<P> Having long attempted to maintain cohesiveness within the Beatles, McCartney secluded himself with his new family at his Scottish farm, distraught at Lennon's departure . After being tracked down by reporters from Life magazine in late October, McCartney publicly acknowledged that "the Beatle thing is over", although the full meaning of this remark was ignored . On 3 and 4 January 1970 McCartney, Harrison, and Starr briefly reconvened at Abbey Road Studios to record Harrison's "I Me Mine" and complete work on McCartney's song "Let It Be". Both tracks were needed for the Let It Be album, as the threat of legal action by American film company United Artists led to a decision to finally prepare the Get Back recordings and footage for release . On 5 January Glyn Johns prepared an updated master tape for release, but in March producer Phil Spector was invited to work on the tapes . Although McCartney has claimed that he was unaware of Spector's involvement until receiving an acetate of the Let It Be album in April, Peter Doggett writes of work being delayed for "several weeks" until McCartney returned "a string of messages" requesting his approval for Spector to start working on the tapes . </P> <P> Effectively estranged from his bandmates and deeply depressed, McCartney had begun making a series of home recordings in London during December 1969 . Operating under strict secrecy, McCartney privately agreed on a release date for this proposed solo album, titled McCartney, with Apple Records executive Neil Aspinall . The release was set for 17 April 1970 . Once Lennon, Harrison and Starr became aware of it, however, the date was immediately deemed as problematic, due to the existing items on the Apple release schedule--Let It Be and Starr's own solo debut, Sentimental Journey . On 31 March, Starr went to McCartney's house to tell him personally of the decision to delay the release of McCartney, news to which he reacted badly, dismissing Starr from his home and refusing to cede the date agreed to with Aspinall . Stunned at his bandmate's outburst, Starr relayed the situation to Harrison and Lennon, and McCartney's album was reinstated on the release schedule for 17 April . </P> <P> McCartney's bitterness over this episode contributed to him publicly announcing his departure from the Beatles . He has also cited Spector's treatment of some songs on the Let It Be album, particularly "The Long and Winding Road", as another factor . The chronological relevance of the latter claim is disputed by Starr, however, who stated that, when acetates of the album were sent out for each of the Beatles' approval, on 2 April: "We all said yes . Even at the beginning Paul said yes . I spoke to him on the phone, and said,' Did you like it?' and he said,' Yeah, it's OK .' He didn't put it down ." </P> <P> McCartney's announcement came via a press release distributed to select UK journalists on 9 April, with advance copies of McCartney . The press release took the form of a Q&A in which McCartney discussed his album and, with Lennon's exit still being withheld from the public (for business reasons), matters pertaining to the Beatles' immediate future . While McCartney did not state that the group had broken up, he talked of his "break with the Beatles" and having no plans to work with the band in the future; he also emphasised his distance from Klein's management and ruled out the likelihood of ever writing songs with Lennon again . Although McCartney has said that Apple's press officer, Derek Taylor, submitted the questions, Taylor later insisted that those concerning the Beatles were added by McCartney . On 10 April, having been among the recipients of the Q&A, Don Short of The Daily Mirror reported on McCartney's departure from the Beatles under the front page headline "Paul Quits The Beatles". Newspapers around the world then interpreted McCartney's remarks as an announcement that the band had broken up . </P>

What did the beatles do after they broke up