"The Lovely Linda" Recording

Paul McCartney had been literally "missing in action" for the last few months of 1969. He had shut himself down and didn't venture out to any public events nor did he attend to any matters relating to the Beatles' company "Apple". In the meantime, to keep himself busy he started to write some new songs, go through some old songs and record a solo album.
The equipment used on some of the tunes were done at 7 Cavendish in London at home with a four track Studer tape machine and a microphone plugged directly through the Studer channel. I guess this basically meant that levels and the equalization of the instruments/vocals would be refined in the mixing stage of the songs.
In order to test out the equipment, McCartney decided to record a short tune dedicated to his lovely wife, Linda. "The Lovely Linda" consisted of acoustic guitar and vocal, second acoustic guitar, percussion and bass guitar - all played by Paul via overdubbing. The song ended up opening the album.
Since the recording equipment arrived at Paul's home before Christmas 1969, most reference books have placed the recording itself in mid December 1969.
The song was mixed in stereo at Abbey Road Studios in the control room of Studio 2 on February 21 1970 after having a trail mix at Morgan Studios in London earlier in February and ultimately rejected in favour of Abbey Road. The work at both Morgan Studios and Abbey Road were booked under the name of "Billy Martin" (a baseball player) as McCartney wanted to keep the recordings secret from the media and the public until it was finished.
"The Lovely Linda" is the opening track on the Apple LP/CD "McCartney".

"Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing" For Ringo

Another selection from Ringo's debut solo LP. This particular tune was written by Paul Webster/ Sammy Fain and the backing orchestra had been arranged by our friend Quincy Jones and conducted / recorded in Hollywood at the A&M studios on boxing day 1969. Ringo added vocals to the backing track on January 1970 at Olympic Studios in London but all of this was rejected and not released.
So, they started again. Another remake of the song with a new backing track and a 16 piece orchestra including Apple artist Billy Preston on organ was completed in 8 takes at Abbey Road Studios on February 03 1970. Ringo added his vocals and son was actually mixed into stereo at the same session. The mix would eventually be scrapped.
Finally, Ringo once again re-did his vocals on February 05 1970. Later on February 17 1970, a string section conducted by Francis Shaw was added to the recording.
The last session took place on February 19 1970 for the song: added were backing vocals and more organ, vibes and flutes. Stereo mixing took place the next day and also on March 06 1970. A lot of work for a weak song from the Apple LP/CD "Sentimental Journey".
You can hear it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOSRf47pUvU

"Have I Told You Lately That I Love you"/ "Let The Rest of the World Go By" sessions.

Two of the upcoming songs for the Ringo Starr debut solo LP "Sentimental Journey" were completed on February 18 1970 with some final vocals from Ringo in Studio 2 of Abbey Road.
The first one, "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" composed by Scott Wiseman had the basic orchestral track done in the USA at A&M studios in Hollywood, California earlier on February 03 1970. The song was arranged by Elmer Bernstein and unfortunately is one of the weaker arrangements in the sense that it sounds very, very outdated and corny. Ringo did a good job of his vocals which were done on February the 18th 1970.
The second tune is "Let The Rest Of the World Go By". Les Reed did the arrangement with orchestra and voices and this was completed six days previous to the vocals on February 12 1970. Once again, Ringo added his final vocals to the song six days later in Studio 2 of Abbey Road on February 18 1970. This song was used as the last track on the LP.
Both songs were commercially released on the Apple LP/CD "Sentimental Journey".

"I'm A Fool To Care" Sessions

Another track for the first Ringo solo LP "Sentimental Journey".  This particular track was arranged by Beatles' Hamburg friend and bass player Klaus Voorman. The song was written by Ted Daffan and was originally a hit for Les Paul and Mary Ford.
The backing track was recorded in Studio 2 of Abbey Road with the instrumental rhythm of drums, bass, horn and piano (supposedly played by Beatles' musical colleague Billy Preston) on February 11 1970. It took 21 takes and the last three takes were edited together for the commercial release. With the addition of an acoustic guitar and Ringo's vocal overdubbed, the song was mixed in stereo.
Six days later on February 17 1970, it was decided to add a 15 piece string section to the recording and therefore there was a tape reduction in order to accommodate this. Lastly, the song was once again mixed to stereo with the new addition on February 20 1970 and this was the final mix.
It was released on the Apple LP/CD "Sentimental Journey" and can be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhFLSBuI9OI