The Beatles’ album Abbey Road, that turned 50 this year, is considered to be the last studio album released by the band (Let it be was released a year later but was recorded mostly before Abbey Road), but as it turns out there was to be at least one more album after it. Drummer Ringo Starr has recently confirmed in an interview with BBC 6 Music that there wasn’t any decision “set in stone” to wrap things up. “We did do Abbey Road and we was like, ‘Okay that’s pretty good…but none of us said, ‘OK, that’s the last time we’ll ever play together. Nobody said that,” said Starr.
With that, Starr confirms a recent tape that was discovered by a Beatles expert, Mark Lewisohn, containing Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison discussing how they would break down the songwriting duties for a new record (four songs each from Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison alongside two from Starr).
The Guardian published the recording that also captures some of the tension that still hung between the band’s members. According to Lewisohn, it rewrites all that was thought about the last days of the band – as it was believed that Lennon wanted to break them up.
