The Next Beatles Album

We never got one after they broke up! Sure, we’ve gotten compilations, remixes, reissues, box sets, and even new singles in 1995 and 2023. Those are a given. Seems like a travesty when you consider that even the Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block gave us reunion releases.

We did get a lot of new Beatles music between 1970-71 in the form of solo albums by each Beatle. There’s this long-held belief that The Beatles were never better as solo artists as they were when they were a band, but take a look at everything that was released right after the great divorce (that’s how John proclaimed it in 1969¹). Lennon and McCartney released perhaps their best songs in the aftermath of the split — “Imagine” and “Maybe I’m Amazed, respectively. George was relieved of what he called a “creative constipation” and became the first solo Beatle with a Number One album in his epic double-disc All Things Must Pass.

If you think the creative height of The Beatles peaked at The White Album then you may want to reconsider because the output between ‘70-71 blows their psychedelic period out of the bong water.

I wonder: What would The Beatles’ next album have been had they stayed together through 1971? It’s a purely fun brain teaser at least and a truly academic exercise at most. And I’m going to take a stab at it.

The albums

We can’t use anything after 1971. That still leaves us with a staggering amount of material from the following albums:

• McCartney (Paul McCartney, 1970)
• Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon, 1970)
• All Things Must Pass (George Harrison, 1970)
• Sentimental Journey (Ringo Starr, 1970)
• Beacoup of Blues (Ringo Starr, 1970)
• Ram (Paul & Linda McCartney, 1971)
• Imagine (John Lennon, 1971)

That’s seven albums in two years from four Beatles for those of you keeping score at home. I’m going to rule out both of Ringo’s albums since they are largely comprised of standards rather than original material. That’s not to say cover songs would have been out of the question on a new Beatles album, but John did confide to Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner in 1970 that he was “embarrassed” by Sentimental Journey². So, we’ll make like 1970 and let it be.

A typical Beatles album was between 12-14 songs with a 30-40 minute run time, so those are the constraints I’m working with.

The tracklist

Jumping straight to it:

1. Give Peace a Chance (Intro) (~1:00)
2. Instant Karma! (3:21)
3. What is Life (4:24)
4. Eat At Home (3:23)
5. Gimme Some Truth (3:18)
6. Junk / Teddy Boy (~3:00)
7. Imagine (3:07)
8. I Dig Love (4:57)
9. Heart of the Country (2:44)
10. All Things Must Pass (3:47)
11. Oh Yoko! (4:17)
12. Apple Scruffs (3:07)
13. Maybe I’m Amazed (3:53)

That’s 13 songs running at 44 minutes and 30 seconds. Here’s how it breaks down by Beatle:

• John: 4 (and a half) songs
• Paul: 4 (and a half) songs
• George: 4 songs

I think George would have demanded an equal share of songs given the lack of attention he got from John and Paul over the years. He left the group briefly over it during the Let it Be sessions³.

I also had to resist putting nothing but the hits in there. It’s easy to drop in banger after banger but I’m trying to consider what The Beatles would have agreed to tackle as a group. For example, I have a tough time believing that “My Sweet Lord” would have made the cut despite being one of George’s greatest licks. For one, he inadvertently lifted the lick and was sued for it (after which he purchased the copyright)⁴ and John and Paul were said to have snickered about it being a dumb mistake that would have been easy to fix⁵.

There are a couple of oddities in there that I’ll explain as well.

Intro: Give Peace a Chance

I’m listing this as the first track, but it’s really just a snippet — an artifact, if you will — of maybe 30-60 seconds of voices chanting what might be the biggest hippie anthem of all time: “All we are saying is give peace a chance!” The Beatles did something similar with the opening for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and it wouldn’t have been out of place to see it happen again in this context. The idea is to set the tone for what group has been known for all along: peace and love.

Funny (at least to me): One of my parents’ friends once told me over dinner that this song was about a boy who wouldn’t eat his vegetables. I’ve never forgotten that and can’t unhear “peas” anytime I listen to this song. You’re welcome.

Plus, I like that this song is from the same album as the next selection that I’ve chosen to be the official album opener…

Track 1: Instant Karma!

Hell of an opener, I’d say! This is a lot like “Revolution” in lots of respects in that it inspires action and conjures a nearly punk-rock anthem. I think John would have lobbied hard for this to be the A-side single or at least part of a double A-side. It kicks hard and makes a statement right out of the gate, which is totally John.

I’ll be honest and say I’ve never been a fan of the song’s production. I’m pretty sure Phil Spector produced it and his “Wall of Sound” stopped sounding good in the early ’60s. Dude was beating a dead horse with all the tape delay over Alan White’s drumming and the effect is a garbled mess that often sounds like a mistake. White is an amazing session drummer, no doubt about that. But how would Ringo have approached all those loose fills? Would it have been as wild and frenetic as “Rain”?

Track 2: What is Life

Picking songs by George is probably the toughest because it’s my humble opinion that All Things Must Pass was the best debut release of any Beatle — and a double album at that!

I’m choosing “What is Life” because it’s catchy as heck, upbeat, and has a killer opening riff that is more than capable of following Lennon’s best. If this were baseball, it’d be like following Babe Ruth in the batting order — you know the Babe gets all the attention, but you have something up your sleeve on deck that will take the other team by surprise.

Track 3: Eat At Home

LOL all day long on this one. The euphemism is right up there with “Drive My Car” and “Happiness is a Warm Gun” but even raunchier. There’s a lot of fun packed in here which is a perfect way to break up the intensity of the songs that precede it. Some comic relief is just what’s needed after singing about revolution and existential truths.

Track 4: Gimme Some Truth

Speaking of truth, let’s get right back into it! For all of John’s political juggernauts during Beatlmania (they’re bigger than Jesus, after all!), “Gimme Some Truth” is him at his most unhinged, at least lyrically, since the meandering “Dig It” from Let it Be.

Case in point:

I've had enough of readin' things
By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth

This is exactly the sort of song that tells listeners that we’re no longer in the 1960s. This is a new era and a new acerbic bent from the boys ushering in the new age.

Track 5: All Things Must Pass

You can actually watch The Beatles rehearse this song as a group during the Let It Be sessions, thanks to Peter Jackson’s Get Back project steaming on Disney+. You can also listen to it on the Anthology 3 compilation.

It doesn’t take much effort to imagine how amazing George’s most widely recognized solo song would have been in the hands of The Fab Four thanks to this rehearsal. Plus, it fits so nicely alongside the rest of the songs in this list, at least thematically.

I think George would have fumed if it got passed over a second time. And he’d be right to feel that way given all the success this song had as part of his solo catalogue.

Track 6: Junk / Teddy Boy

OK, this is weird. I’m proposing a mash-up that splices “Junk” with “Teddy Boy”, both from Paul’s debut. “Junk” is so McCartney it hurts, much in the same vein as “Her Majesty”. It’s a turn from John’s politics that once again lightens the mood to keep things balanced track-to-track.

It’s cute. It’s singable. But it needs something else. It needs the nostalgia of the Liverpool days and “Teddy Boy” fits that bill.

Here’s where I might be a little off my rocker because, not only am I proposing a medley, but I’m putting Ringo behind the mic for it. Ringo usually gets at least one song on each record and Teddy Boy is perfectly in his limited vocal range. His brand of country would make it sound great.

Track 7: Imagine

How could I not? It could be the album opener or closer but I’m placing it smack-dab in the middle. That’s how tough it is to find prime real estate for so many beach-front properties on the same strip of coast.

Track 8: I Dig Love

Need the perfect hippie sentiment to follow the perfect hippie anthem? This is it. The title alone is clearly something that could have fit in any of the group’s other track lists, like “All You Need is Love”.

Track 9: Heart of the Country

After the group’s demise, Paul and Linda sought refuge in the Scottish countryside and “Heart of the Country” captures where their minds were at during this time.

Want a horse, I want a sheep
I wanna get me a good night's sleep
Living in a home
In the heart of the country
I'm gonna move, I'm gonna go
I'm gonna tell everyone I know
Livin' in a home
In the heart of the country

Plus, this album needs a boppy McCartney tune a la “When I’m Sixty-Four”, “Martha My Dear”, and “Good Day Sunshine”. It wouldn’t be a Beatles album without it and “Heart of the Country” is in that same sort of mold.

Track 11: Oh Yoko!

“The Ballad of John and Yoko” marked the last time that John and Paul worked exclusively together as a pair. It was John’s song, of course, but the two of them wrote and performed all of it together just as they did in the early days. It was also their final Number One single… until 54 years later when “Now & Then” was released in 2023⁶.

That all has nothing to do with this song. But John often evoked Yoko in his songwriting and I think another song bearing her name would have fit in just fine. Plus, just listen to that wild harmonica close things out!

Track 12: Apple Scruffs

Apple “scruffs” were the people — mostly young girls — who would camp outside the EMI Recording Studio (later renamed Abbey Road) in hopes to get a get a glimpse of a Beatle. And since the boys were solely studio artists (they quit touring after 1964) there was a good chance the scruffs would get rewarded for their patience if they simply waited long enough.

”Scruffs” was clearly a term of endearment and one that the group used often to refer to their hardest or hardcore fans. You might even say they were the “core” of Apple Records (OK, please stop me).

George had a precarious relationship with the Apple scruffs, as someone known to be super private to the point of standoffish. But he came around to rely on them, particularly as the band drifted farther apart, picking some up for evening rides and inviting them in to watch or even participate in recordings. George could be a real softie like that and this song is his way of thanking them for their support.

You've been stood around for years
Seen my smiles and touched my tears
How it's been a long, long time
And how you've been on my mind, my Apple Scruffs

Track 13: Maybe I’m Amazed

If John gets the opening track, then Paul is going to insist on putting his best effort up next. “Maybe I’m Amazed” is the most Beatle-esquires non-Beatles track in anyone’s catalogue and it is almost cruel of Paul to drop it as the last track on an otherwise unremarkable production. That said, it’s a hell of a way to end an album and I had to resist tagging this right beside Lennon’s raucous opener.

I’ll go on record saying this would have been Paul’s baby of the bunch. He would have pushed for a double A-side with John’s “Instant Karma!” — and don’t tell me that wouldn’t have been the greatest Beatles single ever, even topping Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever. Seriously, the Beatles were in no danger of running out of gas by the time they disbanded and this one-two punch proves it.

The Playlist

Footnotes

• ¹ Savage, Mike (2021). “Paul McCartney says John Lennon ‘Institgated’ the Beatles’ Break-Up”. BBC. ⤴️
• ² Badman, Keith (2001). The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970–2001. London: Omnibus. ⤴️
• ³ The Beatles Bible (2012). ”Get Back/Let It Be sessions: day seven – George Harrison quits The Beatles”. ⤴️
• ⁴ Self, Joseph C. (1993). “‘My Sweet Lord’/’He’s So Fine’ Plagiarism Suit”. Retrieved from Abbeyrd.com. ⤴️
• ⁵ Norman, Philip (2023). George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle (Pages 312-313). ⤴️
• ⁶ Dunworth, Liberty (Nov. 10, 2023). “The Beatles top charts with ‘Now And Then’ – 60 years after first Number One”. NME. ⤴️