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Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr has confirmed The Beatles planned to continue recording together after making Abbey Road.

Although 1970's Let It Be was the last LP the Fab Four released as a four-piece, the last time they recorded as a band was for their 1969 album.

Fans had long thought the fractious sessions at Abbey Road Studios in London led to the group agreeing to call it a day, until recently unearthed tapes recorded at a band meeting for the absent Ringo, showed they were planning to record more material.

Speaking to BBC Radio 6 Music, the drummer confirmed there were plans to continue, but that they just never managed to get back together.

"We did do Abbey Road and we was like, 'OK that's pretty good'," he said. "But none of us said, 'OK, that's the last time we'll ever play together'. Nobody said that. I never felt that.

"We'd made this record, and then we would go off and do whatever we wanted to do. And then Paul would call us and say, 'Hey, you want to go in the studio, lads?' and we'd do another one. So it was not the end - because in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. So I never felt it was in stone."

Ringo also said he rates the record's famous medley finale as among The Beatles' best work.

"Everybody was writing at a great level because they always did - but on side two, everybody wasn't finishing the songs. But that medley? It works so great," he explained.

"It's like we could do no wrong: You don't have to finish the song! Let's just edit them together and it works like a mini-play. I love that section. It was really fun."

Sadly, Paul McCartney announced he was leaving the band in April 1970, and they never returned to the studio as a group again.