On September 8, 1969, three of The Beatles gathered at their Savile Row headquarters in central London.

Less than three weeks earlier, the band had finished sequencing the Abbey Road album, and were awaiting its release in 18 days' time.

Now John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison had gathered to discuss what they would do next.

Ringo Starr was in hospital having tests for a stomach complaint, so Lennon turned on a tape recorder to record the meeting for him.

What follows is typical of the stories we've all heard about The Beatles break-up — Lennon slags off McCartney's "granny-music" tune Maxwell's Silver Hammer; McCartney suggests Harrison's songs pre-Abbey Road "weren't that good", and Harrison is forced to defend his songwriting abilities.

The Beatles' Abbey Road album front cover.

But what stands out from that meeting is Lennon's suggestion that the next Beatles album be an even split among the songwriters — four songs each from John, Paul and George, and two from Ringo, if he wanted them.

History shows us what happened next. Just 12 days after the meeting, Lennon told his bandmates he was quitting the band, but this would remain a secret until McCartney announced his own departure from the band in April 1970.

In May 1970, the previously shelved Get Back sessions would be released as the album Let It Be, but the carnival was over, leaving Beatles fans to make do with anthologies, re-releases and bootlegs.

But what if they hadn't broken up?

Adorers of the Fab Four have loved speculating on what the studio follow-up to Abbey Road might have sounded like.

One example is Everyday Chemistry, a 2009 mash-up album that supposedly came from a parallel dimension where The Beatles never broke up (full disclosure: it didn't).

Another is director Richard Linklater and actor Ethan Hawke's mega-playlist The Black Album, which features in their film Boyhood and pulls together The Beatles' best solo work to make an amazing triple album.

But could we assemble a hypothetical Abbey Road follow-up using Lennon's suggestion of a songwriting even split taking solo songs from the time period (1969–1970) to make our own "what if?" Beatles album?

Of course we can!

The Beatles wanted the album to sound like nothing that had gone before it. (Supplied)

The George songs

Youtube All Things Must Pass

Having had a huge pile of songs rejected by Lennon and McCartney, the list of potential "Harrisongs" is huge.

In the wake of The Beatles break-up, Harrison flourished, blossoming in the face of a previous-unknown level of songwriting freedom.

White Album offcuts Not Guilty, Circles and Sour Milk Sea could all have been in the running for this thought experiment, but you only have to look at Harrison's first proper solo album, the triple-disc All Things Must Pass to find a treasure trove of material for this hypothetical record.

We humbly suggest Isn't It A Pity and title track All Things Must Pass (both of which were jammed on by The Beatles during the Let It Be sessions), and Harrison's first two solo singles My Sweet Lord and What Is Life as the cream of the crop from an embarrassment of riches.

The Paul songs

Youtube Maybe I'm Amazed

In the wake of Lennon's resignation and growing acrimony of The Beatles' business affairs, McCartney retreated to his Scotland farm to be with his family.

Depressed and drinking, he began writing his debut solo album McCartney, which features one of his greatest compositions of all time Maybe I'm Amazed.

Throw in another highlight of the album, Every Night, and you're halfway there. There are two tracks on McCartney that were in the running for Beatles projects — Junk (White Album) and Teddy Boy (Let It Be) — but let's take Junk and lo-fi rocker Oo You, which would have sounded cookin' with the full Fab Four treatment.

The Beatles came under enormous pressure to declare their allegiance to the anti-establishment cause. (Flickr)

The John songs

Youtube Instant Karma

Lennon had already released two singles under the Plastic Ono Band moniker prior to the official end of The Beatles — the bed-in chant Give Peace A Chance and the heroin comedown Cold Turkey, the latter of which McCartney apparently rejected for possible inclusion on Abbey Road.

But his next single, the self-described "monster" Instant Karma, which deserves inclusion in our hypothetical record.

By this point, Lennon had already released three experimental albums with wife Yoko Ono, but it was his first "proper" solo album Plastic Ono Band which sports the quality cuts that could have made the grade to an Abbey Road follow-up.

An album of raw and painful tunes, let's take the primal scream therapy of Mother, the heartfelt Love, and the bluesy Isolation.

The Ringo songs

Starr contributed Octopus's Garden to Abbey Road, with a little help from Harrison.

George also gave Ringo an uncredited hand on It Don't Come Easy, written between Abbey Road and the official end of the band. It's one of the best songs in Starr's catalogue, and was the first of his own compositions to be released in his post-Beatles career.

As for another Ringo cut to fit into this hypothetical album, there's not much else to choose from.

It Don't Come Easy's b-side Early 1970 is a twee tune about him and his fellow Fabs that was rightly relegated to b-side status. Maybe one Ringo tune is enough, just like Abbey Road and the White Album.

So there you have it — that's how you make an unreleased Beatles album. File this exercise alongside The One Disc White Album and Build The Definitive 'Let It Be' Tracklist for your next dinner party with fellow Beatles fans.