Studio Three, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producers: John Lennon, Yoko Ono
Engineers: Phil McDonald, John Leckie
The first recording session for John Lennon’s debut solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, took place on 26 September 1970.
The musicians were Lennon, Klaus Voormann on bass guitar, and Ringo Starr on drums.
The first song to be worked on was the album’s opening track, ‘Mother’. Three takes were recorded, with Lennon on piano and vocals. They were followed by two takes of ‘Isolation’.
It was then decided to focus on one song, so the musicians returned to ‘Mother’. They recorded a further 58 takes, numbered 4-61. During the session takes 9-18 were wiped and replaced with takes 41-51, for reasons unknown.
Track 1 had Voormann’s bass guitar, and Starr’s drums were recorded in mono onto track 2. Lennon’s piano and vocals were on tracks 3 and 4 respectively.
Lennon overdubbed more vocals onto tracks 7 and 8 before a rough mix was made and taken away. Work continued on ‘Mother’ on 27 September and 15, 17, 18, 19, and 24 October 1970.