After John Lennon requested a "divorce" from the Beatles in a band meeting on 20 September 1969,[3] Paul McCartney withdrew to his farm in Campbeltown, Scotland.

[13] McCartney's two months in Scotland created an estrangement between him and his bandmates,[14] further to the division caused by their appointment of Allen Klein as business manager in May that year.

[22] McCartney and his family returned to London shortly before Christmas 1969,[13] and he started work on the album at his home in Cavendish Avenue, St John's Wood.

[28] The album's recordings eschewed the musical sophistication that distinguished the Beatles' work with producer George Martin, particularly the band's 1969 release Abbey Road.

[30] Rodriguez writes that in his avoidance of the Abbey Road studio aesthetic, "In his own way, [McCartney] was fulfilling the 'as-nature-intended' theme of the aborted 'Get Back' sessions, albeit as a one-and-a-half man band.

[25][33] Although this performance of "The Lovely Linda" was only intended as a test of the new equipment,[33] it would be included on the official release, as the opening track,[25] complete with the sound of McCartney giggling at the end of the recording.

[39][nb 1] By this point, he had also taped "Junk" and "Teddy Boy" at Cavendish Avenue,[23] two songs he began writing during the Beatles' 1968 visit to India and had rehearsed with the band in January 1969.

[42] While at Morgan, he also taped "Hot as Sun", a "Polynesian-influenced" instrumental dating from the late 1950s, according to author Bruce Spizer,[42] and "Kreen-Akrore",[27] which Sounes describes as an "experimental percussion track".

[43][41] Amid musical interludes featuring electric guitar, organ and piano,[42][41] McCartney used a bow and arrow he purchased at the Knightsbridge department store Harrods, according to engineer Robin Black.

[32] On 15 February[50] McCartney recorded "Maybe I'm Amazed",[47] a piano-based ballad dedicated to Linda,[13] and, in Madinger and Easter's description, "the most elaborate instrumental track on the LP".

[23] During this process, "Hot as Sun" and "Glasses" were segued into a medley, ending with a snippet of McCartney performing the song "Suicide" on piano.

[53][nb 2] He also edited two separate instrumental pieces into one for "Momma Miss America";[42] McCartney can be heard shouting the first portion's original title, "Rock 'n' Roll Springtime", on the recording.

[42] On the back cover, a photo taken by Linda in Scotland showed her husband with Mary tucked inside his fur-lined leather jacket.

[59][60] Madinger and Easter comment that, unlike Lennon, McCartney did not feel the need to include his wife on the cover, and her back-cover photo was a "stunning" contribution from the former professional photographer.

[23] In a 2013 news article recalling the album's release, the Philadelphia radio station WMMR described the photo of McCartney and his baby daughter as "iconic" and reflective of "his ultimate message: 'Home, family (and) love'.

[64][65] One decision concerned the release of the Let It Be documentary, a necessity in order to fulfil the Beatles' contractual obligations to film company United Artists.

[4] Its late addition to Apple's schedule clashed with the imminent release of the Let It Be album, and of Starr's solo debut, Sentimental Journey, which was due out on 27 March.

[71][nb 4] The situation then changed when Spector reported that work on the Let It Be album was almost complete, meaning that it could be issued to coincide with the film's world premiere, which was scheduled for 28 April, in New York.

[75] Harrison and Lennon therefore wrote to McCartney on 31 March to say that they had instructed EMI, Apple's parent label, to postpone his album until 4 June;[76][77] they also explained the need to stagger the various new releases, particularly in America, where the Hey Jude compilation had been issued on 26 February.

[72] On 9 April,[83] McCartney released a Q&A package to the British press, in which he explained his reasons for making his solo album and described its overall theme as "Home, Family, Love".

[84] Compiled with the help of Apple executives Derek Taylor and Peter Brown,[81] the self-interview also contained questions McCartney imagined he would be asked regarding the possibility of the Beatles splitting up.

While stopping short of saying that the band was finished,[60][85] McCartney stated that he did not know whether his "break with the Beatles" would be temporary or permanent and that it was based on business, personal and creative differences.

[92] From there, in author Mark Hertsgaard's description, "newspaper headlines around the world reduced the story to screaming variations of PAUL BREAKS UP THE BEATLES".

By 15 May, McCartney had sold over 1 million copies in the US,[101] and from 23 May, began a three-week stay at number 1 on the Billboard Top LPs chart,[102] eventually going double platinum.

Most of the sounds, effects and ideas are sheer brilliance; much of the aura is of quiet songs on a hot summer night; and virtually all of the tracks reflect a kind of intangible roundness.

"[120] John Gabree of High Fidelity magazine similarly bemoaned the expectation that "we should dig his every little noise" and found the reasons for the album's failure evident in the Let It Be film, where McCartney appeared to be "the only Beatle who has stagnated as a human being", as well as "incredibly arrogant" in his treatment of his bandmates.

Winner admitted to being repelled by the "tawdry propaganda" surrounding the release, however, about which he emphasised: "Remember, this is all stuff that Paul himself deliberately included [in the album's press kit], not just some idle comments he let slip to a probing journalist.

"[124] Record Collector has highlighted "Every Night", "Junk" and "Maybe I'm Amazed" as songs that "still sound absolutely effortless and demonstrate the man's natural genius with a melody".

[132] Among Beatle biographers, Robert Rodriguez includes McCartney in his chapter covering the worst solo albums issued by the former band members between 1970 and 1980, saying: "For anyone wanting to get to the root of the most common rap against Paul's solo output, look no further …"[134] While bemoaning the lack of quality control that allowed "charmless ditties" such as "Teddy Boy" to go under-developed, Rodriguez writes: "What made McCartney so frustrating a listen was not the absence of compelling musical ideas; it was the abundance of them.

McCartney received a special 50th anniversary release in a limited edition half-speed mastered vinyl pressing for Record Store Day on 26 September 2020.