Well if they make the decision in October, pretty much all the songs would have been at least in close enough to final shape to survive, though I do not know how such an abrupt about face would come about.
If you want a calmer 1968 generally, you might need to keep Lennon off heroin. Not sure how you do that. Of course that in and of itself would prevent a number of songs from emerging in all probability, beyond Cold Turkey. However if you do that, and Lennon is somehow in a better mood in the early part of those sessions, you have changed their tenor significantly. From the accounts I have read it was Lennon's even more foul than usual mood that began making those sessions such a miserable experience for everyone, and Paul McCartney blames a good part of that on heroin.
I could see Happiness is a Warm Gun appearing on any Beatles album with a medley after it was fully written, particularly considering McCartney's attitude towards the song which may actually mean it makes the "Umbrella" cut. Ironically, HIAWG does a better job foreshadowing an aspect of McCartney's solo work than anything McCartney actually wrote for it. McCartney has always loved his strung together medley songs.
Howabout this for your POD:
The Hey Jude/Revolution double A side occurs as I described and with the confidence boost this revolutionary radio hit provides, Lennon's heroin use is dramatically slowed down (though not altogether avoided).
This puts everyone in better spirits and by October they are more willing to compromise with George Martin on the double album question.
The Beatles perform a one-off show at the venue of your choice (my mini TL here has it as the Colosseum, but it's really up to you) which is live broadcast televised internationally via satellite (even in the Soviet Union, unlike the All You Need Is Love broadcast).
The concert benefits both the band and a legitimate charity organization financially. Guest spots by Billy Preston, some Symphony Orchestra, Ravi Shankar, and Eric Clapton cement the historic nature of the performance.
The album is a huge success, but becoming overconfident, diving deeper into drugs, and growing interpersonal conflicts mar the next release,
Get Back.
Realizing that the Beatles strength is once again as a live act, the group (even Harrison, believing getting away from London will do Lennon wonders; as Lennon is following the concert even worse off than OTL) succumbs to Paul McCartney's good sense and hit the road for a small tour of Europe and the US where they spend a good deal of time in Memphis and New York (becoming introduced to a new burgeoning underground scene in New York, a scene which will ensnare Lennon following the Beatles amicable break up a couple of years later) as well as headlining Woodstock. The Woodstock performances also have a profound effect on the band, who are now confidently post-psychedelic (while still semi-psychedelic) hard soul-rock.
The final show of this tour will be another mega-concert utilizing whatever idea we didn't use before (cruise ship on the Thames could work in my scenario, although I still like the desert idea because it may introduce Lennon and Harrison at least to some more Arabic rhythms, scales, progressions, and culture - possibilities abound later on).
Following the success and good experience of
Come Together the Beatles take a break for a year, during which time Lennon moves to New York early and gets mixed up in the New York underground with Iggy, Lou, and Bowie. McCartney launches a hugely successful solo album/tour, and Harrison flirts with incorporating Arabic blues into his semi-Indian folk-rock. Ringo acts.
John releases an analog of OTL's Plastic Ono Band LP but produced by Tony Visconti who brings a Lou Reed Transformer element and encourages John to glam it up a bit musically. Also notable as being the first western album to become popular with instruments like the rebab incorporated (albeit subtly). Yoko kicks John out earlier and instead of going to L.A., he returns to London in 1970 to sober up a bit and write.
All the Beatles are coming off of tours or releases at the same time and the four meet up in mid-to late 1970 to discuss a collaboration or perhaps a show of some kind.
Paul offhandedly approaches Martin who agrees to produce a back to basics, return to roots type final album - done his way - which will reflect the Beatles' entire musical journey while sending them off on the next phase.
The album,
Everest containing equal parts Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison tracks is a conscious goodbye to the fans and sells extremely well and the hidden bonus track, a revamped version of Love Me Do becomes a fan favorite (this was in fact an OTL idea scrapped for Let It Be).
They all part ways. Lennon styles himself as the least glamorous of the Bowie-bunch of MainMan artists (Bowie, Reed, Iggy) and also the most revolutionary (while still being an extreme pacifist, Lennon here becomes far more radical). And the subtle Arab bent to his rockier-than-OTL sound is a trendsetter.
Eventually, he and Yoko reunite and have a child together roughly the same time as OTL (hell, they may even have two). Lennon's house husband days are a little less hermit-like TTL, but he achieves domestic happiness nonetheless.
McCartney's career is pretty much OTL.
Harrison continues to struggle with conflicting opinions within himself on personal enlightenment and musical progress, but he does far better than OTL during the seventies and eighties and introduces a whole new segment of the population to Arab music as well as continuing to do so with Indian music, religion, and culture. Incidentally, both Arab and Indian popular culture are mutually affected.
Ringo does his thing, perhaps acting a little more and maybe even forming a supergroup in the seventies with Harry Nilsson (saving the latter's career).
The lads still talk, and are friendly, but hesitate to reunite again until the early eighties and perhaps again in the nineties.
And there I go again going too far...