[3][S 1] Ken Townsend, the General Manager of Abbey Road Studios, later recalled suggesting Barrett keep his mind engaged by listening to the Beatles' session tapes and write down information pertaining to them.

I was able to sit in a control room at the studio where the Beatles worked, doing my own mixes and isolating tracks, and I can honestly say I was surprised by everything I heard.

[7] Lewisohn consulted the studio's recording paperwork, reproducing some of it in the book, and interviewed eighty people who were present at the sessions,[7] including the Beatles' producer George Martin, publicist Derek Taylor and engineer Geoff Emerick.

[11] Besides Barrett's previous research, the collection of Beatles recordings stored at Abbey Road Studios had never been properly archived.

[9] Listening to over four hundred hours of tapes,[12] Lewisohn's working process served the dual purpose of both researching the book as well as organising the collection, cataloguing its various mixes, submixes, mastertakes and outtakes.

[18] He discusses the fate of various session tapes, the differences between mono and stereo mixes and the technical advancements first pioneered on the Beatles' recordings.

[19] UK release dates of singles, albums and EPs are also mentioned, discussing their chart success and sales numbers.

Like its predecessors Lennon Remembers and Shout!, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions impacted all subsequent scholarship on the group.

[30] Riley similarly criticises Lewisohn for writing more like a fan than a critic, with his descriptions reliant on adjectives like "brilliant" rather than evaluating a recording's "color, texture and mood".

[34] David Hunter of the University of Texas at Austin describes the book as a "bio-discography" – a portmanteau of biography and discography – illustrating the Beatles' progression and story through study of their recorded music.