3 Minutes, 49 Seconds

All the way back in 2008, I wrote a series of  posts covering the recorded output of an obscure 1960s band called The Beatles. Though never especially popular or commercially successful, they managed to release an impressive 13 albums and 2 compilations in a 7-year period. Once I completed those reviews, I promptly forgot all about the Beatles. I was sure that I didn't need to keep tabs on them, because all indications were that they'd never reunite or release any more music. So you can imagine my surprise a couple of weeks ago when I came across a YouTube video claiming to be about the making of a new "final" Beatles song called "Now and Then." And then imagine even more surprise when I learned that this song was not the first new Beatles song since 1970. It's the third! As it turns out, the Beatles had actually "reuinted" to record more music in the 1990s. Though band member John Lennon was killed in 1980, he left behild some unfinished songs...

In May of 2019, the semi-seminal U.K. new wave heavy metal glam rock shoegaze new romantic band Refrigerated Love released their 28th studio album, Prodigal Sunshine   and a retrospective box set called Refrigerate After Opening . It was a triumphant return to the spotlight for a band who had long been justly ignored. Following a summer tour of state fairs in the U.S., the band took time off to relish their middling success. Their plan was to begin a massive European tour in May of 2020.  Well, we all know what happened next. As the seriousness of the COVID-19 virus foisted itself on the world and everything began to shut down, the band initially held fast to their intention to tour. "We have always been an anti-fascist band," lead singer said in a press release on March 19, 2020, "and we will not give in to these attempts to curb our natural born freedom to rock" As venues shuttered their doors, Refrigerated Love continued to be defiant. "We're coming to ...