As a Bird' and 'Real Love' in the mid-1990s - both of which entered the UK top 10. NationalWorld takes a look back at those two singles - until now the most recent 'new' songs by The Beatles.

In 1995, many fans probably thought they'd never hear a Beatles song again. It had been 25 years since the band last put out new music.

The band got together the previous year to complete the two new demos as part of 'The Beatles Anthology' documentary series. The demos originally came from John Lennon and his widow - Yoko Ono - has said that the idea came from George Harrison and road manager Neil Aspinall to finish and release them.

Ono gave the cassettes to Paul McCartney in New York during Lennon's induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 - 14 years after his murder. The remaining Beatles members got together to record and 'Free As a Bird' became the lead single of the Anthology volume-set. They reportedly pretended Lennon 'had gone for lunch' to help create an atmosphere to record again.

'Real Love' was a more complete record already in Lennon's archive and required much less input from his bandmates.

How were 'Free As a Bird' and 'Real Love' received?

Although they are viewed with an air of nostalgia today, the tracks were less well-received at the time. A New York Times review from 1995 gave a particularly scathing assessment. It reads: "The posthumous electronic collaboration, an ornate edifice built on a shard of a dead man's music, can't help sounding creepy.

"The elaborate "Free as a Bird" bears little relation to the remainder of the anthology, recorded between 1958 and 1964. It's a collection of unvarnished Beatles: live recordings, alternate takes, stray songs.

"In a word, it's leftovers, and parts of it are the kinds of leftovers only obsessed fans will want to hear twice."

Fans will be hoping critics are kinder for the band's final release. In the UK, Now and Then will first be played on BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music at 2pm on November 2. It will simultaneously be released on streaming services too.