Yellow Submarine (1969)

Yellow Submarine (1969)

This barely counts, but it seems relevant. The soundtrack to the cartoon movie Yellow Submarine cobbles together two previously released songs (“Yellow Submarine” and “All You Need Is Love”), George Martin’s film score, and four previously unreleased Beatles originals. Think of it as an EP if you like — or just don’t think of it at all. Other than “All Together Now,” one of their abysmal traditionalist British marches, the originals are actually worth your time: Lennon’s great piano rocker “Hey Bulldog” might have secretly invented Spoon. And the two Harrison tracks, the keyboard-drenched “Only A Northern Song” and floaty, fuzzed-out “It’s All Too Much,” reveal as usual that being in a band with John and Paul blocked George’s shine, though no sensible person would call those songs peak Harrison. The other two originals fare better in their original context, and Martin’s score doesn’t qualify as Beatles even though he was as essential to their studio presence as Nigel Godrich to Radiohead. Suffice it to say this one’s for completists only.