Yellow Submarine remains the Beatles' most reluctant contractual shrug, half-hearted even by soundtrack standards. Side one offers four new songs written during various sessions between Sgt. Pepper and the White Album, none essential, plus two recycled singles. George Harrison's "Only a Northern Song" acidly chronicles his publishing grievances, while "Hey Bulldog" swaggers with genuine menace.

Side two belongs entirely to George Martin's orchestral score. The album peaked at number two in Britain, three in America, universally understood as a stopgap between masterpieces rather than one itself.