Construct a worthy follow-up to Abbey Road by using solo material from ex-Beatles.

8. Instant Karma
9. Junior's Farm
10. Hold On
11. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
12. It Don't Come Easy
13. Oh Yoko
14. Maybe I'm Amazed

Side One
Come and Get It (Macca)
It Don't Come Easy (Starr)
Working Class Hero (Lennon)
What is Life? (Harrison)
Oh Yoko (Lennon)
Ram On (Macca)

Side Two
Too Many People (Macca)
Instant Karma (Lennon)
segue: My Mummy's Dead (Lennon)
Under the Mersey Wall (Harrison)

Side Three
I Found Out (Lennon)
Let Me Roll It (Macca)
Isolation (Lennon)
My Sweet Lord (Harrison)
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (Macca)
Well Well Well (Lennon)

Side Four
Jet (Macca)
Back of Boogaloo (Starr)
Wah Wah (Harrison)
Mindtrain (Lennon/Yoko)

Side Five
Hold On (Lennon)
Maybe I'm Aamzed (Macca)
Mind Games (Lennon)
Junk (Macca)
Jealous Guy (Lennon)
Smile Away (Macca)

Side Six
Mother (Lennon)
All Things Must Pass (Harrison)
Heart of the Country (Macca)
Isn't It a Pity (Harrison)
Give Peace a Chance (Lennon)
Backseat of My Car (Macca)

Both of those are on my triple LP.

Yeah... I know.

01 What Is Life?
02 Instant Karma
03 Maybe I'm Amazed
04 Imagine
05 My Sweet Lord
06 Isolation
07 Let 'Em In
08 Wah Wah
09 Temporary Secretary
10 Jealous Guy
11 Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
12 It Don't Come Easy
13 Let Me Roll It
14 Isn't It A Pity

You (George)
Cold Turkey (John)
I’m Carrying (Paul)
Hi, Hi, Hi (Paul)
Whatever Gets U Thru the Night (John)
Old Dirt Road (John)
This Hasn’t Happened to Me Before (Paul)

I don't think you need to continue that ratio. Part of the fun is creating a hypothetical album that reflects hypothetical changes in the group dynamics, which are extrapolated from what the band was going through near the end. For example, "Mindtrain" can be included because there is a possibility that John would have insisted on including another insanely long-n-experimental piece a la Revolution No. 9. Or, based on how fucking sweet so much of Harrison's early solo work is, maybe he finally convinces Lennon and Macca to include more tunes (especially if it's a double- or triple-LP). Maybe the lack of Lennon material on your hypothetical record could be attributed to all his extra-Beatles activities: drugs, primal scream, Yoko, bed-ins, etc.

Yeah. "Cold Turkey" was actually rejected as a Beatles single, wasn't it? A lot of the tracks on POB and Imagine could have worked as Beatle songs the way Lennon's tracks on the White Album did, though.

Summer 1970, Let It Be is released

November 1970, the new album, just in time for the holidays:
01 Mother
02 Hold On
03 It Don't Come Easy
04 Awaiting On You All
05 Every Night
06 Isolation
07 Junk

08 either Oo You or That Would Be Something, i can't decide which i can stand more
09 Love
10 Look At Me
11 Maybe I'm Amazed
12 All Things Must Pass
13 Cold Turkey

In order to make this record look decent, I'm thinking they would have no other choice but to release yet another Let-It-Be-type mess of an album, which is mostly made up of Lennon tracks since there's only 3 good songs on McCartney.

I think a good single to help support this mess would be It Don't Come Easy b/w Cold Turkey.

Actually, I really meant this
which I first became aware of because of this

...unfortunately, in trying to construct this, I've completely bogged down, because I'm just not familiar enough with Lennon's work from this period, namely Mind Games. This also turns out to be kind of a bad time for McCartney, the Red Rose Speedway era being not really one of his highest tides. But having racked up a decent spread of solo singles and one great album with Ram he would probably lobby for a decent number of tracks on this thing. In fact, George has probably the best material of anybody at this exact juncture, so he gets three songs - one more than on Abbey Road. I can't see Ringo getting two tracks, so let's say "I'm the Greatest" gets to be the B-side to the thrilling "Live and Let Die" (on which Lennon refuses to play due to its selloutish nature).

SIDE A

Don't Let Me Wait Too Long
Hi Hi Hi
(Lennon song)
Single Pigeon
(Lennon song)

SIDE B

My Love (with Lennon finally coming up with words for the chorus)
Mind Games
Sue Me, Sue You Blues (come on, this would be great)
C Moon
Photograph
Give Me Love, Give Me Peace On Earth

One really wonders how much longer this could go on, though. Certainly Lennon's output dropped off considerably, even before his long hiatus, and George and Ringo's careers lost momentum pretty rapidly. But all of them, especially Paul, built up a lot of recorded output in the 70s...would all of those songs have never come into existence? Would their authors have become frustrated all over again?

This (RE: "too persanal") has been brought up a couple times, and it's a great point. However, a good portion of Lennon/Macca/Harrison solo output from '69 to '71 were first created (in some form or another) as Beatles music. (This is why it's so good.) So, it isn't too far-fetched to see some of this music as Beatles music. And as somebody else pointed out, the Ringo LP has the other three on it.

BTW- Red Rose Speedway: I gotta admit I think this is one of Macca's better records (which might not be saying much).

Except that "Behind The Closed Door" would not have been sung so badly.

As for the "personal" stuff showing up as Beatles music, I guess what I mean isn't so much that it's impossible to picture the songs as something the Beatles could do together, but that it's impossible to imagine the Beatles being able to carry on as partners without first getting this personal stuff out of their systems AS personal projects. All Things Must Pass was a triple-LP for pete's sake. I think you have to clear that back catalog of stuff before it's plausible that any one of them (except of course dear Ringo) would really be able to say, "OK, I've proved myself to the world, now I'm back to just writing songs that need a good band behind them. And Wings/POB ain't it."

Or maybe "God" followed by "Isn't It A Pity."

Might "Apple Jam" have been his "Revolution No. 9" then? And if so, what was Paul's?

The original double LP version of McCartney II, available on bootlegs.

I've always enjoyed other people's takes on this concept but never really gave it much thought myself until just recently, probably partly inspired by all the Peter Jackson documentary talk. I liked billstevejim's rule upthread about only using songs released in 1970, but I decided to expand that a bit to include songs that were recorded in 1970 (or earlier), which opens it up to about half the tracks from Ram and gives Paul a much stronger showing. I also liked MaresNest's idea that they would've put out another White Album-style double album.

Don't think I'd ever heard Ringo's "Early 1970" until I started putting this together, but it ended up being kind of a key track in that it allows the album to function loosely as a concept album about the band getting back together for one last album and then saying goodbye ("God") -- the lyrics of "Early 1970" even foreshadow "Hold On" and "Heart of the Country," which show up later in the tracklist. I'm pretty sure I've included all the other songs from this era that are about other Beatles ("Wah-Wah," "Too Many People," "It's Johnny's Birthday") or have otherwise Beatle-related content ("Apple Scruffs," the aforementioned "God").

I ended up leaning hard into the idea of this being a White Album Part 2, so it's got the same running time and the side-lengths are roughly similar. I also incorporated this into the song selection itself, basically thinking about which songs might fit in on an alternate-universe White Album, which is how I ended up with weird little interludes like "Hot as Sun / Glasses." If song quality had been the only factor, I think most of All Things Must Pass would have been on here, but then it wouldn't have felt like a Beatles album. Though I did give George an average of 1.5 songs per side, rather than just 1.

SIDE A
Instant Karma!
Early 1970
Wah-Wah
Too Many People
Hot as Sun / Glasses
Look at Me
Every Night

SIDE B
What Is Life?
Maybe I'm Amazed
I Found Out
It's Johnny's Birthday
Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey
Hold On
Love

SIDE C
Working Class Hero
Apple Scruffs
It Don't Come Easy
Another Day
Isolation
Heart of the Country
Monkberry Moon Delight

SIDE D
Give Peace a Chance
Beware of Darkness
My Mummy's Dead
Junk
All Things Must Pass
God
The Back Seat of My Car

pretty fantastic list of songs! i don't envy you figuring out how to sequence that, especially with three genuinely perfect "album-closer" type songs to contend with.

I actually prefer the McCartney song to the Lennon, but I'm boggling at the thought of a John Lennon who lets "God" be superseded by "Back Seat of My Car" as the final statement.

Just made an iTunes playlist with this selection. Sounding truly marvelous!

I think this is something lots of people have done at one point (for me, 10 years ago, living in Beijing) - I ended up making all of these extra LPs, got as far as the eary 80s. Apologies for the gigantic c&p job!

14 - Peace (1967-1970)

01 - Two Virgins (Excerpt)
02 - Give Peace A Chance
03 - Wah Wah
04 - Tabla and Pakavaj
05 - That Would Be Something
06 - Oo You
07 - Drilling A Home
08 - I'm A Fool To Care
09 - Movement 3
10 - Cold Turkey
11 - No Time Or Space 1
12 - Instant Karma
13 - Momma Miss America
14 - Isn't It A Pity
15 - Greasy Legs
16 - Maybe I'm Amazed
17 - No Time Or Space 2
18 - Listen, The Snow Is Falling

15 - God (1970-1971)

01 - My Sweet Lord
02 - Art Of Dying
03 - All Things Must Pass
04 - Awaiting On You All
05 - Hear Me Lord
06 - $15 Draw
07 - Ram On
08 - Uncle Albert - Admiral Halsey
09 - Ram On (Thrillington)
10 - Mother
11 - Working Class Hero
12 - I Found Out
13 – God

16 - Out of the Blue (1970-1971)

01 - Too Many People
02 - Let It Down
03 - Hold On
04 - Apple Scruffs
05 - Dear Boy
06 - It Don't Come Easy
07 - Isolation
08 - Out Of The Blue
09 - I'd Have You Anytime
10 - The Back Seat of My Car
11 - Power To The People
12 - Eat at Home
13 - God Save Oz
14 - Oh Woman, Oh Why
15 - Early 1970

17 - War is Over (1971)

01 - Imagine
02 - Bangla Desh
03 - Jealous Guy
04 - Oh Yoko!
05 - Gopala Krishna
06 - Mumbo
07 - Give Me Some Truth
08 - Bip Bop
09 - Oh My Love
10 - How Do You Sleep
11 - How
12 - Deep Blue
13 - Love Is Strange
14 - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

17 - War is Over (1971)

01 - Imagine
02 - Bangla Desh
03 - Jealous Guy
04 - Oh Yoko!
05 - Gopala Krishna
06 - Mumbo
07 - Give Me Some Truth
08 - Bip Bop
09 - Oh My Love
10 - How Do You Sleep
11 - How
12 - Deep Blue
13 - Love Is Strange
14 - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

18 - Make Chains With The Morning Dew (1972-1973)

01 - Big Barn Bed
02 - Woman is the Nigger of the World
03 - Don't Let Me Wait Too Long
04 - Angela
05 - Back Off Boogaloo
06 - Mama's Little Girl
07 - Mama, You've Been On My Mind
08 - Sisters, O Sisters
09 - Seaside Woman
10 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
11 - The Luck Of The Irish
12 - Give Ireland Back To The Irish
13 - Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
14 - Hi, Hi, Hi

19 - Over the Hill (1973)

01 - Live and Let Die
02 - Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple)
03 - I'm The Greatest
04 - Be Here Now
05 - Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)
06 - I Lie Around
07 - Night Out
08 - Nutopian International Anthem
09 - Photograph
10 - Helen Wheels
11 - Mind Games
12 - Living In The Material World
13 - Out The Blue
14 - You Are Here
15 - You And Me (Babe)

20 - Band On The Run (1973-1974)

01 - Band on the Run
02 - Ding Dong, Ding Dong
03 - Occapella
04 - Jet
05 - You Can't Catch Me
06 - Here We Go Again
07 - Mrs. Vandebilt
08 - Bony Moronie
09 - Mamunia
10 - Be My Baby
11 - Only You (And You Alone)
12 - Bluebird
13 - Far East Man
14 - Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five

21 - Lost Weekend (1974)

01 - #9 Dream
02 - Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)
03 - Bless You
04 - Hari's On Tour (Express)
05 - Junior's Farm
06 - Whatever Gets You Through The Night
07 - Snookeroo
08 - Going Down on Love
09 - Scared
10 - A Toot and a Snore
11 - Zoo Gang
12 - Soily
13 - Dark Horse
14 - Nobody Loves You When You're Down And Out
15 - (It's All Da-Da-Down To) Goodnight Vienna

22 - A Dose of Rock 'n Roll (1975)

01 - Venus and Mars
02 - Rock Show
03 - Love in Song
04 - You
05 - Do You Want to Dance
06 - Ain't That A Shame
07 - A Dose of Rock 'n Roll
08 - Rip It Up - Ready Teddy
09 - Be Bop A Lula
10 - Stand By Me (Studio Tape)
11 - Stand By Me
12 - This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying)
13 - Let's Love
14 - Tired Of Midnight Blue
15 - The Answer's At The end
16 - Call Me Back Again

23 - Message To Joe (1975-1976)

01 - Let'em In
02 - Woman Don't You Cry For Me
03 - Move Over Ms. L
04 - Dear One
05 - Magneto And Titanium Man
06 - Las Brisas
07 - Bridge On The River Suite
08 - It's What You Value
09 - Mucho Mungo
10 - Walking In The Park With Eloise
11 - Pure Smokey
12 - Beware My Love

24 - Real Loud (1977-1979)

01 - Sean's Loud
02 - Morse Moose and The Grey Goose
03 - Cafe on the Left Bank
04 - Not Guilty
05 - Deliver Your Children
06 - Living in a Pet Shop
07 - Girls' School
08 - Mo
09 - I've Had Enough
10 - Who Needs a Heart
11 - Flying Hour
12 - Cuff Link
13 - Here Comes The Moon
14 - Mull Of Kintyre
15 - It's Real

25 - Serve Yourself (1979-1980)

01 - Reception
02 - Getting Closer
03 - Faster
04 - Kiss Kiss Kiss
05 - Serve Yourself
06 - Spin It On
07 - Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him
08 - Daytime Nightime Suffering
09 - Stranger's Room
10 - Soft-Hearted Hana
11 - So Glad To See You Here
12 - The Broadcast
13 - Wonderful Christmastime
14 - Blow Away
15 - Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)

26 - Starting Over (1980-1981)

01 - (Just Like) Starting Over
02 - Coming Up
03 - Blood From A Clone
04 - Check My Machine
05 - Give Me Something
06 - Temporary Secretary
07 - Frozen Jap
08 - Attention
09 - Blue Sway
10 - Unconsciousness Rules
11 - Bogey Music
12 - Secret Friend
13 - All Those Years Ago
14 - Watching The Wheels
15 - Yes, I'm Your Angel
16 - Bogey Wobble

Camaraderie I remember a blog abt that long ago that was doing a similar project, could that have been you?

I love this idea but have never gone deep enough into the solo beatles catalog to try it myself

Never did a blog, no, think I vaguely remember seeing one.

probably a bunch that were doing that tbh. i thought of it bc the one i remember had titles for all the discs like that. now that i think of it, iirc at one point in the timeline they started including ELO songs on the theory that Jeff Lynne would have been producing them and eventually would have started bringing song ideas, lol

Perhaps you were thinking of Albums That Never Were, which compiled its own series of "if they stayed together" LPs here?

xp oh god I would never have done that, though I would have included travelling wilburries and firemen. actually did some re-editing on a few tracks, never got around to making covers

xp not the one i'm thinking of but that was a great blog that i forgot all about!

Yeah, I thought of Albums That Never Were as soon as I saw this thread, re "What If The Beatles Never Broke Up?":
Good Night Vienna collects the highlights of the various Beatles solo material from and around 1974 into one cohesive album, which followed the previous four re-imagined 1970s Beatles albums: Instant Karma!, Imagine Clouds Dripping, Living In The Material World and Band On The Run, chronologically.
https://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/search?q=Beatles

Also, his brand new, related project:
This is a reconstruction of the proposed 1974 live in-the-Abbey Road studio album One Hand Clapping by Paul McCartney & Wings. Originally meant as the studio rehearsals for a 1974 Wings Over Australia tour that never happened, the proceedings were filmed for a possible film release, akin to The Beatles’ Get Backproject eight years earlier. Despite the high quality of live studio performances—especially of the then-unreleased “Soily”--McCartney shelved the entire project, as was the fate of a number of other self-financed Wings film projects throughout the 70s and 80s. This reconstruction attempts to replicate what a double-LP release in 1974 could have been like, using the best possible sources, including official releases and painstakingly-remastered bootleg recordings. All tracks have been sequenced in the actual recording order, spread across four sides of a vinyl record. He always goes for the best sources, and tweaks them when thinks it nec.
http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2020/11/paul-mccartney-wings-one-hand-clapping.html

I listened to some of this 1970 running order, and the transition from Look at Me to Every Night was unexpectedly very moving.

"what is Life" and "Maybe I'm Amazed" side by side are perfect: George and Paul answering each other, with hugs.

since this is the currently running beatles solo material thread. I need to say: Paul McCartney definitely plagiarized "heavy things" by phish in his new album.

What would be best before and after "Blue Jay Way"? I couldn't leave that one out.