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". According to "The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll", "McCartney" is "a one-man-studio-band LP" with "a pronounced homemade quality; it was spare and sounded almost unfinished". Rodriguez writes that in his avoidance of the "Abbey Road" studio aesthetic, "In his own way, was fulfilling the 'as-nature-intended' theme of the aborted 'Get Back' sessions, albeit as a one-and-a-half man band."