The Beatles: One More Album

Feb. 11, 2010 at 9 p.m. and Feb. 14, 2010 at 6 a.m. on WAMU 88.5

For the Beatles, it all came crashing down in 1969.

It was the last year John, Paul, George and Ringo really worked together as a band. Setting aside well-documented business, personal and creative differences for one last recording session, they recorded the classic album -- Abbey Road -- and by 1970 it was official. The band was no more.

But what if that wasn't The Beatles' last trip to the recording studio? On February 11, the anniversary of their first concert in America, we play a guessing game that has been keeping fans fighting for years: what would it have sounded like if The Beatles managed to stay together for one more album? We'll try to piece that mythical album together. We'll hear songs from the very early solo careers of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and demos recorded during the final days of the band.

To help in our quest, we're joined by a team of musical archeologists -- authors who have spent their careers researching Beatles history and digging through the band's unreleased recordings:

• Peter Carlin,
  author, Paul McCartney: A Life;

• Tim Riley,
  author, Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album by Album, Song by Song, the Sixties and After;

• and, Richie Unterberger,
  author, The Unreleased Beatles.

Beatlemania: DC Style

The Beatles' first concert in America was held in DC at the Washington Coliseum on February 11, 1964 -- two days after the famous first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. It was a momentous occasion for the band -- one of the first times they realized they were going to be just as big in America as they had been in Europe.

The Beatles - The First U.S. Visit
The Feb. 11, 1964 Washington Coliseum concert is featured in this extraordinary documentary.

Share your story

Were you at the show? Let us know! Join the discussion on The Conversation. And then stick around and let us know how you would program an imaginary "One More Album" by the Beatles. If they recorded a last album in 1970 or 1971, what would it have sounded like? What songs from the early solo albums would they have performed as a band?

Songs featured on this show