Recording sessions
When did the Beatles move to Apple studios?
Let It Be
A week later the band agreed to Harrison's terms for returning to the group, which included abandoning the cold and cavernous soundstage at Twickenham. Sessions resumed on 22 January when the Beatles moved to Apple Studios. Multi-track recording began on that date and continued until 31 January. Harrison brought in keyboardist Billy Preston to ease tensions and supplement the band for the live performances. Preston worked with the Beatles throughout their stay at Apple Studios. The live concert idea culminated with the Beatles and Preston performing on 30 January on the rooftop of the Beatles' Apple Building at 3 Savile Row before a small audience of friends and employees. The performance was cut short by the police after complaints about noise. The complete concert has circulated among bootleg collectors for many years. Three numbers recorded at the rooftop concert, "Dig a Pony", "I've Got a Feeling" and "One After 909", do appear on the album, while several spoken parts of the concert appear between tracks that were recorded in studio. The band played hundreds of songs during the "Get Back"/"Let It Be" sessions. Aside from original songs ultimately released on the "Let It Be" album, there were early versions of many songs that appeared on "Abbey Road", including "Mean Mr. Mustard", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window", "Sun King", "Polythene Pam", "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight", "Something", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "Oh! Darling", "Octopus's Garden", and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". Still others would eventually end up on Beatles' solo albums, including Lennon's "Jealous Guy" (called "Child of Nature" at the time and originally written and rehearsed for the "White Album") and "Gimme Some Truth", Harrison's "All Things Must Pass", "Isn't It a Pity", "Let It Down" and "Hear Me Lord", and McCartney's "Another Day", "Teddy Boy", "Junk" (originally written for the "White Album") and "The Back Seat of My Car". Much of the band's attention was focused on a broad range of covers, extended jams on 12-bar blues, and occasional new efforts such as Lennon's uncompleted "Madman". These included classical pieces such as Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings", jazz standards such as "Ain't She Sweet", and an encyclopaedic array of songs from the early rock and roll era such as "Stand By Me", "Words of Love", "Lonely Sea", "Bésame Mucho" by Mexican composer Consuelo Velázquez (a song that was part of The Beatles' repertoire in the early days) and "Blue Suede Shoes". Multiple Bob Dylan songs were also played, including "Positively 4th Street", "All Along the Watchtower" and "I Shall Be Released". Only a handful of these were complete performances; the vast majority were fragmentary renditions with at most a verse or two of misremembered lyrics. The rehearsals and recording sessions were filmed and formed the basis of the Beatles' film of the same name. Two songs appearing on the album were not recorded during the Apple Studios sessions. "Across the Universe" had been recorded at EMI Studios in February 1968, and "I Me Mine" was not recorded until January 1970 after John Lennon's unannounced departure from the group.