The Beatles on the steps at Abbey Road Studios during the recording of Abbey Road - April 1969

 
The Beatles - April 1969

The sessions for Abbey Road began in April 1969, as the "Ballad of John and Yoko"/"Old Brown Shoe" single was completed. In fact recording sessions of John Lennon's "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" had started already in February 1969 in Trident studios with Billy Preston at organ—only three weeks after the Get Back sessions. Photos from these sessions are included in the book Get Back which came along with the Let It Be album but not in the Let It Be movie. Paul is shaved and John has started to let his beard grow.

Most of the album was recorded between 2nd July and 1st August 1969. After the album was finished and released, the Get Back/Let It Be project was re-examined. More work was done on the album, including the recording of additional music. Thus, though the bulk of Let It Be was recorded prior to Abbey Road, the latter was released first, and Abbey Road properly was the last album started by The Beatles before they disbanded. In September 1969, just shortly before the release of the album, Lennon was on hiatus from the group with the Plastic Ono Band, effectively being the first official sign of dissolution.